My Only Twin

Linear walked quietly down a strangely quiet street, her blond hair wafting behind her in the wind of the day. It had been a long time since she'd walked down this road- a road no longer stored in her mind as a place to remember, yet still remembered fully in her muscle memory. The dirt road that led to a cemetery was not one often traveled, which was made obvious by the lack of any sign of life down the road. As she walked down the road on her own, she took a deep breath before fully entering the cemetery.
         She found the two stones engraved with her family name. Already in front of them sat a girl with the same hair as she, though shorter, eyes watering. The girl looked towards Linear, then back at the graves. There were two, side by side, engraved with two very distinct names. Ivan Carina and  Jasmine Carina. Each one stated they were parents and married. Each stated they died in a case of arson. The dates on them were almost identical- Jasmine being just a year or two younger than Ivan, though they died at the same time. Linear looked to the girl who had been there before her. Aquamarine eyes watered and let tears roll down the girl's cheeks. Linear, however, could not cry. She had no memories to force her into it.
         “I'm sorry... I hate letting you see me like this, Lin...” The crying girl rushed to her, hugging onto her tightly.
         “Kana...” Linear barely spoke a word as her sister held her tightly. Seeing her sister cry, her eyes began to well up slightly. “I don't know why...But seeing Kana cry...Makes me want to cry too.”
         “Linear...”
         “I don't remember them at all. I can't...Remember anything. Most of my memories are still suppressed. No matter how hard I try...While I can see the fire...I can't see anything before it when I try to look back. The fire...It's my only memory of them anymore... But I remember Kana. I remember seeing Kana again after ten years. And...I remember that I haven't seen Kana cry once. And so seeing Kana cry is scary...”
         “I'm sorry if it scares you Linear... I just really...”
         “I know.” Linear smiled, hugging her sister gently before pulling away. Kana gave her a quick glance, before noticing Linear's hand reaching into her pocket. When it came out, it was accompanied by a piece of blue ceramic with holes- the ocarina passed down to the musically adept in the Carina family for ages. “Kana can sing, right? Let's play a song for them. Singing always seems to make Kana smile. Maybe it'll make them smile too!”
         “Where did you get that idea all of the sudden? You sound too much like Ray.”
         Linear giggled upon hearing her sister's words, smiling. “You can tell? I was hoping to make it less obvious. But... I really do want to see Kana smile again.” She looked at the graves quietly. “Ray and I can't remember a lot of things the way Kana and Sam can. Our memories are still lost. But...” She looked to her sister soon after. “I may have lost my memories of them... But I have my memories now, don't I? And they're our parents. So...Seeing us smile, I think...I think that's what would make them happiest. Richard says that the smiles of his children are his greatest treasure...So maybe it's the same for all parents. Isn't it worth a try?”
         “You do realize we'll get in trouble if we make too much noise, right, Linear?” Kana looked at her sister with a frown. Though her crying had stopped, she was still concerned. Linear however just nodded, smiling.
         “We're just making music to make our parents smile. The plants like music and so do we. So I'm sure the spirits do too!” Linear giggled easily, smiling at the graves. “Let's play a song we've been playing at home for them. Let's let them know we're okay, so they can rest easy. We're not alone anymore, after all. They were probably worried these past ten years, but...They don't have to worry anymore. We're together again.” Linear nodded to Kana. “Let's show that to them in song.”
         Kana smiled and agreed, though much to her better judgement. Linear hadn't changed, even after ten years of separation. She was still the quiet dreamer, who would suddenly burst out into song and reckless deviations if she thought it could help. But somehow, in the back of her mind, Kana was grateful for it. After all, Linear was very special. She was Kana's very important friend- and even more so, her only twin. And that was the way they'd always stay.
         As the two walked out of the cemetery hand in hand, smiling and laughing with one another, Kana looked towards the sky. “It's already getting dark out...Were we really out that late?”
         “Let's have curry for dinner.” Linear smiled easily to her sister, but Kana's eyes were closed slightly as she sighed in disgust.
         “Really, Linear...Again? We just had curry yesterday. And the day before. Will you really never get sick of it?”          
         “But curry is the best!” Linear giggled, smiling. “And it's the only thing you can really make, last I checked. I wanted to taste Kana's curry again this time.” Kana laughed nervously to this response.
         “You really will never change. Ten years, and you still just want curry all the time. But... Well, at least it makes life simple. My simple little sister...” Kana sighed, then smiled, and then laughed quite loud. “Even if you're clueless, easily scared and reckless all in one, I couldn't ask for a better sister. Now, hurry up. If you don't hurry, we won't be able to make the curry well.” Kana ran ahead, and Linear followed, laughing. In the back of Kana's mind, however, a few words continued to ring. Mom...Dad...We're going to keep smiling. So you smile too. We're not alone anymore...We'll be okay. So you go ahead and rest. We'll take care of ourselves from here.

FIN
This story is 1046 words.