The Twins

chapter 4: The Confession

Part 2: Blue

       Matthew stood facing the house in silence. He should have known Amani wouldn't have been there. He told him he wouldn't be. Somewhere inside of him Matthew had known, he just needed to be sure. The artificial wind blew through the broken windows causing an odd whistling sound to ring in the air. The whole situation felt wrong.

   What had even happened to Amani and his parents? What on earth could they have done to deserve this? The story that the article had given Matthew no longer made sense. It all felt wrong. Amani had disappeared too suddenly. There had been no warning. There must be something else going on.

   "So what am I going to do about it?"

   The question bounced around Matthew's head like an overactive toddler. Relentless, no way to get rid of it. He walked back to the teleporter again slowly, in a daze, his mind going so fast that everything around him seemed to slow down. In the teleporter he felt the familiar sensation of moving through space without moving his own limbs. He saw the pathway that joined teleporters and saw the space around him move and twist like a living being. This was all familiar to him,so he rarely noticed it. This time was different though. He looked around slowly to see the beauty of the "In-between" as it was called, trying to distract his thoughts with something; anything.

   It looked much like the photos of far off space one could find on the internet. Beautiful planetary nebulae with the distant twinkle of stars in their great mass. Tall pillars of what looked like clouds, towering over his head. Galaxies spreading as far as the eye could see. This, of course, wasn't what Matthew was seeing, it was simply a separate dimension that could connect different parts of our human dimension together. That didn't stop Matthew, and many other people, to compare the beauty of the in-between dimension to something they could understand better. A very human trait.

    Once on the other side Matthew looked up at the sky. While the wind was blowing reasonably hard, the sun could still be seen and the glass ceiling above Matthew was tinted blue to imitate what someone would see on the surface. A ghostly version of the moon hung on the sky at Matthew's right,  only half visible. Matthew took in everything he saw and held them, hoping to calm the rage that was his mind. He continued waking to his house and went inside, closing the door a little too aggressively.

   Marie noticed this immediately. She knew her twin well and could almost sense when he was in a bad mood, even when he hid it. She waited for a while to approach him though, knowing just how to handle the situation. She always seemed to know how to do that. Matthew was even more perceptive to others emotions than Marie was, and it wasn't just towards his sister. Another odd trait to add to the family.

   10 minutes went by and Marie made her move. She calmly opened Matthew's door, not waiting for permission to enter. This normally annoyed Matthew to no end.

"What's going on?" Marie asked with perfect calm.

Matthew didn't answer, not sure how to get the words out, not sure if he wanted to.

"Spit it out loser."

"Fuck off."

"Touch a nerve did I? Well then talk to me you idiot I want to help."

Matthew didn't answer again causing Marie to groan loudly and sit on his floor with a thump.

"I'm not leaving until you say something. You don't have to tell me what's going on just talk to me. Let me know you're ok."

Matthew sighed and sat up straight. He tried to speak and failed. Tried again; same result. He sighed again and gestured wildly with his hands. Marie waiting patiently for her brother to compose himself.

   "I had a friend." Matthew finally spit out. Soon enough he had told Marie everything. Everything to how taking with Amani made him feel to what happened after he disappeared. Marie listened closely and didn't interrupt. She asked questions once in a while when Matthew had stopped speaking and he answered them. He felt emotion well up inside him and tears gathered at the edges of his eyes. Finally when it was all over and Matthew had nothing else to say he broke down crying.

     It had been a while since the last time Matthew had cried. He often held back his emotions. Didn't want to appear weak. He had to be told multiple times that emotion wasn't weakness, and while he tried to believe it, it was hard. This time he allowed himself to be "weak". Everyone needs to be once in a while.

   "Thanks for telling me." Marie said softly. Her eyes grew distant and she spoke again," I have something I need to tell you too."

Matthew looked up from behind his handkerchief expectantly.

"I think I'm a Saru Tokai."