The Girl in the Bottle

Chapter 1: Where the Wind Blows

It was a calm, near serene summer day on the beach. Waves gently rolled over the footprints people left in the sand as the sun's warm rays enveloped the place. Amid those who were out in the sand, two stood underneath an umbrella silently, one drawing his finger into the soft sand, and the other staring out at nearby boats with a smile on her face. It wasn't long before the silence between them was broken however, the young girl turned to the boy with a question in her head, and spoke it aloud.

"Hmm...Hey, Dervin?"

The boy shifted his focus over to her, wondering about what she had to say. "Huh? Yeah, sis?"

"Do you think we could ever get a sailboat?" She asked while pointing to one of the vessels out at sea.

Dervin's face was quick to shift to express his confusion, yet also his curiosity. He answered, "Uh...Well, wouldn't that cost a fortune?"

"I know, I know. But, it would be a dream come  true if we could get one."

He eventually realized what she meant. Bearing a snarky grin upon the revelation, his teasing had begun.
"You really want to be a pirate, huh? Stealing gold and sailing every high sea out there?"

"Pff! Do you ever stop? I don't wanna BE a pirate!"

"C'mon, you scallywag. I know you do."

"Dervin!"

"Hehehe!"

"Ugh...Although..." She softly said as she gazed at the sand pensively, starting to wander into thought.

Dervin heard the shift in her voice. Confused by the change, he asked, "? Mar?"

"Oh, it's nothing." 

"I guess I just..." Her voice continued to lower, only to be heard just above a whisper at that point, "I wish I, we, could be like pirates."



Not many other words were exchanged afterward. the waves kept rolling, and the two stayed still on the beach's shore, lost in thought until the sun began to set on the horizon. 

Dervin saw that evening came, and he knew that if they would come home later, their mother would certainly not be pleased. So, he notified his sister it was time.
"Hey, it's getting late, we better go back."

"Already? Do we really have to?" She protested with a groan.

"Well, do you want to be the fussy one? Or would you want that to be for mom?"

". . . "

"That's what I thought. C'mon,"

"Okay..."


With a sigh from the girl, she got up alongside him, and before anything more, her dress had been stained with sand. But, it mattered not to them. Together, the siblings walked back home, but what awaited them was not of anything they would expect.