Gemini

Chapter 5* Dark Time

Chapter 5* Dark Time

The familiar winded feeling greets me as we stumble onto a sandy beach. This time, Sam and I have managed not to let go of each other’s hands, and he winds up beside me. Righting myself, I cast a suspicious glance at our surroundings.

We are on an island, that much is obvious. Unnaturally dark water laps at the sand in a sinister manner, raising goose bumps on my skin. A chilly wind blows, and squinting further into the darkness, I realize there are fishing rods attached to a jetty jutting out a few meters into the water.

Behind us is a looming mass of pure, wild, untamed jungle. There is absolutely no light inside, not even a little ray.

But the sky is beautiful. Stars twinkle against a midnight blue backdrop, and I scuttle a few more feet up the beach to avoid the water, and dump my backpack in the sand, flopping onto my back to admire the glittering heavens.

Without a word, Sam flops down beside me. My whole right side is so aware of him that it raises the hair on my arms. Some part of me absentmindedly notices how he leaves a careful gap between each of our bodies.

“There’s Orion’s Belt there,” says Sam, pointing it out in the sky. My eyes trace out the three stars in a straight line in the midst of all the others.

“There’s the Rosary,” I say, not to be outmatched, gazing up and tracing the outline of it with my finger.

“Capricorn,” he says, smirking.

Searching the night sky, I squint as hard as I can but I can’t find anything. A cheeky grin slips onto my face.

“Sagittarius,” I lie.

“Where?” he says, peering into the sky.

“There!”

“Where?” he repeats, frustrated. I roll my eyes.

“I’m lying,” I say, and promptly burst into laughter. He doesn’t laugh with me- his eyes widen.

“There it is!”

Giving a small gasp of surprise, I scan the stars. “Where?” I say through gritted teeth, unable to find it. He bursts into peals of laughter.

“Joking,” he says with a grin. Blowing a raspberry, I elbow him in the gut, though I can’t keep the smile off my face. The breeze is nice and chilly against my face, and I smile.

“That star reminds me of my brother,” I murmur without thinking, and immediately clap my hands over my mouth, horrified.

I promised myself I would never think of them again. It is as if that little sentence broke the dam in my mind, the wall that I build to block all the memories out, and now that it is crumbling down… Everything is flooding back.

My brother’s laugh. The way my dad acted crazy and still made it look cool. The vitamins my health nut mom would force me to take every night before bed. Small, insignificant things come rushing back too, such as the way my mother always failed to get her right slipper on in one try, or how my brother never made it past the eighteenth page of Twilight. Little things like that, and I want to cry.

“Your brother?” Sam repeats beside me. Pressing my lips into a thin line, I blink rapidly and start up a chant in my head.

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry…

Of course I cry. A tear rolls down my cheek, and the rest follow in a torrent.

Sam takes my hand. His is warm and dry, and reminds me of home, but that only makes me want to cry more. Snot clogs up my nose and it is so disgusting, I don’t even have a tissue.