SHORTS | A Collection of Short Stories

Split

This short was another candidate for the assignment mentioned in the last short. Quite frankly I prefer this one but it didn't fit the criteria for the assignment so instead, I'm sharing it here. 

Hope you like it :) x

---------------------

A split second and a simple phrase.

That is all it took for my whole world to flip upside down. I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually my fault because maybe it was. How was I supposed to know that an innocent request on my part would cost me my sister's life? If I had, I never would have asked her to go out with me that night.

More than my twin sister, Aria was my best friend. I could never do anything to hurt her on purpose, but that wasn't enough. I was the one who made her go to the art exhibition with me, I was the one that told her to take the shorter route, yet here I was, standing on my two feet while her body was lying on a cold, white hospital bed. She was dead. In a split second, the life left her in front of our very eyes.

"It's all your fault."

That simple phrase was filled with so much rage and heartbreak that I couldn't even believe it came out of my mother. My mother, the woman who couldn't even pick a favourite color because she thought the other colors would feel bad. The woman who pulled me into a tight hug every time I was upset and told me happy stories to make me feel better. I didn't think she was capable of hatred, but today, she was, and it was directed towards me. I was the reason her baby girl was snatched away from her too early, and all my mother had left was a splitting image of her that wasn't her.

It didn't take long after she said that for the waterfall to unleash. Aria was always the strong, outgoing and fun one. She was the twin that participated in every activity in school that she could fit into her schedule, brought back all the medals and certificates for them, and yet did fairly well in school. I was the polar opposite. I was sensitive and cried easily over silly things, even when I didn't want to. I spent my days studying from morning till night and yet didn't quite bring back as much proof for it. I holed up in my room all day, finding excitement in every stroke of my paintbrush against a blank canvas. Letting my imagination guide my hands into creating a story was my idea of thrill, though some might disagree.

Despite how different we were, Aria loved me and took care of me like a second mother. Considering how awkward and nerdy I was, there is no surprise that I was bullied in school, but Aria always had my back. She knew how to make them go away with her snarky comebacks and group of friends that I'm still pretty sure are actually professional wrestlers pretending to be students. I remember one particular occasion when I was being hassled quite badly by the school's resident bullies. She strutted over in her six-inch heels, her friends walking in a perfect line beside her before glaring at the boys with pants hanging halfway off their buttocks, snapbacks the wrong way around.

"Do yourself a favor and ignore anyone who tells you to be yourself. Bad idea in your case." Without a second glance at them, she picked me up and helped me away from the bullies as they stood there fuming, unable to come up with a better response. My tears were long forgotten as by the time we exited the school as we could not control our laughter. That day, ignoring my protests, she took me to my favourite art store and bought me a set of paints I had been eyeing but didn't have enough money for, instead of buying the eyeshadow kit she had been saving up for. It is safe to say that I gifted it to her on our birthday four months later, but she put aside her own happiness for mine which no one had ever done for me before. To top it all off, the bullies stopped bullying me after that day. While I'm not entirely sure why because her comebacks never fully stopped them before, I can guarantee she had something to do with it.

Aria loved with everything in her, and I couldn't have been luckier or more grateful to have her as my sister. The night I asked her to accompany me to the art exhibition, she skipped her dance practice so I would have some company. In fact, the moment she realized the truck was going to hit us, she used herself to protect me, in turn taking majority of the blow.

Even in her last moments, she held my hand and told me that she loved me. Till her last breath, she was the most generous person I had ever known