Fifteen ✔

15

The end of the week came slowly, way too slowly and I was more than happy to get out of this place. I'd stayed near Nadia for most of the week. After the first lonely day I realized I couldn't push her away since I'd be travelling with her to the Westerners, but that didn't stop me from full-heartedly avoiding Nirav and Ivris.

Nadia rushed into my room, grabbed my arm and moved me so that I could look her in the eye as she spoke, "Are you even listening?" She asked when I hadn't answered.

"Uh. Is that a trick question?" I asked, a playful smirk beginning to dance on my lips.

"You get that grin off your face and listen! We're leaving today and you need to get ready as soon as possible. This is so important, Koni," she said to me, a stern look painted on her face.

My smirk remained, "But Naaaad..." I switched out the smirk for a fake pout.

"No, I'm not playing your childish game now. We have to leave."

I slowly lowered myself to the ground, "It's comfy here though, Nad."

"Get off the ground, do you know how much bacteria is down there?"

"You're like a mom," I smiled up at her, meeting her dark brown eyes, "So caring and protective."

"I'll go get Ivris," She spun on her heel towards my door slowly.

I stood as quick as possible and clapped my hands, "Alright, alright, I'm up, mom."

She turned back to look at me, her stern look still on her face before she broke into laughter. She laughed loudly, holding her stomach with one hand as she leaned over to put her other hand on her knee. I began laughing in response to her laughter, until we were both laughing hard enough that it could have been heard outside the room.

Too soon though, we had calmed down and were reminded of the task at hand, "So what were you saying? You know, before?" I asked and looked into her brown eyes.

"I was saying that we have to go downstairs and meet up with the adults before we go," she paused, "I was in such a rush because I really just want to get this over with."

"So let's get it done, then," a devious grin formed on my face, "What are we waiting for?"

"You little..." She trailed off, her stern motherly look returning to her complexion, "Whatever, I hate you. Let's go."

"Awe you don't mean that, do you Nad?"

"Come on, I'm done with you. Can't believe I'm tasked to watch you for however long this takes," she smiled, grabbed my wrist and dragged me out the door.

Ivris sat on the top step, she looked completely defeated. Nadia stopped to talk to her but I continued to the bottom of the stair case where I found Sno.

"Hey there Snowflake!" I grinned up at the older man.

"Am I required to give you a nickname now?" He spoke calmly, still looking straight ahead at whatever intrigued him now.

"No, but you can, Snowball," I laughed.

"Stop with the snow references."

"Woah calm down there, don't freeze me, Blizzard."

"Please stop."

"Why though, Snowstorm?"

"It's weird," he finally met my eye, his cold blue met my warmer blue.

"Why do you go by Sno anyway?"

"I have a cold personality," he looked over at the wall, "I thought that was obvious."

"But, you couldn't have always had a cold personality. Did something make you like this?"

"You're a smart kid," he met my eye once again, before moving to sit on the step. It was weird, seeing him sit, I'd only ever seen him standing. He was always up and moving, but now here he was, sitting, "I wish Mila would have been like me. Maybe things would have been different if she were like me. But she was cold, careless, and extremely selfish."

"Is Mila your sister?"

"Yes. The one who brought The Fall upon us, unfortunately. I was always the caring one out of the two of us. I would do-Have done, a lot of things just to protect her, even though she wouldn't have done the same for me."

"Why? Why would you care for someone if they don't care for you?"

"She cared for me. Not as much as I cared for her, but cared nonetheless. It was her selfishness that restricted her from risking her life for me. We were your typical and cliché polar opposite set of twins."

I took a moment to think about what he had said before he continued, "Our parents went through a lot before we were born. I can't tell you that story, it's not mine to tell and you wouldn't understand it. Anyway, I was a lot like our mother while she wasn't like either of them."

     "What were your parents like?"

     "My mother was caring and sweet and she walked as though she were a queen. She was always doing something but she always had time for Mila and I, no matter what. And she always looked at our father with a look of.. I can't even explain what it was, but she saw so much potential in him even when he couldn't see it himself," he paused to look at the ground, "My father was less optimistic and less enthusiastic about Mila. I'm the older twin and he'd expected me, but Mila was a bit of a surprise to him.  He was colder than our mother, he got more and more bitter as time passed. But my mother told me that he wasn't always that way. He may have been bitter, but he loved us nonetheless."

     "So you grew up with 2 caring parents? Um, w-what was it like?"

     "It was something I wish every child could feel. But our world was so dark that people thought it was okay to do the wrong thing. Some people rush into being parents, some make atupid mistakes that lead to being parents," he met my eye once more, "Sometimes, though, accidents happen. And sometimes, they're fantastic accidents."

     "I've been told since I was little that I was an accident and that I had to work hard to make my 'stolen' place worth it."

     "Who told you that?"

     "Jace. He'd tell me it repeatedly."

     "Listen to me when I tell you this; there's alot of dark in this world, so much that sometimes I think my sister plunged us into the depths of the ocean, but you. You and all those other people I'm training to be leaders, you all have a light in you. It's so bright, I can barely see anything else when all of you are in a room."

     I took in his words, turned them over and over in my mind like a vinyl record, "You're not as cold as you say you are, Sno."

     "You're not as cold as you think you feel," he shone a bright smile before standing up from his place on the step as Ivory approached.

     I looked up the stairs to find Nadia and Ivris standing just a few steps from where I was sitting with Sno. Ivris met my eye for a short moment before I threw my gaze to meet Ivory's. Her golden eyebrow raised in confusion, before a smile emerged on her face as she met my eye.

     "Alright! Are you and Nadia ready to go, Konida?" She asked, her cheery voice filling the space. I nodded my head and she calmly led the two of us to the door. She gave each of us a warm and comforting hug before turning and closing the door behind her.

     For once, I would have been more than happy for those doors to open up amd engulf me. Because for once, I was terrified of what was to come.