Navia And Destiny

Destiny

Navia made her way down the steps of Destiny's memory void. 

She looked around, walls of Destiny's life throughout the years beaming with memories.

Science fairs, class presentations, field trips, badminton practice.
The usual "Destiny routine."

One memory in particular caught Navia's attention.

Destiny's breathing was heavy as she looked down at her foot that anxiously tapped vigorously against the floor.
She was surrounded by people who sat around her.
She looked to her side where three empty chairs were.
She looked up and stared at a skinny man who stood by a microphone and opened an envelope.
"And the winner of the junior engineer fair bee is...Jacobs! Destiny Jacobs!" 
The crowd roared with applause.
Destiny made her way to the front while stopping to look back at the set of empty chairs.

Navia sighed. "Destiny?!"

She listened for an answer. Nothing.

"Where is that little dirt bag?"

Navia's attention was caught once more by another one of Destiny's memories.
Deep hoarse female voices mumbled in a distance as Destiny crouched behind a dumpster in a dark alley.
She was breathing heavily and shaking.
"Ran off. She got lucky."

"That was the day you were supposed to pick me up."

Navia's eyes widened. "Destiny?!"

She followed the trail that she thought would lead to where Destiny responded from.

"Shoot."

Dead end.

A wall of memories blocked any path she thought would be there.

"I tried walking home but I got lost."

"Destiny please. Please come out."

"The ladies kept following me around and when I ran, so did they."

Navia rested her forehead on the wall before her.

"Please," she whispered softly.

"You look great Dee."

Navia rose her head and stared at the memory that began to play.
She gasped.
Somehow, she had stumbled inside Destiny's memory.
She looked at Destiny who was in the school bathroom in her prom dress.
She stared at the two girls who complemented her in the mirror.
"Thanks. "
"And we're sorry about the afternoon ceremony. Heard your sister didn't make it."
"Oh," Destiny furrowed her brows and stopped washing her hands, staring down at the the water running through her fingers. "It's cool. Pretty sure something came up. Adulthood...am I right?"
The girls giggled.
"You don't have to keep covering for her," one said.
"Yeah," the other agreed. "She dropped out of highschool years ago so she's obviously not busy with college. What could've been coming up for three years?"
The giggles continued.
"I'm sorry," Destiny said as she turned the tap off. "But I don't think you're in any place to talk about what my sister is and isn't up to. So if I say something came up, you take that for an answer and it ends there."
Destiny watched their baffled expressions in the mirror and watched them walk out, mumbling between themselves.
The girls walked right through Navia.
"Sheesh, what's her problem?"
"Beats me."
Destiny stared at herself in the mirror, raging tears streaming down her face.
"The day's almost over Dee," she whispered to herself, wiping her tears before they could reach her prom dress. "It's almost over."
Destiny walked out of the room, right through Navia.

The memory ceased to play and Navia stood there, silent.

She was back in the void.

Her eyes squinted, trying to stop the tears that were making their way down.

"Dee?"

Still, no answer.

"I don't know if you're listening, but if you are... I'm sorry."

She shuddered as she held back a quiver.

"Yes. You were adopted twelve years ago. I was completely not on board when mum and dad first told me they were planning to adopt. I was a selfish kid. But...but then you came for the foster care period and I cried my heart out when we had to take you back before everything could be legalised. You changed my life in so many ways an eight year old could ever imagine and I let myself forget that."

Destiny, on the other side of the same memory wall, sat on the floor and hugged her knees.

Hearing Navia's voice through her sobs made her sound a certain way it had never sounded before.

Sorry.

"And then you started to grow into one of the smartest and most talented people I've ever known. Each time you did something you already had done, it was better than before. Then better and better and I...I know it's dumb but I was fifteen and jealous of my ten year old sister."

Destiny frowned at the last sentence.

"That jealousy turned into embarrassment and that embarrassment turned into hate. I hated myself for the way I treated you but I continued doing it hoping you would hate me back and I'd have something to use to defend myself but there was nothing. There was nothing I could say against you Destiny because you chose to love and...and stand up for me even though I did everything in my power to be a horrible sister. I will never...ever deserve your forgiveness but..."-

"...but?"

Navia turned with a jolt.
Tears made their way down faster as soon as she saw Destiny.
As though she was worried she had lost Destiny even though she knew she was there.

But there's nothing worse than being nothing but an image.

"Dee!" She exclaimed as the two ran into each other's arms. "I'm so so sorry. I shouldn't have blamed it all on you and"-

"Navia"

"It was never your fault and I should've never said it was"-

"Navia?"

"Please just"-

"Navia! It's getting kinda hard to breathe down here."

"Oh."

Navia pulled away.

Slowly.

As though she was afraid Destiny would slip a bit too far away.

"I'm here... I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm sorry Dee," Navia sobbed, tears still making their way down. "I'm sorry for everything."

"Navia?"

"Yeah."

"It's okay."