Alissa

The new moon hangs low in the sky, the glow of the stars barely peeking out from the tall jungle trees. The nocturnal animals were finally coming out to go about their lives, as the diurnal animals were bunkering down after a long day's work. I love watching this mutual agreement between those who walk the days and those who walk the nights; it’s always like clockwork. I sit at the entrance to my home, a nicely fixed up cave, and I watch the night; it’s soothing. I can hear my twin sister, Alissa, and my mother finishing up their chores, their laughter echoes down the cave tunnels, that sound is irreplaceable. I’m glad Alissa has been feeling better, perhaps the sickness that has beset us will just go away. We were both born rather sickly, but I got better unlike her. It’s continued to burden and restrict her, although she has been feeling better for the past week. She was finally able to leave her bed for the first time in a while yesterday, I hope it lasts.

I sniff the air; I can smell the incoming storm system already. I hope the jungle doesn’t flood, that would be annoying. I continue to sit there for a while, until I hear my mother calling my name.

“Leo! Come on, it’s time for bed.”

I roll my eyes; she still treats me like a kid even though I'm seventeen.

“Just a minute, I'll come in soon!” I yell back, I want to get in as much time outside as I can tonight in case it rains.

I stare up at what I can see of the stars through the leaves, and wonder to myself. Are there really people up there? My mother’s books have talked about gods and goddesses, but do they really exist? If they do, I hope to meet one someday. That would make a wonderful story! I look off into the darkness of the jungle; I would like to meet anyone really but no one dares to enter our jungle. I don’t know why; the jungle is such a nice place. The buzz of the insects is loud in contrast to the quiet of the jungle, and I can feel myself dozing off to their tune. It’s a pleasant tune and I enjoy their company. Perhaps I should try sleeping out here tonight, it can’t be that bad...

---

I jerk awake as a fat raindrop hits my head and I can’t suppress the shiver that shoots through my body; how long did I sleep? It’s light out now, and the storm I could smell last night has finally rolled in. The rain water is pooling in the lower parts of the jungle, only minor flooding so far. I look down at a puddle of water near the entrance, and it’s barely clear enough to see myself in. My brown hair is getting long, and my pointed ears barely poke out from it; maybe I should get my hair cut soon.  I open my mouth slightly to look at my sharp teeth, still pointy as ever disappointingly. I’ve never particularly liked this aspect of my appearance; it’s the one thing I don’t share with my family. Oh well, not much I can do at this point.

I groggily get up from where I was sitting and begin my walk back into the cave. My mother is going to tear into me for sleeping outside. It’s oddly quiet in the cave, typically Alissa and my mother would be awake by now; maybe they’re sleeping in? Oh well, I need to do my chores; perhaps my mother’s anger will be lessened if I make breakfast. I make my way to the area designated as the kitchen in the cave, and look around. It’s fairly clean, Alissa probably cleaned up from dinner last night. There is not much decoration in this part of the cave, but I don’t mind much; I have a lot of fond memories from helping my mother cook in here. A table with four chairs lays in the center of the room, and there's a vase of slightly wilting flowers in the middle. I stare at the fourth chair for a second; it’s fairly dusty and hasn’t been touched or moved in a while. I continue on to the makeshift stove.

I need to start a fire; I could do it the normal way, or I could use the way I read about. I look around, and then look back to the stove; my mother isn’t here to stop me if I use magic. Feeling slightly mischievous, I smile and snap my fingers in the direction of the wood and a few tiny sparks come flying out from my fingers. I try snapping again, and this time more substantial sparks come out and I then nurse the fire to a steady blaze. Satisfied with the status of the fire, I lay the cooking stand over it and grab a pan. Perhaps I should make fish and eggs, that should be easy enough! I put the pan on the stand, and go to grab a couple of eggs and salted fish. It’s far easier to fish a bunch and then just preserve them for use overtime. I begin the cooking process, being sure not to get any eggshells in the eggs or burn the fish. The smells mix together to create a nostalgic smell; it’s a basic meal but it’s one we’ve been having for a long time. My mouth is watering at this point, and my stomach growls.

The food is almost done, I wonder why they’re still not up. Maybe I should wake them up. I finish up the cooking and carefully plate the food up onto three separate plates, it’s incredibly tempting to just eat it all on my own, but I must resist. I leave the three plates on the table, and I set off into one of the tunnels; this tunnel is not very long and I can see the closed makeshift door already. It wasn’t until I was a few steps from the door when I could hear low sobbing. Who’s sobbing? There’s an unusual heaviness in the air, and I'm frozen. I can smell a strange scent; I've only ever smelled this from the times we hunted animals for food. My hand is hovering over the door handle, but I can’t force myself to open it. I realize now that it’s my mother sobbing, and I don’t want to enter the room. I don’t want to know what’s behind the door. I begin to back away, and I end up backing completely out of the tunnel. I bump into the table, and I hear the clattering of the three plates and vase as the table shifts. I hesitate before I look at the aftermath, one of the plates fell off of the table and the vase has fallen over. I stare at the plate for a couple of seconds, frozen.

I run out of the cave and into the rain; the raindrops feel like spikes as they hit me. I keep running, and I almost fall a couple of times as my feet hit puddles and bumps. I eventually burst into a clearing, the roaring sound of the river running through the clearing is deafening. The river is almost overflowing, the plants along the water’s edge dangle dangerously over the fast-moving water. I stand still and stare at this scene for a couple of seconds, before turning my attention to the large oak tree in the middle of the clearing. I didn’t realize I was running in this direction. This is the place Alissa and I would go to read all the time when we were kids. I stumble over to the large tree, every step squelches due to the waterlogged grass. The leaves are ever so slightly dense enough to provide partial cover from the hard rain. I sit in between the roots of the tree, I am soaked at this point, but I feel strangely detached.

The rain continues to pour uncaringly around me, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to clear up any time soon. I sit there for what feels like an eternity. It’s cold, so very cold. I can’t hear any animals; they’re probably bunkering down due to the rain. I pull my legs up to my chest, trying to keep myself warm. It’s awhile before I hear rustling from the bushes around the clearing. I’m shivering and extremely cold at this point. The downpour continues; the river has risen and is pushing further into the clearing. My mother appears from the bushes surrounding the clearing, her blonde hair is soaked and her expression is empty. I stare across the clearing at her, and I can feel the tears start to well up in my eyes.

---

It’s been quiet in the week since Alissa died; the weather has been depressing and the jungle is still slightly flooded from the storm. My mother has barely spoken since then, and it almost feels like she also died. I stare down at the food in front of me; I hate fish. The vase that once sat in the middle of the table is longer there. It cracked when it fell over. I look at my mother sitting across from me; there's a vacant look in her eyes as she avoids my gaze. I’m not hungry, I should clean up. I get up from the table and pick up my plate, I barely ate anything but I don’t think I would be able to force myself to. I scrape the fish into the trash and place the plate on the counter. I hesitate at the counter; usually Alissa would clean the dishes as it was one of the easier chores. I choke back a sob, and stand there for a minute. I take this minute to compose myself as well as I can, and then turn around with a forced small smile.

“I’m going to check on the flooding. I’ll be back later, Mom.” I try to keep my voice steady while saying this; I can’t look at her face. She doesn’t respond to me, but I don’t expect her to.

I quickly leave this part of the cave and head towards the part designated as a study room. I’ve been sleeping in there; I haven’t been able to enter the room where I used to sleep. I need to grab my poncho; it’s been fairly cold outside. I enter the room and am greeted with a familiar sight; books are strewn everywhere in a controlled chaos, and in the corner, there is a makeshift bed made out of blankets and a pillow. It’s not the most comfortable bed, but it’s a place to sleep. I scan the room for my poncho and see it strewn over a pile of books and I begin to make my way over to it. I’m careful not to step on any book as I traverse across the room, which is a difficult feat with the state the room is in. I pick up the poncho and inspect it when I reach it; it’s cream colored and fairly worn from repeated use. I spy a hole on one of the shoulders and sigh, that’s something I’ll need to fix later. I put it on and look down at the stack of books it was on. Laying on the top is a rough looking journal; it looks like it’s been through a lot of abuse. I pick it up; I should do some writing while I'm out.

I leave the room and navigate towards one of the alternative exits to the cave, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together if I looked at my mother again. This tunnel isn’t used often, and I can hear the sound of small creatures scuttling to hide as I walk through. The sun faintly invades the exit of the tunnel, it’s a cloudy day but at the very least it isn’t raining. I set off into the overgrown jungle, I don’t pay much mind to the plants that tug at my clothes as I walk through the brush. I make my way to the clearing with the large oak tree, it feels different without Alissa. The river is still far above its normal level, but it has gone down at least. I walk over to the large oak tree and sit underneath it, I feel empty.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes, listening to the sounds of the jungle. I can hear birds singing in the distance and the sounds of the leaves rustling in the small breeze. I open my eyes back up and look down at the journal in my hands. I should do something to distract myself, maybe writing will help. I pull a pencil out of my pocket and open the journal to its first page, it’s blank aside from a single sentence.

I hope you treasure this, my dear Amra. The sentence is written in cursive and has a confident feel to it; Amra is my mother’s name. I flip past the first page and begin to write.

It’s getting dark and I wrap up my writing session; I feel I wasn’t very productive but at the very least it took my mind off of life. I get up from the roots of the large oak tree and begin my trek back to the cave. The nocturnal animals are beginning to come out now. I wonder what it’s like to be nocturnal, I'm sure it's interesting. I slowly walk towards the main entrance to the cave, savoring every second before I have to confront the empty person who has replaced my mother. I stand in front of the entrance and take a deep breath before entering.

“Mom, I’m back.” I say as I walk into the cave; I don’t get an answer, but I don’t expect one.