Unseparated || Short Story

6

My older sister did something today that I have never seen her do before. Paige pulled me aside to discuss something important with me. I was about to eat lunch when she came into the kitchen and asked me to come with her. I complained first because I wanted to eat but she insisted to let that wait and go to our room instead. Then I agreed and followed her.

"C'mon! I gotta show you something!"

"Really? What is it?"

She gestured to the right half of our room where her bed was standing and asked me to sit down. Then she handed me her headphones and her phone which had a few audios she wanted me to listen to. When I asked for further explanation, she simply told me that she's been working on these songs recently. I was perplexed but I decided to see for myself. So I listened to these audios and I was astonished but in a positive way. She sang these songs by herself (and I must admit that she has pretty pleasant voice) and added the sound of her guitar as the instrumental, as I realized. (I have always thought she decided to quit playing the guitar...) While I was listening, I took a look on the lyrics which she also gave me. The lyrics were quite simple but I could see that there was much potential, even though I cannot call myself a professional music producer or song writer. It was like these lyrics were telling a story and I liked it.

"Paige, that's amazing!", I exclaimed.

"How come that I've been so clueless? How long have been working on these?"

"Three months, I guess..."

"Wow... Do Mom and Dad know about it?"

"No, but maybe I'll show them when I feel like it. I thought it might be a good idea to hear your opinion first."

She then told me everything and gave me more details about the creation of her songs. Paige explained that she began having ideas for a song or for more than just one. Her inspiration came randomly during that time she was playing games on the computer while listening to music. When she was writing down the lyrics, she also tried to figure out a fitting melody in her head by humming or tapping. That's how she then started using her guitar which have been leaning against the wall for like, maybe centuries. When it came to the vocals, she sang them only by herself and recorded them when nobody was at home.

"And that's how a star was born!", she ended her story with a theatrical pause.

"Just kidding.", she added laughingly, "I don't think that I'm talented or anything of the sort but there were many things I had in mind for so long and that's why I had to..."

"Paige! You. Are. Talented!", I interrupted her.

"I'm serious. You start to develop an unknown and new side of yours and I love it! I never thought I'd say that but I'm proud of you..."

"Calm down, JJ. It's not like I'm going to become famous immediately. I'm not sure whether to publish these songs or not..."

"Just do it if you feel like it. But if I were you, I probably would..."

"Alright alright, I get it! I'll see, maybe I have to make some improvements first..."

■

That's how it went on this evening. Paige and I were talking about music and discussed so many other things. It was the longest conversation I've ever had with her and it filled me with so much happiness. We weren't exactly on the same wavelength, but at least I was able to find out what were her main interests. The same thing goes with me. She was finally able to find out what was going on in my life. I even talked about Sullivan, and she listened to me with interest and respect, for which I was very grateful. I was fascinated to hear her opinion. Paige likes music from the 1990s era and she loves vintage stuff. She even opened up about her dreams and desires.

"I really want to accomplish something in my life. But for a long time I didn't know what I wanted to be. As you know, I don't have a job yet, so I thought about working in the office or in a store while I'll be working on my music. Sounds logical, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it is! Go for it! But are you going to leave us...?"

The very idea that my sister will soon live an independent life is unimaginable to me and, to be honest, it makes me a little sad.

"Probably. I'll have to find an appartment by myself. I can't stay forever in here..."

"Right."

"Don't be sad, silly. On the bright side, you probably get to keep our room by yourself when I'm leaving..."

"For your information: I'll probably have to share it with Sally!", I groaned.

"Oh, silly me, I forgot about that. Sorry."

She didn't look like she was sorry at all, on the contrary, she grinned mischieviously at me. Sally was our little sister and she had to share a room with our parents so far. Unfortunately, our appartment is not that big and sharing a room with Sally would be definitely a pain in the ass.

We would have continued our conversation but it was getting late. When it was time to go to sleep, I had to ask her one more question.

"Can I show them to Kioko?", I asked her and added quickly,

"Only if you're okay with it! I didn't want to show them anybody else in the first place but Kioko would be quite interested and she would never tell a single soul about it."

"It's okay.", she said and smiled. That's what left me be astonished. My sister? And smiling genuinly? Something's wrong, I could feel it. But I couldn't help but smile back at her. It was so peaceful at this moment, that questioning things and speaking about uneasy topics would only ruin it. But deep down inside, I was just proud of her and I knew that I was so wrong for having a bad impression of her.

I knew it was dumb from my part to judge her and call her a failure when I had actually no idea what she was doing. Perhaps I haven't paid enough attention to her, so I believed that she was doing nothing productive in her life. Well then, shame on me...

Now that I had the chance to get to know her better, I can be sure about that Paige is definitely not someone who I should be worried about. She hardly has any friends but she is a grown woman and I think she's going to figure out how to deal with this problem somehow. She even told me to stop worrying all time and start trusting her instead. I guess I'm going to leave it all to her.

The following days I listened to her songs all over again and began to love them even more. Every one of them had different messages but none of these songs failed to give me an earwig. One song was about love and heartbreak, the other was about redemption, one was about missing someone and the last one was about growing up. That was exactly what I needed for my playlist.

As I intended it, I showed the songs to Kioko and what can I say? She was absolutely thrilled. She fantasized enthusiastically about a career as musician for my sister the entire time.

"I can sense a potential career! I wouldn't be surprised if she'd start out as a newcomer. Maybe she is getting the attention by someone from the music industry... Do you think that she would stand a chance to be noticed?"

"I don't know but I'm sure she's going to take things slow first. After all, she decides what she's doing with her life."