I was working on Mythverse when this popped out of nowhere. This won't make sense unless you've read "Rolling Storms" and it's sad.
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She could never sit next to a wall.
There had to be two empty seats on either side of her, or they would fight. And if she was against one of the classroom walls, the pair would argue and grumble about whose turn it was to claim the seat closest to her. To solve this, she'd found it easier to just remain in a spot that had several empty seats. Of course, if her classmates took the chairs then the other two growled.
Not that it did any good. She was the only one who could hear them. But that was the reason she had a reputation for sitting by herself.
Today was good though. Some of the other kids weren't there so the eight-year old had no trouble finding a spot with empty seating. The quieter one slid into the vacant space on her left and lay his head on the table, disinterested in what was going on around them. Mischief red curled against her back, a warmth that wasn't really there before he set his head on her right shoulder. Shay resisted the urge to smile. If she did, the other kids would want to know what was so funny and she couldn't tell them. They all thought she was weird already.
English class was slow. The girl liked figuring out how the letters went together to make words because new words were interesting and her spelling wasn't all that good yet. But Sideswipe had a mild animosity toward the subject and was bored. He fidgeted, brushing against her before slumping down. Today was dodgeball and he couldn't wait for gym class. It always made the pair happy and miserable because they liked the thrill of it but could never participate beyond giving her tips. Unless they melted inside her for a time and she let them guide her actions. But they didn't do it very often. Sunstreaker was not a fan of English either. He liked History and Art though.
Her teachers told her that she was a good artist. She never told them she wasn't. Shay only put together the colors Sunstreaker told her to.
When it came time for recess, they slipped outside quietly. Shay rarely spoke up much. Early on she'd learned it wasn't a good idea to tell people about the brothers. They didn't believe her and the girl had a feeling that (Bad Things) would happen if she told. If anything, she talked more when Sunny or Sides had questions and she had to ask other people for the answers. Or if someone made her angry. Then she said insults without thinking that made no sense. Grownups thought she was making up words but she insisted they were real things. The Twins always laughed when she did this, amused that she was such as spitfire.
A brisk wind blew her tawny hair back as they stepped outside. It made her shiver but she felt more awake for it. Darting around like lunatics, the other two started a strange game of chase as she went toward the swings. They were her favorite part of the playground. As Shay pushed off, kicking her shoes away so her toes could feel the chill, she watched the Twins out of the corner of her eye. There but not there. More a feeling than anything else.
For a while, the girl had tried comparing them to the sun and moon. Sunstreaker was golden rays that broke through the clouds and made things look pretty. But then Sideswipe would have to be the moon and that didn't fit. He was flames, burning bright and bringing warmth when people were cold.
They told her she was the moon, quiet and shy and full of silver light that was a guide in the dark. They were the suns and stars full of life to remind people to smile.
No one had taught the eight year old that the stars were suns, just very far away. It didn't make sense to her, but she believed them. They would never lie to her. Besides, her eyes were pale and Sunstreaker said they looked like the moon. Whenever she glanced in the mirror, Shay always just saw blue streaks fading to gray. But Sunstreaker didn't say things unless he meant it.
After a few swings, her bare feet were reaching the highest point they could, almost on level with her head as she leaned back. Shay loved the wind, feeling it whisper over her skin and wash across her eyelids as she closed them. It reminded her of- /wind/rain/clouds lightly darting past her/ electricity flashing through the air as they chased and ran/ dancing through the storm/.
Sideswipe called them ghost butterflies. Showing up at odd times, they lingered in the back of her mind like memories partially forgotten and hovered just out of reach. For some reason, the name fit. So neither she nor Sunstreaker argued against it.
All too soon, it was time to go in. The mulch would tear up her feet if she tried to use them to slow down, so instead, the child just tucked her legs in and waited. After a moment or so, it had slowed enough that she jumped. If there was ever a choice, Shay jumped off the swings. The weightless feeling that came when she left the ground never lasted long enough.
A stumble when pale bare feet his ground. Perhaps she had been a little too high that time.
It stung, wood bits digging into her soft skin. Tears welled in her eyes until she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. One of the teachers came over and fussed over her with worry. "Oh honey, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Echo/echo/echo. She'd said that before, sometime when it was important and it tugged at her, but she couldn't remember when. Another ghost butterfly.
Sideswipe huffed, rubbing his face along her back and hiding it in her hair. /Silly/
Frustrated that she got herself hurt, he couldn't help but be amused because it reminded him of himself and his twin. A silent pillar sitting on the ground and curled up against her, Sunstreaker wordlessly expressed pride at her stubbornness. Little pains weren't bad. Nothing serious to worry about.
/Just don't go jumping off higher things./
/I wouldn't do something stupid like that./ She replied with a silent flat look, the corner of her mouth unintentionally quirking up the tiniest bit when the teacher was looking down at her scratches.
Sunstreaker chuckled, /I can think of someone who would./ His twin gave him a weird look, caught between denying it and preening because it was true.
Getting her shoes on, and being admonished for having them off in the slightly chilly weather, the child was taken back inside to finish out the school day. When evening came and dinner was finished at home, Shay snuck out the back door and climbed the hill behind the house.
She didn't like living in the suburbs. But at least there were large hills covered with trees nearby. Sitting on a large branch in their favorite tree at a lookout spot, she gazed down the slope to where the buildings clustered together into a small city and the lights that came on as the sun went down. The Twins lounged around her, watching silently too.
The sunset was pretty. Ones with lots of reds, oranges, and yellows were the best. For some reason, when the night came, Shay always got a feeling of dread. As if she were all by herself and had somewhere to be in a hurry. There was something she had to keep safe.
Her parents got worried when she was outside after dark and they didn't know where she was. So she tried to avoid doing that.
But it would be a few hours before the sky turned softly black and at least another twenty minutes before her mom realized she wasn't in her room. Swinging her feet, the eight-year old studied the violets that were creeping into the reds. /Sideswipe?/
/?/ Mischief turned his attention toward her instead of teasing his brother.
When he was sulking, Shay called him Sullen. But it didn't fit most of the time because he only sulked occasionally. Like now when his twin was poking him in the face while he was lounging. Smiling at the strange show of brotherly affection, the girl grew a bit more serious, face turning back toward the clouds.
/What went wrong?/
Something had gone wrong, somewhere. She didn't know what. It stuck to the back of her throat, hung round her head like a weighted wreath. Deep into her core, past bone and marrow, she could feel that it should not have been this way.
Silence as the three contemplated things they didn't understand. /I dunno./
They didn't know other than the wish for storm clouds. The need to run, to drive, for rain and wind and thunder, for a huge open sky above them, waves of grass shifting under their feet, flight even though none of them had wings. For stars glowing in the darkness and warm metal and calm glowing blue eyes as many others they didn't know pulled them close into a hug.
All hovering behind her eyelids if she just kept them closed long enough. When everything was silent, Shay could just barely hear thunder in the distance.
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I have no idea what happened. Shay and the Twins have been quiet for awhile and my other stories have been pretty active and then this happened. The characters in my stories are such glitches when they get like this. Now I'm sad.