3 zusters

by merel maan galama, 2024, read if you want to feel

They came from the same mother. The three of them were in her belly, fused and squeezed together as if they were one. Time and pressure made them shrink until they became so solid that the wind and rain began to interfere.

It was time to leave the belly; the process of erosion began. The rain seeped over the three heads, forming a small groove between the belly and the three sisters. The wind followed the rain’s groove, bellowing along the belly and slowly splitting off the three sisters. Eventually, the day came when the three crumbled and rolled brutally down to come to a stop at the riverbank.

There, they saw the sky grow lighter and lighter, though it was still deep into the night. The rain that flowed along their bodies was more acidic than before. Very occasionally, when a two-legged creature came to rest on them and knocked something over, they tasted flavors they had never tasted before.

At least that’s how the woman imagined it as she rested on a stone after a night swim.