It was an accident

17.

The two continued to run through the lush woods, eventually coming to a dirt path that had been worn through the underbrush. Amayeli slowed to a walk and altered course to travel on the dirt path. 

"That's weird," Kanata frowned down at the path, "I don't remember a path being over this way." It didn't look like a freshly made path, but there was no way it had been there for very long--otherwise he would have remembered it. How in the world did it get here?

There was silence for a brief moment before Amayeli looked back to meet her brother's eye once more. Her gaze was not as intimidating as it had been moments before, and she looked at him with a questioning expression that matched her tone as she spoke. "Is it weird that I think this looks familiar?"

Kanata shook his head with a sigh, "I mean, I guess not since your head is so screwed up."

"Hey!" Amayeli's features contorted in indignance, "My head is not screwed up!"

"Oh, really?" Kanata teased, "Mother says you hit it so hard that bits of your mind flew out."

"I did not! My mind is fine!" Amayeli shouted, yanking her brother's hand for emphasis. Kanata simply giggled in response to his sister's pout.

"Come on, you know I'm just joking around," he laughed, swinging their joined hands around as he went to walk beside his sister instead of behind her.

Amayeli gave a "hmph," in reply as she bumped into him sideways, knocking him to the side and almost off of the path. Kanata quickly regained his footing and gave her a playful scowl before shoving her with his own shoulder in retaliation. The two immediately burst into giggles and continued to playfully shove each other back and forth as they walked until their sides began to ache. 

Soon, the children came upon the end of the path, paying more attention to their little game than what lay ahead of them. Amayeli gave Kanata a final shove, underestimating her strength and sending him stumbling sideways to the ground. The girl quickly went to help him up, only to falter when he directed her attention to something else.

"Oh, wow," The words fell from Kanata's mouth as he stared past Amayeli. She followed her brother's line of sight, her eyes falling on a scattering of buildings made from wood and earth. Amayeli felt her brother sit up beside her as they both stared at the new scenery. 

This time, it was Kanata who took Amayeli's hand, pulling her up with him as he urged his sister forward. They walked towards the buildings in awe, realizing that two of the biggest structures had been set on fire a while before they had arrived. Charred skeletons were the only things left of the two structures that still released trails of black smoke into the sky. The few remaining flames were buried out of sight, only alerting the twins to their presence with their gluttonous crackling as they continued to consume what little of the buildings were left. 

Amayeli absently slipped her hand out of her brother's grasp as she walked forward, passing one of the still-intact buildings to circle the remains of the closest burning building. Kanata went over to investigate the building she had passed without her, but Amayeli found herself unable to care. These buildings must have been the things that she had felt compelled to explore, so why did she feel that something was missing? The girl did a full visual scan of the burnt and collapsed remains of the building, having fully adjusted to her limited vision by now. She could still feel that pulling in her chest but, unlike before, there was no direction to follow. Amayeli was certain that  there was something else she needed to find, there had to be, but it was nowhere to be found. What made everything even more frustrating was that the clearing seemed familiar, like she had seen it before -- she could even picture what the large buildings had looked like before they had been burned down. If her life depended on describing why or how, she would be dead where she stood, but she still couldn't shake the feeling. Her discomfort was written all over her face as she stood staring at what used to be the entrance to the large building.