Cynefin

1. Escape.

Selfish was what Elise Sinclair called herself, even though she was anything but. She was the sister who saved her twin brother—Evan—from the downward spiral. She heard her brother's tearless, silent cries and then cried herself to sleep in solitude at night. Yet, Elise called herself selfish.

She looked out of the window. They—Elise and Evan—were in a flight to Seattle, Washington. It was a three-hour journey from Denver, Colorado where they had left their sick, comatose dad. They had left everything just to go and stay with their poor excuse of a mother who had deserted them just to build a career for herself.

It wasn't wrong to pursue dreams, but she could have done it staying with them. She could have done anything and everything only if she had considered giving it a try. But she did not. On an unfortunate Friday, she just... left. She left her loving husband, aghast and unable to wrap his head around the end of their 13 years of marriage. She left her eleven-year-old twins who wondered what exactly had happened-what mischief of theirs had they been punished for? All of this... For what? To build a life for herself? Was it really worth it? The Sinclair twins had no answer since that Friday was the last time they had seen her and heard from. All she had left was a letter for each of them with words smudged by her tears.

Elise felt selfish. Because she left her dad when he needed her the most. Even though it wasn't her choice to make. Still, she thought that only if she had fought harder maybe, just maybe, she and Evan could have got to stay with their father. But she didn't. She didn't fight it. They left the place because it was too much for Evan. Lie. It wasn't just Evan who wasn't able to handle the pain. Elise lied to everyone. But she couldn't lie to herself.

She wanted to escape the pain. She did not want to see her dad fight with death every day. She did not want to be reminded of her best friend who did not get to live her life and pursue her dreams. Elise missed her a lot.

She did not want to stay at a place where every corner held so many memories that brought nothing but pain to her. The pain—it was unbearable. It took all of her strength to not breakdown then and there.

Trying not to cry, she decided to take nap. Just to escape reality for some time. Just to escape the pain. Escape was what she needed.

Evan Sinclair hadn't talked to anyone since the day his dad had gone in a coma and his girlfriend had lost a fight to the death. He did not talk. Elise tried to talk to him. But he didn't. He was afraid that the moment he uttered a word, he would break. He cried. But the sobs were tearless and silent. Only Elise understood his cry because other than her there was no one left to understand him.

The silence was his escape. Even though it was a selfish move, he had no other choice. Whenever Elise looked at him, her coal-black eyes pleaded to hear his voice. But he did not give her what she wanted. He was selfish.

He looked at Elise who was sleeping in the seat beside him. There were a few flicks of dark, wavy hair falling on her right eye. He slowly tucked them behind her ear. She stirred a little but did not wake up. She looked so serene, at peace while sleeping. He wished he could keep her that way. He loved his sister more than anything else. She was older than him by three minutes. But she acted like it was three years. She protected him, held him. She became his anchor. And, he was grateful for that. He was grateful for everything she had done since the... Memories rushed in like a wave of tsunami and he wanted to forget them. But they were engraved in his brain forever; their roots ran deep.

Their journey hadn't come to an end. One hour more and then they would be standing on the soil of Seattle, waiting for their hopeless mother, desiring for it all to be a big bad nightmare.

Elise and Evan had reached Seattle. They had even checked out and taken their luggage and were waiting for their mother near the arrival area for almost an hour. She knew their time of arrival yet she hadn't come. That showed them how much she cared about her children.