Sweet Nothing

1

The Fisher twins were known wherever they went. Conrad and Abigail. Abigail and Connie. You never saw one of them without the other and that's how they liked it. But things were changing.

The day they found out their mother's cancer came back was the beginning of the end. Their entire universe had collapsed right on top of them. It didn't matter that Conrad was supposed to be playing football at Brown. It didn't matter that Abigail was supposed to be playing soccer at Yale until her ACL decided to snap. Nothing mattered except their mom.

Conrad pulled away from everyone and everything, including Abigail. His twin, though, took a different approach. She partied and did whatever she could to ignore the ticking clock on her mother's life. If she could pretend to be normal, maybe everything would work itself out in the end.

They decided not to tell Jeremiah for the same reason they did the things they did. He didn't need to know. Ignorance is bliss after all. However, Abigail couldn't help the guilt that ripped open her chest every time she heard him talk about the future. He'd be alone. It was all on him to deal with and they were keeping him in the dark? It wasn't fair. But neither was their mom having cancer.

Soon they'd be in Cousins, Abigail's favorite place to escape. Bad breakups, bad friends, her mom's cancer...none of it could touch her at the beach. She'd make sure of that.

----

The first few days in Cousins were never eventful. Cleaning, unpacking, forgetting that their dad existed. It was all very taxing and Abigail hated it. It wasn't until the Conklins finally rolled into town that things got interesting.

Abigail adored the Conklins. Laurel was like her second mom and Belly was the sister she never had. Steven was great too and she loved him, but their bond had nothing on the bond between Belly and Abigail. Needless to say, all she needed in a world crashing down around her was Cousins, her family, and the Conklins.

Conrad definitely needed it too.

"Look alive Connie," She peeked into her brother's bedroom and throwing a banana at him, nearly hitting him in the face. "Conklins are almost here."

He simply grunted as he caught the banana. They both had very different takes on how to react to their mother's condition. While both wanted to ignore it at all costs, Conrad was doing it by retreating into himself in a broody isolation while Abigail resolved to shove it down as far as possible and overcompensate by being as joyful as possible. On the inside, though, she was cracking.

"How the hell are you so cool?" Conrad spoke lowly, paranoid that just speaking it out loud would make the inevitable come faster.

Abigail, of the same mind, shook her head quickly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The twins stared at each other for a moment, their conflicting coping methods coming to a head.

Suddenly, Abigail reached out, gripping her brother's arm before he could run away. "Hey."

"Ow." He groaned, trying to yank away from her. She only gripped him harder.

"I barely touched you." She spoke deliberately. "Be cool."

He finally yanked himself free. "You first."

"Connie...." She tried, but he was gone.

She was left alone in the hallway. She hated being alone these days. That's when the void creeped in. Being alone used to be a form of solitude, now it was a form of anguish. Now it was the only thine she let her think about the fact that her world was over.

"They're here!" Her mother's voice was a welcome reprieve.

She sprinted downstairs away from the loneliness and away from the void. Almost immediately, she smacked into her baby brother, Jeremiah, knocking both of them over.