Chrom woke up with a strange pain in her centromere.
She panicked at once. It couldn't be. Was the cell really old enough? And what would happen then?
Cell division scared her to bits, and not even in the way in which it scared high-schoolers the day before an exam. What she feared was getting too attached to her sister chromatid, like what happened last time.
Chro was chrom's best friend, her whole life. And then, in the blink of an eye, she was gone.
"Wake up!" she said to Som, one of her forty-six roommates. "Do you feel it, too?"
Som sat up. "Uh oh," she said.
"I'm too young to be a sister!" panicked Mos, another roommate. Then suddenly, the sister chromatids started to form.
Chrom stared at her sister. And stared, and stared, and stared. Could it be? Chro, in the same cell as her again?
"You're back," she whispered, hoping it was her, hoping against the impossible that it was Chro, that she could hug her and laugh at her jokes again.
But some dreams aren't meant to come true.
"Are you my sister?" said the chromatid in a childlike way. No, it wasn't Chro. Despite the absolute impossiblity of her dream, she still felt something die inside of her.
"Yes," she said. She began to remember how it felt when she was pulled away from Chro. How afraid she felt. How alone.
She then shook the thought away. They were still in the interphase, there was still time. She could explain to her sister everything.
"What's your name?" said Chrom, then realized it was a stupid question. All their names were composed of some part of the word 'Chromosomes', and a letter was added every generation.
"Chromo," said her sister.
Then Chrom told her about cell division. The centrioles, the centrosomes, the spindle fibers, everything. She told her they'd have to leave each other soon, that their time together was limited.
"But I don't want to leave!" said Chromo, reminding Chrom of her own words to Chro.
"I know, sweetie," said Chrom, "but sooner or later, all cells divide. It's the way things are."
Chromo looked depressed. But then she smiled and said, "Then we should spend the best time together while we can."
And they did. In Chromo, Chrom saw her young self, and in herself she saw Chro. She knew what Chro had felt now; like she never wanted it to end. She knew her younger sister would be terrified, and she knew there was nothing she could do about it.
Yet they both knew it would end. And when the nucleus began to disappear, it was more misery than fear that seized both their hearts.
The centrosomes began to take their places.
"Chrom," whispered Chromo. Chrom could see the fear in her eyes, and it hurt. It hurt to see her so scared. She wanted to do something about it, but what? There was absolutely nothing she could do about it.
"It's okay, Chromo," said Chrom. "It's going to be alright. You'll get there, to the new cell, it will be beautiful. You'll make friends there. It's not as bad as you think. Trust me, I know."
She was just babbling at this point, convincing herself more than she was convincing Chromo.
"I don't want friends," sobbed the chromatid, "I don't want anything in the world. You could send me to live in the best brain cell there is, but I'll refuse. Because there's nothing more important than family. Please, Chrom, please don't let them take me!"
"I can't," whispered Chrom, weakened by her emotions. "I'm just a little chromosome-"
"But I am that chromosome too! We can change the way things are, Chrom!"
They felt it at the same time; the spindle fiber piercing their centromere. It didn't hurt physically, but emotionally.
Chromo shook her head. "Chrom, PLEASE."
"I can't.. do anything," said Chrom, "Even if we try, Chromo, what will the results be? A cell with 45 chromosomes and another with 47? We could ruin a perfectly healthy human body."
Chromo shook her head once more, but softly this time. She seemed to have finally given up. Then, suddenly, she wrapped herself around her sister.
"I'll miss you." she sobbed.
"Me too, sweetheart," said Chrom, "Me too."
They each felt the spindle fibers' tugs, in different directions but at the same time.
"Goodbye forever, sis," whispered Chromo. Chrom didn't reply. She didn't feel like she needed to.
She caught a final glimpse of her sister right before the nucleus wall returned. Through the cleavage furrow she could still see her, a blur of chromatin inside a distant nucleus. Then cytokinesis took place, and Chrom lost her sister forever.
