The Anima [completed]

2.

2.

"Lyra! Are you ready?" My sister, Virgo, called out from her room down the hall from mine. I didn't answer right away, petrified at the girl who stood in front of me. In the mirror stood a girl clad in a loose fitting maroon dress which fell to her heel clad ankles. Eyes lined with black liner, her irises looked dark and uninviting, like she had one too many secrets. Her usually wild locks were neatly sprayed into curls atop her head, falling to her shoulders. She looked mature; like a strong young woman, not me.

Tonight was the annual school showcase performance and I was the closing act. I uttered and a deep sigh and heaved my breast. An unnecessary influx of nerves would do my voice box no good; what I needed was to be calm and collected. It wasn't the performance that scared me. What scared me was that this year I would be the closing act, not Lucas. I knew I could not outshine his final performance and I didn't want to, but it was not me who chose my song; it was Virgo.

"Yeah! You can come in now!" I called out over my shoulder, breaking eye contact with the form in the mirror. Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, a ball of dark hair and a mess of limbs tumbled into my room. Although her long dark hair covered most of her face, she couldn't hide the look of shock coming off her face in waves.

"Ly... you look...?"

"Different?" I finished, flicking a lock of hair out of my eye. She grinned at me and for a moment I saw a flash of my younger self. Apart, no one could tell we were sisters with the total differences in our personality, but up close we looked like twins, only one was born seven years after the first.

"I was going to say down right gorgeous!" She squealed and enveloped my waist in a breath-taking hug. I laughed through my blush, unable to hide the effect of the compliment. I combed my fingers through her mess of hair, impressed at the clothes she had picked out. Although I could not escape her obsession with the stars, a big moon in the centre of her black shirt, it was less abstract than her usual pink galaxy tops and star tights that made her look like a walking green screen.

"Before I forget! I made you something!" She exclaimed, running out of my room and into hers before I could protest. She was a very hand's on creator, and was going through a jewellery-making phase. Although they were all beautiful, she had made me many before and I didn't want her wasting her money on me. I was already wearing the moonstone ring she had given me for my birthday the day before, and had already picked up the habit of twisting it when I was nervous.

I waited for her in the hallway, wobbling slightly in my new heels.

"Here!" She ran out of her room with more energy than a wolf and handed me a rope necklace. It was beautiful. The thick black rope was twisted and long with a perfect round stone on the end. I looped it around my neck, the stone falling in the centre of my chest.

"It's a bloodstone," Virgo said softly, "It's supposed to enhance purification, courage and vitality... I thought it might, you know, help you get through tonight."

My eyes stung as I clutched the necklace. She was always so thoughtful, so unlike anyone else in the town. Although I had not said anything, she knew I was suffering and had made me something to help me through. I grasped her arms and pulled her to me, kissing her head as she nestled into my chest.

"Let go of me!" She laughed, pulling back after a silent minute of us standing in the hallway. "Mum and Dad are waiting. They said there about five acts off of yours, so we got to go."

I nodded and headed into the kitchen to grab the keys off the counter. Our parents had gone ahead of us to see the whole show, but my sister and I would be arriving late with only just enough time for me to warm up my vocals for the act. I was too nervous to see everyone else perform before me.