Twin Image: Family, Before Anything

Chapter 6

~Cameron's POV~

My eyes see a gold vein. A faint, gold vein. On the very side of her neck. I watch that vein as everyone mourns, and my heart throbs in that good way when I see it grow brighter. I gasp when it starts flowing, and glowing brighter. And just when I thought her veins couldn't get any brighter, they do, and to my hearts relief, the next thing I see is my nieces chest jump, and the next thing I hear is her gasp for air. And I fall to my knees in relief as everyone basically does the same in their own ways.

My nephews hug one another as does my brother and his wife. My niece sits up, and her parents hug her, and her brothers join in. "W-What's going on? W-Why . . ." She asks breathlessly, and they all release her. Her eyes shine gold, and for the first time, they shine like mine did. Where even the whites of her eyes turned gold. She takes a deep breath in, looking at her hands, "Oh my god . . ." She breathes out, and I know exactly what she's feeling right now.

The power. The mind-numbing, bone-rattling, limitless power. Her eyes absorb back to hazel, and for a second I swear I saw the corners of her mouth turn up. "Please don't tell me my heart stopped again." She says, and we all just look at her with wet faces, and bloodshot eyes. "Oh my god . . ." She says again, obviously looking around for her husband and son. She stands, "W-Where are my boys?" She asks frantically, and her mother stops her from freaking out.

"Baby, calm down my grandsons upstairs, sound asleep." She answers, "And Tobias?" She asks, looking around at all of us. "He couldn't stand to be in the room with me, Natalie. H-He was pissed." I explain, and she gasps, "So he's out there thinking I'm dead?!" She yells, and she starts looking at the walls, but I know what she's really doing. She was looking through them, and listening.

~Tobias POV~

"You are my forever, my best friend, my dream come true, my shoulder to lean on, my husband. You are my everything. And you always will be." I hear her voice say in my head, remembering exactly when she said those words to me. I remember how beautiful she looked, behind her veil. I crack open more of Lauren's alcohol stash, just wanting the pain to go away. For just a second. And the more I drank, the more it eventually did go away.

The anger, the sadness. I try to not think about her but, I end up thinking about our son, and it's just a big circle. I play with the circle on my left ring finger, and I think about all the memories with her. How she hugged me after nearly falling off the Ferris wheel, how she lied to me when I asked her how she calmed herself down in the sim, how she told me she was in love with me. I throw the first bottle I drank, and it shatters against my friends wall.

I think about the way she made me feel, and it tears me up inside. I finish the rest of the second bottle, and I throw that one too but, I don't hear it shatter. I look up, and I watch it float. Just then, that same notebook and pen that I once watched her write on flies in front of me. "N-Natalie? Y-You're alive?" I question aloud, and the notebook flies open and flips to the exact page she wrote on.

The pen lifts and touches the paper, "Forever, and a day, right? Come home." She writes, and I can't help but break down, this time crying with tears of joy. I stand up, or at least try to stand up, and drunkly make my out of Lauren and Liam's apartment. She also helped me stay on my feet the whole way home.

***

~Jade's POV~

I help my husband get home and when he does, the first thing he does when he sees me is hug me. And I smelt the whiskey on him when he stepped into the A corridor. And when I say he hugs me, he literally hugs me. Having his big strong arms around my head, and my arms around his torso. I feel and see my family leave as he hugs me, and they make sure I see them leave with little waves so it wasn't disrespectful.