A vintage soda poster stares down at me, the colors are bleached but the outline of the can is still visible. Beside it is a large family portrait Tammi and I made when we were young, the crayons somehow fought against being desaturated over the years. He's always been better at drawing, I've always been good at coloring inside the lines.
My mother's hair isn't covered in a hijab and my father's face looks younger. Aunt Enola's kissing Aunt Marigold's cheek and a large smile decorates her face. Tammi drew me as taller than him, because at the time, it was true. But now he's almost six inches taller than I am... our growth spurts came along at the same time, only I was stunted at five feet, five inches... Tammi however, well he hasn't stopped growing since then.
I've always liked the picture, it reminds me of quieter times. The nature of it is so innocent, so sweet, before the spoils of life made me rotten with contempt. I don't often think of how angry I've gotten in the past few years, I guess dealing with the very people that have condemned my family and I to live like this has made me begin to hate them and their factions.
The sound of the front door closing makes me sit up, dad must be leaving. My wrist watch says it's nearly ten at night which surprises me. It felt like three minutes and it's been almost five hours since my mom gave me space to think.
I roll my eyes and sigh again, guess I could get some work out the way. I know I won't be able to sleep any time soon. My bag is sitting beside the hole in the floor that leads down into the hallway. Tammi must have sat it there while I was overthinking everything. The weight of it doesn't bother me anymore, I go toward the small "desk" positioned in the corner and get to work.
By the time I'm done with the papers, my stomach has been aching for a while now. I climb down the ladder as quietly as possible and walk into the kitchen, my shoeless feet only causing the floorboards to squeak now and again. The lights are off and the curtains are drawn shut, but there's light peeking through the curtain.
I push the curtain to the side and find that the Erudite headquarters has its lights on. "Weird," I mumble quietly before turning back toward the kitchen. Tammi's leaning on the wall, his clothes too big and his eyes sad as always. "Hey, Amir," We often refer to each other by our second name, we don't have last names so our parents gave us two names.
Rita Rose and Tamino Amir, twins who definitely aren't identical.
"Don't you work tomorrow?" He asks while rubbing his eyes.
"It's Saturday tomorrow," I open the oven to find a plate with a cover on it, bless my mom. "What was for dinner?"
Tammi actually smiles, "Your favorite," I find myself beginning to grin as I reveal the fried chicken and red sauce on rice. None of it's "real", the Fractured never get genuine food. It's either nothing at all or lab-made meals.
Even though the food is probably cold, I bring it near my face and smell the sauce. Somehow, my mom always made this processed crap taste amazing. "Want some? I'm not too hungry," I question as I grab a spoon from the drawer. Tammi shrugs, "Please? You can tell me what's wrong while enjoying ma's cooking," I hold the plate up with a smile.
Tammi sighs and grabs the spoon I offer him, we sit at the table with the plate between us. "Ma really wants you to take the offer, Rose." He sounds sad... but then again he always sounds a bit down.
I glance down at the table and nod, "I know," The chicken isn't very good, but the rice and sauce make it amazing. "I don't know what I should do... the money makes it so... tempting." I chew on my lip for a moment and take another bite of the food. "But I don't wanna leave you guys."
"I don't know how to... explain it without sounding selfish." Tammi laughs dryly at himself and the sound makes my eyes water.
He hasn't even said the words and I already know what he's going to say... "The last thing I want is to leave you, Tammi... we've always had us. And I can't imagine leaving you behind for... the one thing I hate."
Our matching brown eyes meet as he gives me a small smile, "Thought I was the emotional one, sis?" Tamino says quietly, but I can hear the heaviness behind his voice.
I shake my head at him, "Don't remind me." I wipe the tears away from my eyes, "Promise if I leave you'll be okay?"
"Promise the same and I will be."
"I promise we'll be okay, no matter what." My words don't feel honest, but I ignore the thought as I lean my head on his shoulder. Silence falls over us as we both think and eat... I have no idea what I'm going to do, but for some reason, I know that no matter what I choose, it won't end well.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
