There were a couple of grey smooth stones. She put them in a row curving around itself. If she found a stone that was wet on one side, she put that one facing the sky so the sun could heat it up and it would dry off. She did this for a while.

She shifted to her back and took a green leaf about as big as her hand and hovered it over her face playing with the sunshine. She placed it on her nose, like it was a mask. She blew the leaf up in the air and it fell down onto her chin or her neck. She did this for a while.

She found an edge to the river that was just a stream. A fast moving stream that took sticks thrown into it down and over mini waterfalls and whirlpools as it traveled on to who knows, out of sight. Farther than she could see as she held her hand to shade her eyes. She dipped her toe into the water.

Icy cold and stunning. Surprising, making the hairs on the back of her neck stick straight up. She sighed and put the rest of her foot in the water on slimy, uneven stones smoothed by the constant flow of water. She put her other foot in.

She stood there for quite a while watching water pass by her, through her, around her ankles and kept going. Her legs and feet warm and yet when she bent to touch them, the skin was cold. She wondered what the water would do if she stood here long enough.

Carefully crossing the stream and stepping again onto sand, dirt and grass. She sat at a ledge, a mini cliff, by the stream and watched it until she forgot her own thoughts. She didn’t know what she was looking at anymore or why she was looking. She closed her eyes and held her hands over her eyes.

And she made a wish.

It wasn’t a wishing stream necessarily — she knew that. But why not? It seemed right.

Then, she uncovered her eyes to the world.

…