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HER
They hadn't slept all night. They'd tried to before midnight, but after midnight - after the clock struck twelve, it was no longer night. It had turned into the day their brother died.
Julia pressed her cold fingers to her face, murmuring something about pulling herself together. To distract herself, she leaned onto Dom's shoulder and watched what he was doing on his phone. A picture of them from Instagram was on screen, the twins laughing uncontrollably at something in the distance. "When was that taken?" She softly inquired.
The corner of his lips lifted into a sad smile. "We were visiting Queens, remember? You were eleven and I was sixteen. It was after Chance Encounters had released and there was this group of five teenagers - two boys, three girls, I think. They were going crazy, and I still hadn't learnt to deal with fans, so I'd blurted -"
"Yo no hablo Ingles." They said in synchrony and chuckled, a memory's joy only lasting for a while because they soon recalled Dan's hopeless laughter that only ever came out in snorts. She gulped, trying to swallow the pain away.
"This is ridiculous, Jules." He suddenly switched off his phone, aggressively, and exclaimed. "We Harts weren't brought up this way. At least, it's not how we brought ourselves up. What was that thing you always used to say when Dan and I threw a fit over losing? If you aren't going to let people win and live their lives, how are you ever going to win and live yours truly?"
"Because these things happen to everyone. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. If someone's losing when you're celebrating your hard-earned win, why can't you lose sometimes? Someone's winning, then. Even if it's not you, the happiness you see on their face is...something." She completed in a mumble.
"No, that's not the right one. What about when we'd grow sad when mom and dad promised and didn't come home?" His voice had the same kind of expecting tone it always did, a childish curiosity that the twins used to tease him for. She'd forgotten how much she admired the way he didn't care, he just did.
"When you love someone, you have to let go sometimes. They can't always be with you. They're in your heart. That's enough. As long as you're in theirs."
"Yes, that. And you hate hypocrites, Jules. So, don't be one, don't be a stranger to the same advice you say. If you don't listen to the things you say, who am I going to look up to?" His eyes bore into hers and she blinked rapidly.
"I guess I can't let anyone else be your role model. That position's taken by me." She tried to smirk and failed grandly, scratching her cheek slightly. "What do you suggest we do, then?"
She shouldn't have asked that. Because, exactly two hours later, she found herself being dragged by Dom into the graveyard all the way in central New York she'd been trying to avoid for the past three years. He only let go of her jacket sleeve when she planted herself in front of his...grave.
