We Are Missing Love

The Only Thing We Need

I woke with a start and a shiver.

          "What's wrong, Kieran?" my sister, Kiki, grinned. "Aren't you excited? Today's Mother's Day!"

          "Yes, of course." I sighed. I was only half-awake after an all-night study session. School had to go and give me all this work the day before Kiki and I were to become independent. Despite the fact that Kiki was my twin, she didn't go to school. She had been born with a defect, something that shouldn't have happened due to the advanced genetic screening Mother had had done. Despite the defect which meant she couldn't think like everyone else, Mother had argued with and defied the State to keep her alive. It was a burden on me, and no one else. I would always be her guardian. I could not pursue a romantic relationship with anyone because of her.

          "C'mon, Key." Kiki sighed, hands on her hips. "Yesterday was the official last day of school. Don't tell me you're planning on going more?"

          "Don't call me that. And yes, I do plan on learning all that I possibly can in these next few weeks. I have goals, you know."

          "Yeah, to be senior President. Come on, you don't want to be late."

          Kiki and I gathered in the town square, to witness the last speech our Mother would ever make. After this, she would be taken to the Senior Center and put to sleep. I was glad. After all the trouble she put me through to take care of poor little Kiki, I would be glad to see the Peace Officers take her away. Not to mention that everyone had to go through this eventually. It had to be done before the child reached age eighteen, to reduce mental scarring. Kiki and I were right on the edge. It was time. I had not made my peace with it, because there was no peace to be made. It was right. It was good. It was humane.

          "Ladies, do you wish to say goodbye?" Despite the fact that no one ever said yes, a Peace Officer had to ask anyway. But there was no need. Life was a cruel thing, and everyone knew it. Most of us hated our parents. They were so stupid, so wrong about everything. Mother had told Kiki and I of a time when there was hunger, there was pain, and there was war, but there was also freedom. She said that where we lived now was once the first truly free place in the world. She said it was called "America". It was lies, every last story.

          Kiki ended up being the first person in living memory to say 'yes' to the Peace Officer. I shook my head at her. Without knocking, the Officer sailed in, interrupting the nurse at Mother's bedside. She was holding a bottle of a clear liquid, and at once I knew. This was how it would end for Mother. The fact didn't bother me. It made me glad. Suddenly, the nurse was there. She said 'I'm sorry' and whispered in my ear that it was done already. I told her she had no need to be sorry, and she left. Then it was the Officer, Kiki, Mother, and I. Suddenly, Kiki let out a wail. One glance at Mother's slack face and I knew why. Despite everything she had done, Kiki had loved Mother. As grief tore through my twin's face, the face that mirrored mine in every way but one, I knew. As grief made itself known in every shining tear that fell from my kind sister's loving face, I knew. I knew that this was wrong, that people should not be taken before their time. That society was wrong, that people were missing something fundamental, something they had been longing for without knowing. Something they couldn't live without, and yet had.

          We are missing love.