Once Part 2

Present:
As we made our way through the crowd I was hurrying to keep up with my sister.
“Come on Mena!” my sister shouted.
“I’m coming Aqua!” I shouted back.
The crowd was so loud I could barely hear her. I looked for my sister and saw she was at least 50 ft ahead of me. It was just like Aqua, she was always so bubbly so bright. She was just a ball of energy. She was the ocean and I was the volcano. I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Pyromena or Mena as my sister calls me. My sister is Aquamarine beautiful and petite at her 4’ 11”. She was like a little doll. She was strong though, stronger than I even knew. At times I felt such jealousy for her; for her beauty for her ease around people. Everyone adored her. People would give her whatever her heart desired and were constantly paying her compliments. They longed to touch her; to take some of that glorious beauty for their own. I am tall and ugly. I am 5’11” and am taller than many of the men in our village. My mother says I will never get a husband. My sister has been getting marriage offers since she was an infant. The only reason she has not been married off yet is that our parents are incredibly greedy. They want the best and biggest amount they can get for her. When I was a child I wondered; why when people are constantly sending us money, do we live so poorly? I found out the reason when I was 6. My father drinks it away. He buys everyone in the tavern drinks upon drinks and not a week later the money has been spent with nothing for our food or clothing. His drinking has made my mother bitter and despise all her children but Aqua. Everyone likes Aqua. Everyone hates me; all but Aqua. I still can’t believe why she still likes me but Aqua says we are in this together she says she would never abandon me. I know she will eventually though. Everyone always does. I have accepted it as my fate. It didn’t always used to be like this. I used to have just as many friends as Aqua. Then we started school and everything changed. Friends I had grown up with since birth abandoned me. They started bullying me. One day when I was coming home from school they took me to an alley and gave me 2 black eyes. My parents were angry when I came home. They didn’t want to pay for a doctor. They sent me to my room with no dinner or breakfast. In school I became the one to blame. If something bad happened or a prank had been pulled I was the one who had done it. When I was 7 I decided to quit school. I couldn’t take the persecution anymore. Aqua still goes to school. She explains to me what they’re learning so I too can become well learned. Aqua tells me I’m the smartest person she knows but I must say I don’t believe her. Sometimes I feel as if her mouth is laced with venomous charm. As if she were a serpent lulling the mouse to sleep in order to prey upon it. Aqua looks extremely harmless but underneath is like a strange and dangerous animal trying to claw its way out. I don’t think I fully understand her, in fact I don’t think I fully understand myself!
During our 12th year things started to get even weirder. I started having strange sensations in my hands and at times if felt as if my own eyes were boring holes through my eyelids. My hands and eyes burned with an everlasting fire. No one understood when I tried to explain. They told me I was being selfish and should stop complaining. They piled on as many chores they could think of and at night I would drop almost dead-like into bed; so exhausted I couldn’t move. That was one of the hardest times of my life. Only Agua would understand. She said she too was having strange feelings in her hands but she felt it all the way to her shoulders and hers was that of a cooling feeling. She said that recently she had some weird things happening. When she walked past a field all of a sudden every plant would start to grow. Even seedlings automatically sprouted up when she was near. Animals would follow her home. She was a magnet for any animal. With me, every time I tried to drink or eat something it would grow hot. I had tried experimenting with this and one time right after it had snowed, I froze some food outside; the moment I picked it back up, immediately, all the snow melted and the food was warm enough to eat. I should Aqua this ability and she marveled. She was so happy someone else was going through these strange occurrences. I was guess I was happy about that too but how happy could I be when all these terrible things were happening. I didn’t understand myself or what was going on inside me.