I woke with the sun she shone bright and yellow in my eyes. Her radiant smile contagious. She brought color back to my skin and warmth back into my life. So I shouted “I love you ray of love!” As loud as I could at the sky.
then the clouds came. They covered the beauty in the sky. And rained and rained. They made the world cold and dark with all light stripped from it. So I yelled “I’m sorry clouds, I will hide my love for the sun.” And hid.
Then it all changed. A rainbow appeared outside my window. Everyone admired it. Eyes catching colors made by the rain and the sun together. So I exclaimed “thank you for uniting!” And I was able to love all the sky.
With my limited body strength I lowered my self in to the tunnel below. It’s was wide and tall and the drop sent me to my knees, as I stood I wiped the dust and dirt of them. Looking around, this tunnel was grimy. Thick layers of moss sat on the damp stones and it had a smell of rotting rodents which hung heavy in my nostrils. Oh how I would love to bring benji down here. I knelt down to see the debris which had been kicked to one side. Ash… rat bones… broken glass… all expected. What was peculiar though was the long and thick wire that ran along the edge. Its casing was scuffed with claw marks and bumps, and its shape was slightly lost but it was clear electricity ran through its core. Strange. I stood back up and looked in both directions. One way look as though it had a door at the far end, the other split into three separate smaller pathways. Darkness made it hard to make out what they led, but my guess was nothing good. I’d read about old tunnels that run under Norwich, they used to be used by the castle but no longer stood a purpose since tourists cleared out of our city. But I never knew of any this far out, nevermind directly below my house. I wondered if they ran all the way back to the city, they where obviously in regular use from the cleared path in the center of the tunnel. So made sense that people would be using them to get stuff descritly in and out of the corners of the city.
Noises echoed from down one of the paths. Fuck. I jumped and grasped at the hanging handle of the door. Damn my weak arms. I ungraciously pull myself up enough to contort my legs back onto my carpet which slipped underneath my foot making me stretch in a way I wasn’t sure was possible. I managed to shimmy the rest of my body with me before lifting and clicking the trapdoor back into place. I rolled back the carpet and the tunnel disappeared. But now I knew.
Flying feet first towards the waves. My grip on my sisters hand tightens as the preasure try’s to rip us apart. We tear through the air faster and faster. We hold our breaths as we’re both pulled under but we don’t slow. The water grips our ankles and throws us about as we get deeper and deeper.
Concrete breaks our fall. My sister lies flat on her front while I rush back to my feet. We don’t have the time. My hand finds the back of her shirt as I yank her up. she’s coughing up water and it mixes with the blood that trickles down her face. I can feel the wind teasing my exposed neck already. My fingers wrap around her wrist and I’m dragging her behind me as my feet lead the rest of my body. My knees buckle and I tumble. This time it’s her looping her hands under my arms to bring me back.
Too late.
The rapid rushes off air fall away and the hard road softens beneath me. Relief washes over my sister as she sits with a satisfied sigh. Running is so much better than what we’re about to experience.
“Tell me what went wrong.” Mothers voice calls from behind us. She has the recordings. Mother already knows every eye movement, every breath that came too fast or too slow, every tiny decision that cost us.
“We shouldn’t of ran… we should of hid or-“
“Not you my sweet girl.” Her hand came to rest on my shoulder behind me giving me a silencing pinch. “You.”
Silently my sisters eyes pleaded for help. “I should of reacted quicker?” She lacked confidence. No no no… don’t show weakness.
“Yes… and?” Mothers hand was tight on her chin forcing her to face her. When she didn’t get a reply in the form of words but instead a stranggle groan she tossed her face to one side. “Clean yourselfs up… we don’t share blood in this family.”
She hugged her long limbs to herself and her comfy clothes scrunched up around her body. She was a deer in headlights. Dark deep eyes looked up at him. Her long lashes fluttered as she blinked. Freckles covered her honey skin and pointy features. He imagined tracing his fingers over her face, the velvet of her cheeks and her satin eyelids under his tips. Then he’d run his hands through her hair, being carful with her curls. Each berries scented strand he would count if she allowed him. Raw beauty, just as Mother Nature had intended her to be seen.
He dramatically through his arms up in response to her mocking tone. He didn’t give a damn and she evnied it. She wanted to learn how to be so free. “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“You should be grateful for that.” The look of a warm warning burned into her as he laughed.
Inside her was blue, a storm over an ocean. No one could connect to her without drowning within it. Dying with her violent waves of emotions, indigo just wanted to be saved. Instead of this tempest, she wanted clear skies. Give herself room to breathe. Only calming her sea of feelings wasn’t that easy.
Lying as though she was lifeless on a cold cobble floor. I sat beside her. Lifting her fingers one by one to inspect the burns which coated her fingertips. I watched as her chest rose and fell faster than my running heart which sat heavy in my throat. I layed her hand ontop of mine, finger tips facing the safe souls of the sun rising in the sky. Her head rolled to face me, a smile.
“Your face it’s… golden.” She whispered, the sun blinding my eyes as it revealed more of itself to us over the horizon of shops and abandoned buildings.
“Yours is silver.” I looked at the shadows masking her face, draining all colour from her skin. Forest eyes, smoky and alight.
We were just two people in that moment. No differences and no similarities. Just people. As I lied next to her, the bumpy ground pressed against my back, our arms joined at their ends. Her breathes deeper and slower than the moments before.
“You have your shadow back now.” I don’t think l hear her to begin with, I just stare at the blood red sky being washed away by various hues of yellow and blue. Knowing what she’s going to say next.
“I will not walk this earth without you. Shadow or not. I would sacrifice half my soul to have you by my side.” We don’t move. We don’t look at each other. We don’t say another word, not for a while, not till the suns fully above us do I mutter a word. “Thank you.”
“Thank you.” She reply’s, and I think it’s the first time me and silver have ever had a truly meaningful moment. It feels like the best kind of weird. Over the past few months I think she has become my best friend, and I wouldn’t change that for every star.
