Emerald Leaf

Changeling

Akina had been weak and frail for as long as she had known anything and that was for almost seven years. She was two years younger than Haru, and she was supposed to be lively like all the other kids her age; she should be playing in the park, telling her mother stories, and walking home to school with her brother.

But she could do none of that.

She spent most of her days in the hospital, staring at the sky, wishing she could someday dream like everyone else, someday live like everyone else. But hope was a fleeting thing.

She sat on the hospital bed, pulling her knees to her chest as white covered her vision, and the door opened. Akina plastered a smile on her face, but as soon as she saw Haru walking in, her smile became softer and less strained. Akina knew she wasn't really his sister; the trees had whispered it to her. She hoped someday he'd meet the one who was supposed to have grown up with him.

"Akina, how are you?"

"As usual," she responded.

Haru held up a book, as Akina clapped a hand to her mouth in surprise. She had simply mentioned in passing that the book was being released; she did not truly expect him to get it for her. This was one of the things she loved about her brother–he never forgot anything she said.

Haru smiled. "Would you like me to read to you?"

"Of course." Akina snuggled into her blankets and watched as Haru pulled a chair to her bedside.

"Once upon a time, in the land under the hill..." he started as the stars shone down through the window, almost as if mocking the time they had left.

On a day Akina was feeling better, Haru took her down to the park. It was just a gentle stroll in the park, but to Akina, it showed her everything that could have been hers. Haru told her stories from school. Akina had never been to school, so everything he said about that place seemed foreign to her. But the way Haru described it, she felt like she was there in the school, hearing the sound of chalk on the board, the laughter in the hallways, the sudden hush when a teacher walked in; Akina could see it all unfolding before her. She loved the way Haru's green eyes seemed to light up whenever he spoke of science and math.

Someday, someday, Akina would learn everything too. And someday, she'd be at the library he spoke of, she'd someday accompany him home, she'd be able to see that side of him she had never seen before.

Dear mother, father and brother... Akina began writing. The words flowed out of her, as she wrote the truth the trees had told her in a childish scrawl. Akina left the letter inside the frame of the only photograph beside her hospital bed, a photo of her with her family. She wondered if they would ever find it, but she decided to leave it for them anyway.

Haru and his parents stood before the coffin. His mother's green eyes, once bright with joy, were now clouded with the darkness that came with sorrow. In contrast, the sky was clear, the sun shone, almost as if the universe mocked their loss. She was gone, and yet the world continued as it always had. His mother, tears streaming her cheeks, squeezed Haru's shoulder. Haru placed a hand on hers as if to comfort her. He could feel the pressure in his throat, the thorns pricking his heart as he looked into the coffin, where his only sister lay. Haru squeezed the book in his hand, as he recited the words from memory, "Once upon a time, in the land under the hill..."

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A few years later, when Grief had loosened its hold on him, Haru ran into a girl in the park, her green eyes hazy and unfocused. His heart stopped in his throat. With the sandy hair blowing around her shoulders and sparkling green eyes, she was a perfect replica of Akina, but Haru knew it was unlikely, unless she was a ghost. He watched as she almost tripped among a circle of rocks, and grabbed her hand automatically. She looked at him, the cloudiness in her eyes clearing just a bit.