Isaac was the same age as his sister, and had the same green eyes and curly black hair. Their roman noses were similar to a tee. He had a more mild case of autism, and ever since they were young, Rosalyn guarded her twin from the hateful words spoken to him. Any man or woman who looked upon Isaac with even a tinge of superiority earned Rosalyn's spite. The two had grown into adulthood together. They played together. They ate together. They did everything together. They were the best of friends. Rosalyn was fiercely protective of him.
Rosalyn popped the cork and threw it over in the direction of the couch while she watched the foamy mist spilt from the nozzle. She poured herself a glass and began to pour him one too, but he responded, "No...Rose! I...I don't want any."
"Nonsense." She shook her head. "You refused to get drunk on your twenty-first birthday. I waited a year and a half for you, bud. Time for you to drink up, sir." Isaac sighed and took the glass by the base and took a small sip. Rosalyn chuckled when she saw him holding the wine inside his cheeks, swishing it around. "You have to swallow, dude."
Isaac reluctantly gulped it down. He looked into his glass and frowned. "It tastes...It tastes like piss, Rose."
Rosalyn laughed, taking a sip. She relished a flavor of the red wine she'd grown to love. "It's an acquired taste." She chuckled once more when she saw her brother take one more sip of the liquid. She lifted her glass in the air. "To us!"
"To us!" Isaac smiled, failing to raise his own glass in the air after her.
"What's wrong, bud?" Rosalyn asked him as she found his eyes falling back down into the table. She had been worried about him for the last couple days, but hadn't had any real reason to ask him about anything until then.
"Janet doesn't want...to date me." He seemed very disappointed. "She says...she says I'm different than her."
A wave of annoyance rushed over Rosalyn's emotions when she heard the words that issued from her brother's mouth. "What are you talking about man? You're a stud! Who wouldn't want to date you?!"
"At the moment...Janet..." She felt sympathy for her brother. He had been talking to this girl for such a long time now, and Rosalyn thought they were sure to be a thing. From how Isaac spoke of her, she was fairly surprised to hear this girl would say such harsh things about him. "Rose...Please don't beat her up..." He was speaking of The last time someone spoke something like that to him. It was some random drunk in a pub making crude jokes about him. Rosalyn successfully started her first and last bar fight that day. The bartender was utterly perplexed to see her standing there over the men on the ground after it was finished...
"I promise I won't beat her up." Rosalyn spoke through her teeth. "Now, when did she tell you this?"
"Two days ago...I think...she got together with a sophomore yesterday..."
Her teeth clenched even harder. "That bitch..."
"Don't call her that, Rose!" Isaac protested. "She's a kind...sweet, girl. I'll just go on with my life. It's not like...I haven't done this before..."
The TV was on a channel that had a game show playing at this hour. It was one that neither Rosalyn nor Isaac enjoyed watching greatly, so they were not affected when it switched to a news bulletin. Isaac picked the remote up off the table and turned the volume up to where we could hear it. "The virus has infected over half the population in the eastern continents as well as other islands in the Atlantic and is gradually seeping westward. The death toll of the past two days has been overwhelming." The man spoke.
While Isaac was taken with the bulletin, surprised by what it had to say, Rosalyn had heard all this before, first on the same bulletin that morning and next at the hospital when they treated a victim of the disease. She glanced behind her, to her tattered closet and the kitchen splattered in orange juice she had not cleaned up. Sitting there was a small black cell phone. It was Isaac's.
Chapter 2: Three Mistakes
Start from the beginning
