~Dream About Me~ ~Lams~

4

Once they got to the beach, Angelica immediately set up a umbrella and her own chair under it. She then laid down a blanket on the sand, placing a rock on each corner, so it wouldn't blow away in the wind.

Philip's sister, who's name he hadn't learned yet, sat down on the blanket and emptied the sand toys. She started to build a sand castle.

Philip and James both went to the water, although neither of them went deeper than their ankles. Philip started to walk along the shoreline, staring down into the water.

"What are you doing?" James asked, looking at his brother confused.

"I'm looking for shells!" Philip said, smiling a little.

"Can I help?" James asked, his eyes brightening.

"Sure!" Philip said, pulling out a shell from the water. It was the size of a finger nail, and a pinkish color. Sadly, part of it was missing, and there was a sharp edge where it's missing half would have been. "Try not to get any broken ones, though. We don't want to get cut."

Philip threw the shell back into the water, deeper than where he found it.

James nodded, reaching into the water and pulling out another shell, this one a pearl color. "Like this?"

Philip nodded. "That ones perfect!"

James grinned proudly, putting the shell into his hand for safekeeping and reaching back into the water to find more.

It went like that for maybe half a hour, James or Philip picking a shell from the cold water and showing each other, either throwing it back or putting it in the hand they weren't using to find the shells.

Finally, Philip looked back at Angelica, who was sitting there reading a book. "We should go back. I think we have enough."

James agreed and they started back to the umbrella. They both held their hands out for Angelica to see.

"Look! James and I found shells! I want to give some to mom." Philip said, smiling proudly to her.

"I'm sure your mother would love that." Angelica said, giving a supportive smile. "Angie, want to see the shells your brothers found?"

Philip's sister nodded, who Alex now learned was called "Angie", and skipped over to them. She looked at the shells in their hand and gasped. "Wow! Their pretty!"

James looked back down at his own palm, which held many shells. "Do you think dad would like them?"

The beach seemed to quiet. For a second the wind stopped blowing, the birds stopped chirping, and the only sound was the waves crashing against the shore.

Angelica gave him a sad smile. "Yes, James, your father would have loved them."

Something seemed to click in Alex's brain. Their father died. That's why I'm here.

Part of him wanted to try and say something comforting, even if they couldn't see or hear him, but Angelica started saying something else.

"Oh, one of the shells is broken. Philip, honey, can you go put it back in the water?" She asked, picking a shell from the pile in his hand. Alex hadn't noticed it before, but it was infact broken, the shell almost in the shape of an arrow head.

"Can't I just leave it here?" Philip asked, motioning to the sand.

Angelica shook her head. "Someone could step on it."

"Oh." Philip mumbled. "Okay."

He turned around and started walking towards the water. Once he got there he threw the shell into the air towards the water, before turning back to the group starting to go back to them.

Then, as the shell was in the air, and Philip's head was turned, a gust of wind came and sent it back to him.

Alex's eyes widened as he realized the shell was being blown towards Philip's head. He started to run towards the shell, trying to figure out a way to intercept it, when he realized he wouldn't get there in time.

Then, another wind came. But this one was different. Alex recognized it as the presence he felt before. This gust of wind flew towards the shell, knocking it away from Philip and making it fall into the water with a soft kerplunk.

The wind came back up, making almost a mini tornado, and turned into the form of a man. He had long brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail, with millions of freckles across his face. He wore a casual hoodie with jeans and white sneakers. Alex was shocked by how similar he looked to Philip, but older. He looked human. Despite this, the most shocking thing about him were his large, white feathery wings. He glared at Alex.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"