Anemone: anticipation

Chapter 3

“Dara?” I asked tentatively, testing the silence for any trace of my sister’s fury.

No answer. Sighing softly, I tiptoed in and checked every room like I was some kind of ninja, looking all over for a sign of my sister. Pretty soon I’d finished with the lower floor, but there was still no sign of Dara.

“DARA I’M HOME!” I yelled, feeling a sense of panic tweak my nerves.

“Ow!”

I whirled around, and there was my sister, covering her ears and grimacing at me. I instantly felt myself relax. Thankfully, Dara didn’t go anywhere without telling me.

“Will you keep your volume down?” she asked fiercely, putting her hands firmly on her hips. “I was so worried! You were gone for about three hours!”

I rolled my eyes. “And of which how long did you spend with your tutor?”

Her cheeks coloured a little. “Two…” she whispered, avoiding my eyes.

“Two hours?” I blinked. “Two full hours with a complete stranger, dressed like that?”

She immediately became protective of her clothes. “What’s wrong with this?”

I gave her a look. “What happened to your usual sense of fashion? Loose everything? Clothes that make me embarrassed to be anywhere near you?”

“My clothes are always fabulous. You’re just too shallow to see that. Besides,” she said, cutting of the retort I was about to make, “I wanted to give Ji the impression that we were normal.”

“We?” I asked, shocked. “I was always normal, you know!”

“You call yourself normal?”

“Get out of here.”

“Gladly. That’s why I’m going to Korea,” she sniffed.

I couldn’t control my emotions as they flashed across my face. Dara saw, and she immediately felt bad. She stepped closely and wrapped her stick arms around my equally bony frame.

“I’m so sorry, Rin. But this is for the best.”

“Didn’t you at least stop and think to ask me about it before you made such a rash decision?” I choked out, my tears forming again.

She studied me with pain-filled eyes. However, being my sister, her eyes were filled with determination too. Her coffee-brown hair whipped my face as she turned abruptly to face the window, through which we could see a perfectly framed sunset.

“Look at that,” she said, dramatically clutching my shoulder and waving an arm through the air. “Doesn’t that give you hope? It’s so inspiring – like it wants us to go. That’s the symbol of our beginning!” Her voice built up with passion.

“Isn’t that supposed to be for sunrises, not sunsets?” I murmured.

She glared at me again. “Why are you so anticlimactic?”

I stuck my tongue out at her and pretended not to care. As she sauntered away, ranting on and on about our new beginning and how good it was going to be, I couldn’t help but think that it was going to be a disaster. After all, the sun was setting. On my dreams, my friends, my love, everything.

The only question left was how long I had until then.