I See It

"Oh, look at that one!" A girl's voice rang excitedly from where she lay atop the roof, followed by the short annoyed laugh of another girl who was settled beside her.

"What is that supposed to be Ally? It doesn't look like anything." The girl's voice was slightly bitter and bored as her words slipped past her pursed lips.

Ally rolled on her side, the bare sun kissed skin of her arms and legs scrapping against the rough dully hot shackles of the roof, causing small pebbles and dirt to catch at her skin. "It's a woman holding a pot, maybe she just made a dinner for her family." Ally pointed her frail finger as high in the sky as should could, tracing the lines over the bright scattered clouds to show her point. "Don't you see it? There's her head and there's the pot, maybe that's the steam from the pot. Maybe she made some nice soup, like the kind ma made during Christmas. Remember that?"

The other girl rocked her head from side to side on the uneven slanted surface she was on, ignoring the smaller girl's question all together. "It just looks like a blob to me honestly."

"How about that one then? What do you see?" Ally directed her hand to another section of fluffed clouds overlapping one another, always slowly shifting and changing, creating something new for the eye at all times.

"I see a clump of clouds."

"Aw, come on. Where's your sense of imagination and wonder Mellon?" Ally sighed looking over at her older sister through a few stray strands of sun lightened hazelnut hair to give a saddened look.

The other girl simply lidded her emerald eyes, her thick eyelashes tangling as the sun seeping past the skin bit the sensitivity at her eyes as the thick white cloud that had been masking the harsh sun floated further down the vast happy blue sky. She let the blazing sun warm it's rays straight to her soul and bones. The girl drew in a deep calming breath to keep patients with her sister. The air smelled thickly of freshly mowed lawns of all the neighbors yards. "Don't call me Mellon, you know I hate that nickname."

"Mellony, excuse me. You know you can be so... I don't know, but you just don't seem to have any fun anymore. It's like the older you got the more you left being my sister."

Mellony only grumbled, she felt annoyance toward her sister. It seemed that every time that she came up her to get some sun and relax, her younger sister was always right there rambling on and on. Ally had fell silent as another cloud blocked the two girls in a momentary piece of shade. Her mind was troubled but she shoved it past her in the light of the moment. Her soft green eyes were wide as her thoughts ran wild at all the shifting shapes and stories the clouds seemed to tell her. Her soft freckled face wrinkled a small dimple as she smiled broadly up at the sky at the beloved calming warmth of the sun. A small breeze caught up grazing over the girls, causing strands of their matching shades of hair to seem to dance elegantly in the wind.

Mellony opened her eyes to see the sun was hiding behind pure clouds. An easy wind was lapping at her skin coaxing her to wake up from her slumber. Slowly she propped herself up to sit, her eyes scanning out on the endless pristine and perfectly green lawns on the neighborhood. Her back was sore from where her weight on shackles of the roof had left imprints through the thin material of her shirt. The wind and the falling of time had caused the air around her to chill and crisp.

"Come on Ally we should go an... Ally? All..?" Mellony's sentence fell heavy, sinking from her breath as realization dawned on her. It had been a dream, Ally wasn't with her. It had been three years since Mellony had heard the vibrant voice of her younger sister, seen her bright loving eyes. "Oh, no, no." Her voice was ragged as her breath caught in her throat as the muscles contacted. Her eyes prickled only a moment before streams of salt water broke loose down the plains of her face. Her body rocked unevenly as sobs broke from her chest.

Mellony's thoughts ran painfully through her head, pinning hate on her. She hadn't shown enough love for Ally, she had shoved her away, it was her fault. But it had been so real, hearing her happy voice move the air again. And seeing her caring face as she took everything in with curiosity and wonder. It was just like it had been just any other day back when everything was right, back when Mellony's family had been whole. If only she could have controlled her actions in her dream. She wanted to love Ally, tell her much she missed her. She regretted all the moments were she bluntly ignored and brushed her younger sister off.

The broken girl sat there for long moments before her body stilled and she wiped a shaky hand across her face. She thought for a moment, her sight straying up to the many clouds still broadly littering the sky. Her hand reached out to point an uneasy finger to a cloud. A small hesitant smile pulled at her lips as the steadily shifting mass took a form in her eyes, imagination and heart.

"I see it."