The Girl Who Controls Water

TGWCW [1]

revised: 5/31/2018

It was cold. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't hear anything. It feels like I'm floating; maybe because I am. Everything was absolutely still. It almost made me afraid to move at all because I might disrupt something. It was peaceful.

But amidst the serenity, my mind is chaos. I'm thinking of everything and nothing. I let my mind flow through these thoughts easily. It is always relatively easy to go with the current, not against it. Don't let anything make a permanent print on you.

Hmm.

I might be dreaming. I'm not sure.

A movement, a small ripple in the water, heightened my senses. More like a bat seeing with soundwaves. Only this time, I'm seeing with water waves.

I sat up, and it felt like being slapped back into reality. The bathroom was filled with silence; only the sound of dripping water from my body can be heard. There was another small ripple. I stood up and there was a splash on the floor. I stepped out of the tub and pulled the plug. I didn't stop to watch the water circle down the drain.

I looked myself in the mirror. Hazel eyes stared back at me. They weren't very deep. Freckles dotted my cheeks. My dry lips were spread in a thin line. I looked at my long fingers. There weren't any signs that I just fell asleep in the tub. Again. My hands looked normal.

Heaving a sigh, I positioned my left hand on top of my right arm. Something tugged at my fingertips and I naturally let whatever it was to control the droplets of water on my arm. I took my time controlling the droplets of water until I was completely dry; excluding my hair. I shaped the water into a tiny ball using two hands and then dropped the ball into the sink where it made a plopping sound.

I grabbed a towel that was hanging from a wall and made myself a hat out of the towel. Then I grabbed my school clothes neatly folded in a laundry basket situated outside the bathroom door. After I was done clothing, I stepped outside the bathroom and into my room. My bed wasn't touched at all. I wonder if my mom would find it odd.

Someone knocked on the door. "Aerwyna! Are you awake? It's time for school!"

"Coming!" I answered. I grabbed a pair of socks from a drawer and then my school shoes from under the bed. When I finished putting them on, I snatched my satchel on a desk and exited my room.

I hated sleeping on my bed. It was too warm and sweaty. That's why I always opted to sleep in the bathroom, where peace comes to me naturally. And I always sleep better when I'm underwater.

I've always wondered why I was the only person who can breathe underwater. I thought everybody could do it. Scared my parents a couple of times thinking I drowned.

I went down the stairs and found my parents sitting at the dining table. Dad was frying eggs while mom was tapping away on her cell phone.

We didn't bother talking to each other. As soon as dad slid the plate on the table, I served myself and then started eating. I couldn't help myself but stare at my glass of water. Without using fingers and gestures, I tried to control the water with my mind. Unfortunately, an unnoticeable ripple was all I could do. I gave up trying because my mind started to hurt.

"Hey kid, good luck on your first day of school," my dad said, breaking the silence. He sipped from his cup of coffee and didn't even try to glance at me.

I swallowed. "I'm going to be bullied again," I said.

"Well, if you stop being such an easy target, you wouldn't be," my mom said as she rolled her eyes at me.

"I don't try to make myself a target."

"Sure, sure." She waved her hand dismissively. "That's why they want to be such great friends with you."