Piece By Piece | ✓

11 | vanessa

     Vanessa entered her twin sister's room on Saturday.

     Every month, she cleaned the vacant rooms in her house, particularly Veronica's. She wanted to start off with her parents' old room this time, but she still didn't have the courage to walk into their room without bursting into tears first.

     If she cleaned Veronica's room first, she would have at least calmed herself down a bit; she wouldn't be too much of a mess when she opened their room.

     "Hey, Veronica," Vanessa called out to no one in particular when she stepped inside. She scanned the room before walking over to the huge walk-in closet. "I'm back, Ver. And I'll be cleaning again, okay?"

     Most people would probably scoff at her and call her insane if they found out that this was what she did during her free time. Vanessa didn't care, though. She felt safe here; the peaceful solitude that ensconced her every time she came to visit this room was absolutely soothing.

     It was true that she bawled her eyes out whenever she was here, but during her cleaning time every month, she tried her best to recall happy memories with Veronica instead of sloppily confessing her pent up frustrations and profusely apologizing for not being able to prevent the accident from happening.

     They would definitely call her crazy all over again. And they would probably tell her to go back to her asylum, too.

     But things never seemed to be in her favor, no matter how she desperately tried to hold back her tears.

     Losing her twin sister in a tragic accident was an aching scar of her haunted past that remained painfully conspicuous despite her numerous attempts to conceal it with high, brick walls; it stained her every nightmare with resentful memories of immense guilt and irrational trepidation.

     Vanessa heaved a deep sigh as she opened the custom-made walk-in closet and went over to the farthest corner, bending her knees to reach for one of the folded bedsheets at the bottom.

     She pressed it against her nose and sniffed its fragrant floral scent, smiling to herself for doing a job well done on the laundry. She searched for its matching pillow cases and blanket as well.

     After stepping out of the walk-in closet, she placed the new pillow cases and bedsheets on the nightstand, making sure that none of the stuffed pandas were getting in the way.

     "I hope you don't mind this color, Ver," Vanessa mumbled to herself as she deftly replaced the old baby pink sheets with new fuchsia covers. Then, she started to peel off the slightly worn out pillow cases and changed it into freshly washed coral coverings.

     "I'm still shit at matching colors and style," she huffed, a bashful smile slowly spreading across her thin lips. "I've always wondered why you never saw how beautiful the color black is," she mumbled sadly.

     Veronica had never approved of her wardrobe, no matter how many times she tried to convince her twin sister that she wasn't a fan of vivid colors and fashion, that the color black was beautiful and versatile in its own way.

     But since she was the more tolerant and understanding younger twin sister, she let Veronica take over her closet space for a few days just so she could have her fun. She got dragged into shopping sprees and half-price sales. She wasn't a fan of vibrant colors and dresses; what mattered most to her was making her sister happy.
    
     After changing the sheets and pillow cases, she threw the dirty ones into the hamper beside the nightstand. Then she went back to the walk-in closet to fix the clothes inside it—maybe it was time to arrange it from the lightest to the darkest shade.