2|| Whispers in the Wind

24|| patchwork

Kalyani

When she woke up, it was 8 AM. Her phone lay in front of her, the call with Wilder disconnected. She had one new notification.

www.ilder.com

good night 🌙

Kalyani

good morning ⛄

She needed to change his silly contact name. Maybe one day, it would be something corny that she would've laughed at before. Suddenly thinking about Leo and Evelyn's relationship, Kalyani caught herself. This was a reach- her crush on Wilder wasn't going to progress anytime soon, and they had bigger fish to fry at the moment. There would be time later.

Aria was still asleep, curled up on the far left of the bed. She looked like a little kid, and well, that's kind of what they were. Kalyani felt a little spark of outrage that they had to handle something so huge without any support from their elders. Of course, telling any adults with the exception of maybe Mr. Stone would result in being locked inside their homes forever. 

The adult in Kalyani and Aria's life was especially distant. She loved her parents, cared for them, but a little part of her was resentful. Her mother's neglect fell upon both of the girls, but it was especially obvious with Aria. There was a time that every conversation between the two would result in an explosion, and Kalyani would sit with her dad in the kitchen, both snacking on fruit bars and pretending that the voices screaming down the hall weren't there.

Early on, Kalyani had fit herself into the mold her mother had set for her. It was easy for her, since she genuinely had an interest in math and science and books. She got lucky, not having to force herself to be someone else. Aria was similar in some ways, but different in most. Her interests deviated from her sister's. She was spontaneous and bold, too expressive to be contained. She was much braver in that sense- if Kalyani had been born with Aria's interests, she'd still try to conform to whatever her mom wanted.

Aria, on the other hand, just couldn't. She'd spent months trying to convince their mom to let her pursue design, showing her detailed sketches of dresses and insanely cool jackets. When negotiation failed, she resorted to shutting herself off from the others. At first, mom thought she could scare her into snapping out of it, but eventually, she'd given up too. And the distance piled on until Aria's grades were slipping and she started being the model of a bad student just to get her mom's attention. 

And Kalyani, though she hated to admit, distanced herself from her sister. Gods, what a superiority complex. Kalyani had spent so long being ashamed of her sister, when really she should've been ashamed of herself. She wanted to fix it somehow; promised herself she would one day.

But there might not be a 'one day'. What if their confrontation with Roxanne ended badly? What if one of them didn't come back? Kalyani had to get through to both Aria and her mom.

She got up quietly, careful to not wake her sister up. A quick look out the window told her that their dad was at work. This meant backup support was gone and she needed to tread twice as carefully. Kalyani chewed on a mint, deciding that brushing her teeth would be too noisy and she could do that after Aria awoke. 

Sheets rustled and drawers closed in the main bedroom, a sign that her mom was there. With a very gentle knock, she asked, "Mom. Can we talk?"