Day after day, the large stacks of paper only grew taller, towering and soon covering the whole desk in Julia's study. All of those papers important, expected to be done as soon as possible, all kinds of documents concerning her country. And what had she done? The pen still lay on the floor, ink splattered beside it, that she had dropped and never cared to pick up again in the second she heard her little sister had been ill. But so very ill, it had nearly broken Julia's heart when she had first seen her in her bed.
Almost nothing has changed over a week. Monika was still awfully feverish, when she seemed to be awake she mumbled something about butterflies then slowly fell back into restless sleep where only nightmares haunted her. The nights were the worst, when she coughed so horribly, she could barely breathe, and she cried as she kept desperately gasping for air. She nearly choked every night. Julia regularly yanked the window open with a loud bang, scooped her up in her arms, keeping the blanket wrapped around her and rushed back to the window with her. The little girl only calmed when she felt the cold hair hitting her face, that was when she soon could breathe normally again. She clutched her sister's clothes weakly and slowly relaxed in her arms. Sometimes she fell asleep immediately, sometimes she stayed awake longer to listen to Julia's rapid heartbeat.
Julia wiped the poor girl's tears off gently, closed the window and put her back into bed. She lay next to her and carefully caressed her cheek and ran her fingers slowly through her hair, comforting her and hoping to give her strenght. There was nothing else she could do. She prayed silently, holding her sister, begging Heavens not to take her away. They only had each other, how could one go on without the another? After every coughing fit Monika had, Julia consoled her helplessly, every time she mumbled nonsense, even though she could make nothing out of it, she whispered reassuring words to her. Every time she shivered, she held her tightly, always telling her that everything soon would be alright.
"Juli..." Monika murmured one night. "What's wrong, my dear?" Julia asked, stroking over her back. "I want to... go outside and... pick flowers. ... For mum." "Oh..." Julia sighed sadly. Where was she wandering in her dreams? "It's winter, Moni." She whispered. "But it would make mummy happy." Monika moaned. "Mummy..." Julia sighed again, almost crying, not knowing what to say so suddenly. "Mummy is really happy, don't worry." She stroked the little girl's cheek with a shaking hand. "But do you know what would make her even happier? If you showed her what a strong girl you are and you recovered quickly. And when you're healthy, we can go and pick flowers for her, alright?" There was a long silence. She thought Moni had fallen asleep again, and she couldn't even hear her, but after a while she nodded and hummed softly. "Good girl. You'll make mummy very proud of you."
"Where is she now?" Monika suddenly asked again. "I-I don't know..." Juli's voice cracked. "Can you tell her that I love her when you see her?" "Of course, my dear..." She bit her lip hard. "Thank you." She let out a shivery sigh and planted a soft kiss onto Moni's forehead. "I'll go now. I will tell her. But promise me you'll sleep while I'm gone and you'll be alright when I come back, alright?" The little girl nodded, and Julia quickly tucked her in again before storming out of the room. She couldn't see her cry.
Outside, she stopped at the door, and running a hand through her hair in frustration, she sank to the floor slowly, her legs stretched out on the cold marble floor. She sat there in silence for a while, then suddenly burst out sobbing. She whimpered, writhed from the stabbing pain in her heart, buried her face into her palms, then held her legs tightly. What was she going to do now?
