The Guardians of Alfajiri: Beginning

Things won't be the same anymore

It was like someone had planted a bomb in the house. The explosion was so loud that it had awakened the neighbours who had to call the fire fighters. The adults tried to ask the girls questions but Brenda stared at the teddy bear in her arms, completely ignoring them, a distant look in her eyes.

It was as if she was in denial. Wishing it was all a bad dream she would wake up from and see Kim walk in her room and kiss her goodnight-- but she knew better. Her sister was gone and she was not coming back.

Briana didn't look any better. She looked at the stars with tears streaming down her face, sobs racking through her tiny body.

It was all her fault. If she didn't run back to her room, Kim wouldn't have been hurt, she wouldn't have to fight all those monsters and she would still be alive. Maybe they could have outrun them and lost them. She was so sorry, she wished she could tell this to her sister.

Brenda kept on sobbing and blaming herself. She wanted to rip her hair out, scream at the universe for being so unfair. How could the world be so cruel to them? They didn't do anything wrong, they had been good. Why do bad things happen to good people anyway?

'How was it your fault honey?' a kind neighbour asked.

She didn't realise she was speaking out loud.

'Because big sister went back to save me', she sniffed.

The woman took pity on her and she hated it. She didn't deserve it when she got her sister killed. The kind lady tried to tell her it was not, however, Brenda wailed and cried harder. All she could do was hug her and try to comfort them but it felt wrong. They wanted Kim and only Kim. But she was gone and they would never see her again, feel her warm embrace or receive her gentle smiles.

The authorities called their parents to come and take them home. Their older brother didn't seem to care, the second oldest sister, Rachael, put all the blame on Brenda and even attacked her, making her feel worse, until she had to apologise when their father scolded her.

'This is your entire fault', Rachael hissed through her teeth. 'She died because of you and I HATE YOU FOR IT!'.

'Rachael!' their mother scolded.

She turned and sprinted to her room.

Brenda buried her face into her hands, bringing her knees closer to her chest as she cried. She felt big strong arms wrap around her. She removed her face from her hands and looked up.

'It's not your fault', her father said. He took out a handkerchief and wiped her nose.

'Do you ha-hate me?' she inhaled. Brenda flinched, waiting for an answer.

Her father looked bewildered. 'Of course not Brenda, I will never hate you'.

The child nodded and clutched his shirt, burying her face into his chest.

He sighed and looked up to the ceiling. His dark skin glistened in the dim light and his dark eyes held do much pain. Brenda couldn't bear to look at him, especially when it was her doing he lost a daughter. Brenda could feel his muscles tense. He clutched his left fist so hard as if he wanted to punch something.

She wouldn't blame him, she felt like she deserved all the backlash and beating. She didn't understand why he was not doing anything but defend her from her mean sister, and telling her she's not to blame when they should.

'Brenda', their mum started. Her hair was ruffled like she just got out of bed and her beautiful hazel eyes looked exhausted. 'Kim wouldn't blame you, so you shouldn't', she turned to Briana. 'You were so brave taking your sister out'.

Both their eyes crammed with tears again and their mother hugged Briana while their father said comforting words in Brenda's ear as they cried themselves to sleep. She felt him carry her to the room and place her on the same bed with her twin.

Once the door closed Brenda shock her sister.

'Hey, you awake?.

Briana rubbed her eyes. 'Yeah, what is it'.

Her bottom lip trembled. 'Do you hate me?'

'No', was her answer.

'Why?'

Briana seemed to think about the best way to respond to that. 'Because you're my sister... we should stick together. It's something Kim would want'.

Brenda sniffed and Briana hugged her. 'We should take care of each other'.

As they slept, Brenda thought she heard a distant laugh in the background, saying 'You should've agreed to the deal'.

She'll wake up with no memories to that.