Serenity

one

"Cora," I feel someone shake me, "Cora, wake up."

My eyes squint as the light of the sun shines through the blinds of the window in front of me. I lift a hand to cover my face from the brightness, making it easier to see my younger sister, Kathleen, in front of me.

I sit up and furrow my eyebrows in confusion as I look down at my lap, noticing a light pink flower print comforter covering my body. I look at the rose pink painted walls, the same walls of my childhood bedroom.

It only takes a minute for me to realize that I am, in fact, in my childhood bedroom.

"How did I get here?" I ask my sister as I look back at her.

Our features resemble each other a lot. We both have long dark brown hair with blue eyes to contrast it. We are both five feet four inches, regardless of the fact that I am five years older than her. We are almost completely identical that we could pass for twins.

Kathleen tilts her head, "What do you mean?"

"How did I get here?" I repeat. I remove the covers from my body and stand up, "I clearly remember falling asleep at my apartment last night."

She laughs, "Apartment? Cora, last night we watched reruns of The Office until two in the morning and I watched you trudge back to your room after we finished watching seven episodes."

"I'm sorry, what?" I ask, crossing my arms in front of my chest, "Last night, I went to the graveyard and I drove right back to my apartment."

"Cora, are you feeling okay?" She reaches forward and places her hand on my forehead, "You must have had some wild dream." She jokes.

"I'm serious, I know for sure that —"

"Yeah, yeah," Kathleen ignores my words, "You promised me last week that you would take me to the library so I can finish my science project, and it's due in two days!"

"Project? What project?"

"Cora!" She exclaims, "I've told you a million times already! I have to pick a planet from the solar system, write facts about it and make a visual presentation."

"Didn't you already do that?" I ask her, making her roll her eyes.

She lets out a sigh, "Cora, just please get ready. Mom says you have to take me anyways."

Kathleen leaves the room and closes the door behind her, leaving me even more confused than I was to begin with.

"Glad that's over with," I hear a deep voice beside me, making me jump at the sudden sound. I turn my head to see Cyrus leaning against the wall on the right side of the room.

"Holy shit, don't scare me like that!" I place my hand over my chest, "Wait — I'm probably just hallucinating you again."

"You're not," He shrugs his shoulders, "I'm surprised that you didn't even notice that I was standing here the whole time."

"You were? Then why didn't Kathleen see you either?"

"She can't see me," Cyrus slowly walks towards me, "You're the only one who can."

I change the subject, "How the hell am I here? I remember being at my apartment last night."

"Apartment?" He chuckles, "You don't have an apartment."