The Ghost's Diary 👻 ✓

45. Twilight in February

"Before I explain, I must ask you two a question, Ms Crimsom and Mr Ingram."

My head turns slightly towards the cousins who say something in betweem their brown eyes.
They end up nodding, making Kathleen almost gleam with glee.

"I want you two to answer with what comes first in your mind. No incertitude, please. Do you understand?" Henry lowers his head as if to ask for Allison and Ethan's permission.
The cousins nod again, this time a bit too quickly. Henry holds up his chin as he says,

"What are you two for each other?"

"She's my sister, of course. I mean- she's like a sister to me," Ethan says just as Allisom answers at the same time, "Brother. Like a brother for me. "

Ethan stops gesticulating  to explain with fumbling hands. Both of them seem struck by each other's answers.

Henry smiles a bit, the first one I've seen in quite some time and points his finger at the cousins standing at both my sides.
"That's why you don't need three siblings.

"At my father's advent ball, there was a little blonde girl playing with the guests' children. That little girl was Evanna and Timothy's sister, exactly seventeen years younger than the latter.
You may have lost a sister before she was even born, Mr Ingram, but you and Ms Crimsom considering each other as siblings is of utmost importance.

"Sometimes, you don't have to be born from the same parent to have a sibling."

A breath escapes from my eyes as I look in between the cousins who don't even know how to react to all of this.

Do I have a relationship with Dylan like Ethan and Allison?

No, you don't.

I catch a glimpse of Dylan looking from his side and wonder if he's thinking the same.

However, he sighs heavily before speaking:
"You told us about Ethan's unborn sister and something earlier that Meredith has done something to the Ingrams. Is that what..."
Dylan says in a husky voice as Henry nods slowly.

Ethan finally seems to be turned back to his human form after his petrified state. He takes in deep breaths, his chest heaving up and down as he tries to keep his voice calm,
"What did she do?"

"I presume that you know of your mother's miscarriage before five years of your birth, the same age difference Evanna and Timothy had.

"What I am sure you don't know is how aghast your father was when he found his wife buried within tides of her own blood at the end of the staircase. He thought that that was the last time he would ever see her till she finally opened her eyes in the hospital. The doctors were able to save your mother but not your unborn sister.

"Afterwards, it was revealed that she tripped from the staircase when she rushed downstairs to answer the... landline. But what she didn't tell anyone was that she felt a sudden push whilst climbing down, making her footing instable.

"That was Meredith's doing. She tried to find way to prevent the curse from rebounding and that is why Archer and Nancy Ingram had to suffer the loss of their first-born."

A few tree branches stutter with the window of the manor's rooms, sending waves throughout.

All of this is because Meredith couldn't understand that you can't have everything in life and because of immortality. I almost want to scoff at the latter part.

I thread my hand through my hair which only slips out of its grasp.

Like everything I have.