Vanilla Chaos

Chapter 22: Like Waves of the Ocean

"It was fairly obvious, to tell the truth." She slouched on the balcony, adjusting her wig, "Well, it was to me, anyway. Think about it: which oddly tall boy do I know who is currently in Paris and has a very good understanding of English? Avenelle-Jérôme. Who has already gotten in trouble for his graffiti? Avenelle-Jérôme. Who sees body-image and society as very pressing issues? The signs have been pointing to you, all along. I also recognised your round handwriting and how you dot your i's with little bubbles." The coloured contact lenses seemed to hide every twinkle of emotion in her eyes, it was like being addressed by a robot, not stern but not soft, everything being told as it was was, "I am your sister, Nelly, we may argue, you may live far away, you may get on my nerves, but you think I do not notice these things? I was there when you were born and believe it or not, I do love you, my little brother."

"But now what?" Nelly refused to look anyone in the eye, he instead focused on the dark skyline, with clouds of whispers hovering above, solemnly stating that Paris will always be Paris, no matter what. "What happens, now? It was all for nothing, all of my hard work in vain. Nothing will ever change, society will always be this monster, because we are the ones who feed it, aren't we?"

"Now, we work as three." Nicki drew a diagonal line in the warm air, her robotic gaze fixed on her hand, "This city, this country, this world, will change."

Nelly turned back to face his older sibling, one more, his confused, bemused features twisted into a signature smirk, "What exactly are you going to do?" I was pulled towards him, this lovable mad-man, "I would say we're doing a pretty decent job on our own, Nicki."

"I cannot argue with that, Océane, but answer me this: have things changed?"

"Yes, for your information, they have-"

"No they haven't, not enough. Yesterday, in the south, a plus size girl committed suicide due to the brutal and heartless bullying she was a victim of. It makes me lose hope for this world to say that these sort of occurrences aren't out of the ordinary. Are people really listened? Do we see people as who they are? Have things changed? No. That is your purpose: to be a voice for those who have been silenced."

"Nelly," I squeaked, "please never let them shut you up."

"She's right - for once I don't want you to shut up." Nicki repeated.

"Like the waves of the ocean, life moves on, but we must run before the tide comes in."

"You always were quite the poet, Nelly." Nicki's face softened, like somebody had returned her soul to her metal body and she was proud of her brother, in all his unorganized, messy, revolutionary glory.