Chapter One: I’ll be your guardian, angel
The sun was shining in the distance, its rays dancing across the pond a few hundred metres away across the field of luxurious, fresh, green grass, being gently caressed by the wind. The streams of light were pirouetting across the dewy blades of grass before they shot upwards; coming into contact with stirrups that were brushing the sides of our horse’s palomino coat. Following the faint beam of light skywards my gaze soon came to rest on that of my sister, Adalia. Her eyes were shining slightly, highlighting a dark citrine colour; a colour that was unique to her very soul; one of a pure, innocent seven year old child who only saw happiness in the world. And I, Lexine Bryce, have made it my mission to let this fairytale continue to exist for her, for as long as possible.
I reciprocated the grin on my sisters face and, taking hold of the reigns tightly, began to wheel the horse around, away from the track and towards the house. A small whine of disapproval left Adalia’s lips but I merely chuckled slightly in response and signalled a hand to stop the horse. I looked up to my sister again and saw the question written across her face. Without warning I playfully smirked then brought a swift, sharp elbow to rap the side of the horse. At the same time as the horse began to run I coiled Adalia’s limp and unsuspecting hands around the reigns – her safety is always my priority. As the horse began to speed away I stopped and folded my arms, basking in the expression of pure mirth upon my sisters face, she means the world to me.
I let a huge grin crawl across my features and make it to my eyes as I saw Adalia pull back and forth on the reigns slightly, signalling for the horse to speed up. After a few moments laughing happily to myself, I could see the horse gently come to a stop and I started to walk light-heartedly back to the house to stable it for the night. But Adalia had other ideas. She had dismounted and after a quick exchange of the reigns to mum she was running towards me at lightning speed. Barley registering what was happening and having no time to react; my world was flipped upside down, quite literally.
“Lia!”, I gasped, out of shock and laughter as she had begun to tickle me; she was the only one who knew I had a weak spot around my shoulders. I shoved her off me and stood up, mocking a look of anger on my face. I stayed like this for a few moments before slowly turning back round, a smile forcing its way onto my face. I look down and saw the same smile on Adalia, only a bit disguised by the dishevelled locks of pure, white blond hair falling down into her face. Other than this, all she had done was held her little finger up towards me, my grin cracked as I intertwined my little finger with hers as our peace gesture. Using this connection I took hold of her arm and pulled her up with me. She snuggled into my side and we let the walk back consume us, only silent squeezes of affirmation and love breaking our fluid motion. Life was good. Life was great. Life was perfect.
We got back to the house just as an imperial, violet sunset had begun to descend around the snow-capped mountains and trees on the horizon. I opened the door and once we were inside I loosened my grip on Adalia, she turned around, reaching her arms up towards me. Giggling inwardly I obliged and leant down as she wrapped her arms securely around my neck. She kissed my cheek lightly, tensed her arms and squeezed me lovingly. As she released her grip I stood back up, now a good two feet taller than her and saw her eyes glisten once again.
“Love you, Lex!”, she said and skipped off to her room. My unvoiced reply played in my head as my smile grew wider, “I love you too, Lia”. It’s not really normal, I think, to have a mutual care and adoration between siblings, especially sisters. But our bond is one of a kind, sure it’s been a struggle at times when she was growing up and will be in the future, but the fact that I’ve always been the one looking after and guiding her makes us that much closer. I’ve dealt with her struggles and she has with mine, knowing our weaknesses, strengths and true boundaries makes us understand eachother. I love her, and it’s reciprocated.
I sighed and shook myself gently from reminiscing and fantasizing about our memories. I started to walk into my room calling a quick good-night to my Mum and Dad with no reply; I never really got on as well with them as I did with Adalia. I confided in my sister most of the time so our relationship isn’t as strong as it could be, but I love them just the same. I was reaching out for my door handle when I heard a door open across the hall. My smile re-appeared as I saw Adalia standing there in her pyjama’s looking adorable.
“Lex,” she began questioningly, “...could you read me a story?”
I took a moment to tease Adalia and placed my left hand to my chin, mimicking thought with a small pout on my face and my right hand placed on my hip.
“Lex!” She whined and her cheery expression began to fade. Now, if there’s one thing I have as a weakness; it’s her being upset. I’ve only really known her happiness for seven years of my life and never want to see her sad. I felt my resolve and will rapidly deteriorating so I gave in and sighed. Making no other noise I smiled down at her warmly and extended my hand towards her. She feigned a grudge as she slapped her hand into mine. We walked a few steps in ‘awkward’ silence before simultaneously looking towards eachother and bursting out into hysterics. We laughed it out until we were both doubled over in stitches. A smile danced across my features as I scooped her up like a baby and ran to her room. She half-heartedly tried to squirm and break free but after years I knew how to control her.
When we got into her room I did a complete three-hundred and sixty degree turn before dropping her gently onto her bed.
“Wow…” I gasped, “Lia, you’re getting heavy” I emphasized the last word, earning me a feigned look of annoyance and a playful shove on the shoulder from Adalia. Smirking and laughing silently to myself, I walked around the room looking for a book to read. I scanned the book case with my finger until I settled upon a pink book called, ‘The life and times of a Princess’. I smiled, looking at the wear and tear on the book cover, knowing this was one of Adalia’s favorites. I turned and began to walk back to the bed displaying the book’s cover in front of me. At first Adalia started to squint to make out the book but when I was walking close enough, her eyes lit up with glee and she snuggled back further into her blankets.
My heart fluttered lightly at her cuteness as I dropped down next to her and turned to the end of the book and the last entry of the diary. This one was the most comforting, I felt, and I wanted to get her asleep fast enough because tomorrow was Saturday and we had something planned in the morning. I started to read and found myself grinning at places that were particularly heart warming.
I was nearing the end of the story when I looked up to see Mum standing at the door. In this light I could only see her face and her expression was one that I couldn’t read. It was a mixture of blank, anxiety and even a few traces of fear. She motioned for me to come with a slight inclination of her head to the left. Looking over at Adalia, I could see she was on the verge of sleep so I quietly folded the page I was on and set the book down on her nightstand. I rose gently so as not to disturb my sleeping angel and followed Mum out of the room, the door closing behind me with a faint click.
Mum led me wordlessly to the living room. As I entered I felt the atmosphere cling to me, thick and dreary; Dad was sitting, perplexed in his chair, staring stiffly out of the window. Mum had began to pace the room, occasionally muttering something that I could not decipher. After what seemed like years - in reality a mere few moments - Dad broke the silence.
“Sit.”
I stayed still for a few moments in shock at the bluntness of his tone but sat down after my legs would function again. Mum obviously took this command too as she had taken a seat opposite me and next to Dad, she had taken his hand. Rubbing the back of it softly in small circled with her thumb, she looked up to me with clearly distinguishable worry written on her face.
“Mum, Dad,” I started, “Whats wrong? Are you OK?” I asked hesitantly, my heart rate increasing rapidly.
“No, no, we’re fine, dear” Mum replied but still with a blunt undertone that I couldn’t place. Aside from this my heart slowed down but all over my body I must have shown otherwise as Mum continued with a sentence that punctured and stopped my heart altogether.
“It’s Adalia.”
