:| Hearts on Spades |: {Thundy}

Her eyes fluttered open after yet another restless night of haunting dreams. Arianna’s eyes darted to her sister’s bed to see if she could see the silhouette of her sister’s body underneath the thin sheets. It wasn’t rare for her sister to not be in her own bed; Arianna had her suspicions of what was happening a long time ago and was able to sleep off the concerns. No, the worry that filled her chest came from something much deeper, something that had happened years ago and was the reason she no longer spoke.

Daybreak had come this time, so her eyes remained opened as she sat up on her bed and stretched. Arianna could hear sounds from somewhere within the home which meant that her sister was home. She asked no questions—she rarely spoke at all—as she padded into the other room and saw her sister standing there. No longer able to greet her as she once did when she was 3, 6, 7, Arianna walked up to her sister and wrapped her thin arms around her sister’s full figure. She placed her face against her sister’s neck and rested there as she took the time to appreciate the morning.

Was her life much better now? It had been difficult at first, back when it was just the two of them, and Arianna had a feeling that if her brother had lived, they would be okay. Still, they were managing: a roof above their heads, food on the table, and each other. If there was one thing Arianna appreciated about this life, it was that she still had her sister. How terribly lonely it could have been to lose everyone you loved and didn’t love in one day. Even if she knew—and denied—what her sister was doing, she would never stop wondering where she was at night and why she wasn’t in bed.

Breaking apart from the embrace, Arianna reached over to grab a piece of bread before using her hands to ask Annora if she would be at home that night. Never asking about the specifics, just knowing if her sister would join her at the dinner table at night. It was surprising how well Arianna had become in cooking as she spent night after night experimenting dishes on herself. It was easier, more relaxing, cooking for herself than cooking for someone else because she would otherwise worry if the other person liked her cooking or not.

Still, she liked having her sister at the table. There were so few people she could communicate with, she often spent too much time in her thoughts, thinking about things that happened a long time ago. Perhaps that was why she was revisited by the memories at night, haunting her like a ghost from the past. Perhaps if she had the chance to stop thinking about them, one day they would disappear. After all, it had been 8 years since it was just the two of them and if anything, Arianna had to move on.