petrichor

Siblings

Lena

Lena liked to call her older brother Aris when his real name happened to be Aaron – Aaron Shane Foster to be exact. She called him that because she had trouble pronouncing it when she was little.

"A-aris Shane?" Lena remembered her three year old self pronouncing it. Aris didn't mind it one bit, he loved the nickname. In return, he called her sister Lena when her real name was actually Letitia Anna Foster.

Aris was two years older than her, Lena was eighteen and Aris was twenty. Their attitudes were also pretty different; her brother was nice, funny, and caring, meanwhile Lena was, well, the opposite. She was more quiet and kept to herself while Aris would be more loud and confident.

Aris's grades at school were slightly lower than Lena's, but it was a no brainer since Lena scored straight A's all the time, even when her brother claimed she did nothing but watch YouTube all day.

Lena was smart, but she was often insecure and liked to doubt her own strength. Meanwhile Aris's confidence was natural even though Lena called him a doofus most of the time.

They also had different looks. Aris had olive skin, with sea green eyes, straight hair, and a wide, sly smile which drove onlookers crazy at first sight.

"It's my thing, you know? Cuz I'm a chick magnet." He once stated which only resulted in one of the hardest eye roll Lena had ever given. "Shut up." She replied.

Quite the opposite of Lena who had pale skin and red hair – although she wasn't sure where that came from since she was the only redhead in the family. Thankfully, Aris never called her a "carrot-top" or some other redhead related insults.

Even though they both loved each other dearly, whenever Lena had to talk about her brother at school, she would always hide one little detail of him–his deafness. Although it wasn't her fault Aris was deaf, Lena was scared. Scared that her brother's disability would get taunted by Rebecca.

Twelve Years Ago

"Hey! Get back here, Lena!" Aris shouted. Aris was playing with a ball in the back yard when all of a sudden, Lena grabbed it and ran away with it. "Nanananana, you can't catch me!" Lena screamed gleefully as her brother chased her.

Finally, Aris managed to get hold of the ball. "Ha! Gotcha!" He exclaimed as he threw Lena aside. He played with it for a few seconds before Lena plopped her butt on the grass, pouting. "But I want that ball!" She whined. Aris side eyed her and sighed.

"Ah, come on." He complained. "This is mine, so back off." Aris only meant it as a joke but Lena made her pout even more prominent. "You're no fun, Aris."
"Fine then, Ms. I-know-what's-fun-and-what's-not, what should we do?" Aris asked sarcastically.
Suddenly, her face lit up. A mischievous smile appeared on Lena's face.

"I know that face, what do you think we should do?" Asked Aris. "Since mom and dad are not here," Lena started, "Why don't we... Play in the park!" She advised.
Aris raised his eyebrows. "What? No! That's crazy!" He exclaimed. "Mom and dad will kill me if anything happens to you."

Both their parents were out to buy groceries, leaving Lena and Aris alone. For all they knew, their children never caused any trouble when they were away and there were no neighbours fit enough to watch over them. They trusted Lena and Aris to watch over the house and still be in one piece when they came back.

"Aw come on, bro." Lena whined, "It'll be fun! We'll open the gate, walk a few yards, take a left turn and a right, play on the swings with you on the slide, and them act like nothing happened." She did an okay sign with her hand. "Easy-peasy."