WE WERE ONLY SIXTEEN

HONEY, YOU'RE FAMILIAR/LIKE MY MIRROR YEARS AGO

Squinting against the glare of the sun, Nessa pauses a moment before she turns. She's been camped out in these fields for a couple days, bumping into only one or two passersby, and the shy kind that never stop to say more than hi - but spring has been beating down on her, and it's time to go. She's been over every inch of this damn grass looking for directions, or civilization, or someone to talk to, and she's found bird shit. There's nothing left to do but move on and hope she finds better luck elsewhere. 

Fingers crossed, deep-in-your-heart hoping. Because God knows what she's going to do if that doesn't happen.

There is something sad about leaving this place, though. Of course Bear's Den is still first in her heard, but the week or so Nessa spent wandering this place has left a little bit of an imprint in her head, and there's no complaints to make about food or water - and, a little less importantly, beauty. The grasses are tinged purple and bristling in abundance, sheltered by the rigid, toothy tops of trees, and Nerissa has seen more fauna here than she has in ages: deer with their wild brown eyes, rabbits bolting through the undergrowth, dragonflies in iridescent blue and purple that aren't afraid to settle in the ex-queens many mountainous curls. When the sun sets, it lights everything with an orange fire, and Nessa sometimes has to stop and watch as they sky rolls over on itself, changing colors by the minute.

It's not home. But it's treated her well, so far.

A sudden breeze rushes up her spine, and Nessa shivers, stepping back toward the trees. The wind has picked up all at once, and she's fighting goosebumps as she traipses back toward shelter: slowly, feet dragging, as if she dreads being safe again. Which she sort of does. Without something keeping her on her toes, life is... dull. Not worth it. She's been trying to ignore that mindset, but damn, if it isn't hard. The urge to drown, or swerve off the path, or fall asleep in the wrong place, has been overwhelming recently. 

It's fine. It's fine. It's - Calla?

Nessa pulls up to a stop so short she almost trips over her own legs. Blinks, hard, until she's sure that this is real. Her sister, flailing around ten feet away like a little kid, still alive, still happy, here, in front of her face. Nessa's heart pulls up into her throat with a wild thump; a grin breaks out across her face, so wide that tears start to swim in her vision.

Hey, dumbass!

Heart thundering in her chest, Nessa watches as her sister stops - turns - and then barrels toward her like a freight train.

She dances slightly to the side, afraid of being run over, and beams at the shocked look in Calla's eyes. She knows this all so well: that face, that stare, the look of a girl who has been by her side practically since birth. Happiness and excitement tingle through Nessa's every muscle. The universe does her good sometimes.

Calla races into her arms, and Nerissa stumbles a little, laughing. Calla still smells like jungle and ocean, still has those mountains of hair, the well-known, exactly-matching shade for skin, the same as Nessa's except for her sun-bleached spine. Familiar. Incredible. They are still young and barreling around the den, bullying the other kids, making up secret handshakes, climbing cliffs, breaking hearts, everything that she has ever missed. She can feels Calla's heartbeat syncing up with her own, a well-known thunder.

I hate you. Nessa grins. I thought everyone was gone, Nessa. But you're here.

The smile vanishes off her lips, all at once. Rain singing off a window sill. Nessa fights the urge to stiffen or give away her feelings, tries to focus on the rise of Calla's shoulder in front of her, on the lilac grass, on anything else. Involuntarily, though, something in her heart clenches. 

I'm here. She swallows hard against the rock in her throat. Everyone else is gone, though. Huh?

(CALLA)

(CALLA <3)