Eva

Part One: Eva

Eva: 'life, living one'.
Even her name meaning is more exciting than mine.
Lyla means 'night', which I suppose is accurate.
Eva is life, music, art, magic. I - Lyla - am just those dark cold nights where you don't know what to do with yourself - when it's too early to sleep but too late to eat or go out.
Eva.
You couldn't help but love her.
I guess she didn't want all that love, though. If she did, maybe she wouldn't have left.

4 years previously
It was dark in the kitchen, probably because it was 5 am and winter. I had woken up suddenly and spotted my sister's empty bed across from mine. I heard a strange sniffling sound from inside the kitchen, and switched the lights on.
"Mom? Where is Eva?"
My eyes were wide and confused as I watched my mother sobbing over a sheet of paper at the kitchen table. I reached over to read the letter but my mother pulled it just out of reach.
"She'll probably come back soon, Lyla. You know how she is."
I frowned. "But when? She was supposed to take me out for lunch today."
My mom gave a shuddering sigh. "She says she wants to have some freedom and go out and live her life."
"Oh."
"She's seventeen damn years old. She's seventeen and I don't know where she is and she won't answer her phone." My mother's voice was raised and I was starting to panic.
"Oh. It's ok, Mom. She will come back." Tears were starting to well up in my eyes.
"Sorry, sweetie, I didn't mean to upset you. Go back to bed, you shouldn't be up yet."
"Okay."
I went back to bed but didn't sleep. I couldn't stop staring at her empty bed.