I AM · Free 16 ml

She woke to the breeze that slipped through the balcony and gently brushed her cheeks: “Wake up, wake up, it’s time!” The curtains fluttered and billowed like sails. The street smelled of sea salt, lemongrass, and the citrus trees growing near their house. In a moment she was in a light cotton dress; the door slammed behind her—that was all he heard, and it woke him up.

Following her, he quickly got dressed too, ran out of the house, started to catch up with her, and there, at last, he saw her. She was running along a winding path on the slope of the seashore. She stopped, and he noticed something besides the nature rushing past him at the speed of his own run. He saw that the clearing was covered in white flowers, as if they’d been scattered like flour. He saw the white, delicate dress she was wearing. He saw why she’d stopped. Not just hundreds, but thousands of birds were flying toward her from the sea to the island. Had they chosen this island to stop and spend the winter? The flapping of their wings sounded as if an entire street were simultaneously shaking out wet laundry and hanging it to dry on their balconies.

She greeted the birds. The wind teased her dress. She still hadn’t noticed the man and thought only that the wind, it seemed, had awakened her to adventure.