I Rememberred

     I woke up screaming. Again. I looked around, not seeing anything, but then again, I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. I sighed. I wanted to turn on my bedside lamp, but I didn't know if I could move. I was paralyzed by my dream.

     It was the same thing every night. My sister's face. She was scowling, gun in hand. My scream as I realized what she was doing. BOOM! The cold snow was drenched in scarlet.

     Why can't I remember anything else about that night almost a year ago? There was something that I am forgetting. I know it.

     "Amy...?" I turned abruptly, tangling my legs in my bed sheets. The wall was there, nothing else, but I heard her voice. I knew it well. I had the same one.My breathing heightened, but it wasn't the only breathing that I heard. It was getting closer. Slowly pulling itself off the floor and onto the bed. It crawled around me. I could feel the hot puffs of air on the back of my neck.

     "Amy!" The voice resonated through my head. I jumped for the lamp. It flickered on, causing the shadows to run from my room like rats. I froze, letting my heart beat return to normal. But then I heard it; the breathing. It was louder than before, and right behind me. I felt the left side of my bed sink down.

     I wanted to sink back into my warm bed and fall asleep, but I knew I couldn't. She was sucking me back into this. I tightened my grip on my bed cover. It was rough against my palm. I turned my head, hoping to see my room empty. But no, she was there, her back to me, sitting on my bed. My chest restricted; I couldn't breathe.

     "A...Alyssa?" I said. She didn't turn. She was crying. I felt her pain, her sadness, at the same time that I felt my fear. It was as if I was taking on both of our emotiins at the same time. I stretched my arm out slowly. She was still my sister. No matter what, she was still my sister. My hand was shaking as I put it on her shoulder. It was like ice.

     She began to turn her face to me slowly. I was paralyzed. At the second that her eyes met mine, it was like i was electricuted. Shock waves rolled through my body. There was a crash from behind me, and I turned my head. My hand hit the bed, and i looked back. She was gone. I let out a ragged breath that I didn't know I had been holding. Cold air leaked in through my open window.

     I leaned ove rmy bed to pick up the picture that had crashed to the floor. The crunch it had made sounded sickeningly like like a bone being broken. The glass on the frame was cold and smooth. I looked at the picture it contained. It was a picture of Alyssa and me. No one could ever tell who was who in our pictures together. We were twins.

     This picture was taken about one week before she had killed herself. We were wearing our matching jackets and snow boots. Both of our cheeks were covered in red splotches from the cold. The same smiles were plastered on our faces. We were more than just twins; we were best friends. At least thats what the picture frame told me, but  now it was cracked, a sharp, jagged line separating my sister and me. If we had ever really been as close as I thought we were, she would have told me that she was unhappy.

     To me, even only months before she had done it, she was the happiest person alive. We were close, but we had started to drift apart. She was friends with people I didn't know. She went out with her boyfriend more and more every week. That had scared me. It was like she was floating away on an invisible boat, but I was stuck on the shore. I had no way of knowing that her boat was sinking. I shoould have held on tighter.

     The smell of smoke pulled me to the window. It had to be in our yard; it was close enough for me to taste the ash on my tongue. I looked into our yard and sure enough, there was a small fire just past the front line of trees that led into the woods. The lighting from my room glinted on the white ground around my house. It revealed a pair of footprints leading in the direction of the fire.

     I couldn't stop myself from pulling on my boots and my jacket. My heart was attempting to escape from my chest, but I had to go. Alyssa needed me. She was trying to tell me something, something I needed to remember. So I left the house.

     I immediately felt my sleepiness fade at the absence of heat. I was alert. The pine trees swayed above my head, intertwining their scent in the intoxicating smoke. The wind whistled, blowing my hair into my face. The snow crunched under my boots, creating two sets of footprints leading into the fire. It was exactly like that night.

     "Amy!" I spun, but just the night air was present. I looked back to my window. I couldn't turn around now. I walked with even steps to the fire. I was close. I could feel the heat  on  my skin. With one last glance at the house, I stepped up to the fire.

     "Alyssa?" She stood there, blinking at me. Then she smiled, but it was wrong. She turned to a bucket of water, and with a bizzare laugh, dumped it on the fire. I was momentarily blinded until my eyes adjusted to the darkness that surrounded me. Alyssa was gone.

     I heard her laugh again. She was giggling, running behind the trees, like a small child playing hide-and-seek. I saw her run to another tree.

     "Wait! Where are you going?" I started to follow her, slowly at first, but the i ran as she began to fade into the trees. My heart was pounding in my ears, and my breath was sharp. She laughed, behind me. Eyes wide, I spun around.

     "Alyssa...?" She had something in her hand, like that night. It was small and silver. It glinted in the moonlight. It was a gun. I waited for what I knew would happen next, but it didn't happen. She continued to look at me, not speaking. Then she smiled; I stepped forward.

     "I love you," she said, and in one solid movement she lifted the gun and pointed it at... me?

     "Alyssa!" BOOM!! And it hit me. That night. She never held that gun. The girl in my dreams was me. I had held the gun, not my sister.

     I rememberred it all. We were growing apart. She was going to leave me. She couldn't leave me. She was my sister, my twin, my best friend.

     I made her come outside to the fire, and it was I who put it out and ran away. It was she who had chased me. I rememberred.

     "Wait! Where are you going?" She had called. I ran behind her. The snow was not cold to me then. I wasn't afraid. "Amy...?" She was.

     "I love you. '

     "Amy!" BOOM!

     I rememberred.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey, guys. Thanks for reading!! I wrote this short story for my creative writing class a few months ago. I really liked writing it so I hope you liked reading it. If you did then vote or comment or BOTH! :D Haha. Please just tell me what you think. Also, if you have a better idea for a title, that would be greatly appreciated. :) Thanks again!!

one.4.three <3 Morgan :)