A Collection Of Short Stories

Let's Go

A story about letting go, twins, and letters.

"We are going to New York City!!!" Mara exclaimed, jumping up and down on the balls of her feet. Aanya smiled at her daughter's enthusiasm, trying-and failing-to be as joyful as her, as a queasy feeling encompassed her instead.

They finished dinner and sent Mara off to bed, telling her they'd have a big day of packing tomorrow. The second they heard her humming come to an end, Aanya let the worried frown she'd been holding back appear on her face.

"You sure it has to be New York, hon?" she asked, knowing her wife Sophia was going to nod just as she had the last 28 times Aanya asked.

"Look, you don't have to go if you don't want to, but... I don't have a choice, and you can't keep Mara cooped up here and never let her go on a vacation."

"I know, but what if-"

"There isn't a dangerous virus killing millions of people all around the world anymore, Aanya. And if you can't come I'll still take good care of her. You need to let go."

She sighs and nods wearily, her mind immediately flashing back to a memory of her. Ava said those exact words to her the day she was leaving and Aanya wouldn't stop hugging her.

"You need to let go. I'll be back soon anyway, drama queen."

Aanya didn't know it then, but that would be the last time she'd be with her twin sister.

The trip started off normal. They were thirteen, and they just wanted to test what it would be like away from each other for a while. No little kids staring at them with wide eyes and a wide mouth, no kids their age asking them endless and nonsensical questions like, 'Why don't you wear the same clothes?" or, "Can you feel each other's pain?" and every once in a while, "Can you read each other's minds?"

They just needed a break to try and be normal for a couple weeks and then come back and be together again.

Aanya, being the homebody she was, stayed with their mom while Ava had gone to NYC with their dad. They were both so excited, making sure to set a time to call every single night so they would stay connected. The trip was going absolutely amazing-at least until the Covid-19 pandemic hit. It had been showing up on international news but was totally downplayed, making it seem as though it was safe to travel. So Ava had gone, but a week after she had been staying at the hotel, news reached of a lot of covid cases in New York.

Since there were still two more weeks left of their vacation, Aanya's family-being the naive people they were-decided Ava and their father could get a chance to finish their vacation.

They didn't.

After the second week ended and the twins were separated for an unknown amount of time, Ava got an idea.

Dearest Aanya,

Remember when we were younger and we fantasized about writing letters to each other? Like if we found out we were princesses but only one of us wanted to live in a castle, so we'd write long letters to each other about our 'lives'? Well, since it's kind of like that now, I was thinking that maybe we could do that again! But there's another twist: the letters would take forever to reach, so we could just type emails in letter format! It would be just as easy and fun, but a whole lot faster, right? What do you think? Everyone says quarantine won't last long anyway, so we won't have to do this until we're like 18 or something.

I love you and miss you and hope you think about my suggestion,

Ava

P.S. I'm calling you before I go to bed anyway so we can talk then.