Two Worlds; The Collision

Chapter 1

The Past

“What’s her name?” I was in awe of the tiny little thing, though I was hesitant as well. Jareth told me she’d be ugly and cry. Jareth was my best friend, him and Lenny. It didn’t matter that they were ten and I was five, they were my best friends, so when they told me she’d come out ugly with her face all red and scrunched up with a loud screaming cry, I was hesitant to meet her. Though secretly, I still had been longing to meet her all the same.

However, nothing was how they said it would be. She wasn’t a tiny little red-faced screaming thing. She was small, her eyes closed and her little fingers curled together into little fists. She was complacently laying in a little blanket in my daddy’s arms, and all I could do was stare at her. “We don’t know her name yet, Sage. You know we are waiting to see what it’ll be.” Daddy said with a smirk.

I looked at him, the same curly gray hair as mine, but my eyes were mommy’s. I wondered if she’d have daddy’s eyes, since she had a light spot of dark brown hair like mommy. “Stinky,” I said, making mommy burst out laughing from the bed next to us. She was exhausted, covered in sweat, but her eyes were sparkling in humor, and her face was filled with happiness. “She’s stinky, call her stinky,” I said to them, a serious tone in my voice. I don’t know why I called her that, she didn’t really smell or anything, but it made mommy laugh when I said it and I loved it when mommy laughed.

Daddy wasn’t as amused as mommy was, he turned to the wooden bed and gently set her sleeping form inside it, making me squirm as I tried to keep looking at her. I don’t know why, but she felt so…far away. I needed to see her, to stay near her. I was still trying to figure out if I liked her or not. Daddy placed his hands on my shoulders, making me look him in the eyes. “Now Sage, that’s not nice. You’re the big brother now, don’t you remember what you said before? In the kitchen?” He asked me, tilting his head to the side. I was confused, unsure. I remember eating bread earlier, and I said it was tasty. What did that have to do with the little miss stinky over there? Daddy sighed, shaking his head. “You told me and mommy that you wanted to be her Sun, to protect her. Remember?” He asked me with a frown. “How can you protect her if you’re picking on her? Try to be nice, Sage. You’ll love her just like you love us, I’m sure of it.” He said with a grin, rubbing his fingers through my hair.

I frowned, thinking about his words as I walked out of the room. I did say that, and I meant it…then. When she was nothing more than a little thing inside mommy’s tummy. She was a part of mommy, after all, and I loved mommy so much. But she wasn’t inside mommy anymore, wasn’t a part of her…so could I still love her? I peered into the doorway and stared at her, watching as one of her little fists lifted over the side of the wooden bed and a shrill little cry lit the air. I crinkled my nose, appalled by the loud noise, and shook my head, leaving. I don’t think I like her outside of mommy’s belly. Besides, she didn’t need my love, mommy and daddy could give her enough. I didn’t have any more love to spare. I had mommy, daddy, Jareth, Lenny, Aunt Ana, and Uncle Ren, Aunt Doris, and so many others. I had so many people I loved already, I didn’t need a tiny red-faced screaming thing. She’d be better off going back inside mommy. She didn’t need me.

She was bigger, but barely. A few months old now, and mommy and daddy were getting all excited that she was crawling around by herself. It was strange to see, the way she was lifting herself up with her little hands, her tiny knees under her as she shakily started to move around. I kept following her, slightly afraid daddy would step on her. Jareth told me I was too worried about something stupid, but he didn’t see the way little miss stinky was darting out of nowhere and crawling so fast along the ground that the bigger people couldn’t possibly see her. She’d fall over a lot too, still getting used to it, sometimes going too fast to stop herself, and then she’d cry. Sometimes mommy would pick her up and sing to her, rocking her gently in her arms, and sometimes daddy would stop and pick her up, throwing her gently in the air and tickling her as she let out little squeals of excitement. They still haven’t named her yet, calling her the little bean, and I still called her little miss stinky. She fell once when my mommy and daddy weren’t around and cried, curling herself in a little ball, and I stared at her. I was always hiding behind doorways watching her with a strange fascination, still trying to figure out if I liked her or not, so when I saw her crying, I went to her. I poked her little fat cheeks, her eyes were the same amber color as daddy’s as they stared at me with a watery shine. I picked her up, it was hard, she was heavier than she looked, and I sat down on the ground with her curled up in a ball on my lap. She was giving little hiccups and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, trying to rock her as mommy does despite how heavy she was. Then I kissed the tears off of her cheeks and she smiled at me, her little hand lifting to my hair and grabbing a small handful, and decided she wasn’t as stinky as I thought she was, to begin with. Maybe I liked her…a little bit.

I started being around her constantly from then on. Mommy and daddy kept finding me in her little wooden bed in the morning. They scolded me for it at first, saying she was too little and I’d roll on her or suffocate her, but after a while, they transferred her to a bigger bed, wooden rails on the sides just in case, big enough for me to sleep beside her without worry. She didn’t have a name yet, so I started calling her sissy, and mommy and daddy were starting to ask sissy what her name should be. She hasn’t talked yet, but she’s getting closer. When mommy and daddy weren’t near, I kept trying to get her to say my name, but she didn’t seem to even try to attempt it. So I started saying Sun, pointing to myself, and her eyes would light up and her little hands would wave around excitedly, making me feel proud to be her brother, her protector, her Sun.

Jareth and Lenny came over to train with daddy, and I snuck outside to watch them with sissy. She is easier for me to carry around now. Daddy joked about it, saying I was getting some muscles and soon enough I’ll be training with the boys. I loved watching daddy train with Jareth and Lenny, the way they moved, even when they messed up, but daddy never messed up. Daddy was my hero. I want to be just like him one day. I would point at my chest and tell sissy I’d be like that one day too, that she’d never have to worry, because I’d be her hero, her protector, her Sun. She’d look at me with her wide doe-like amber-colored eyes and nod as if she could understand everything I was saying, her brown hair was longer now, a wave to it that curled around her eyes and gave her a doll-like look. I was starting to like her more than a little bit, and mommy would joke with me, telling me I loved my little sister, but I wasn’t sure yet. I didn’t think I had any more room for people to love. I was convinced I was too tiny to love someone else, and my heart was too tiny. Maybe I’ll love her when I get bigger and my heart has more room to grow.

I woke up one morning and mommy and sissy weren’t there. I was angry at daddy for letting me sleep in. Sissy is almost one year old now, and I am turning six today. She was starting to try and pull herself up to stand but kept falling, and mommy and daddy still hadn’t named her yet, she was a mess and she needed me. Daddy tried to feed me breakfast and I threw my bread at him. I was angry he let mommy take sissy away. He tried to talk to me but I didn’t listen, I didn’t want to listen. I just wanted my sissy. Daddy told me I was being too stubborn. He said I got my stubbornness from mommy, but I got his quiet stare and he wasn’t sure what to do with me. Daddy ended up putting me down for a nap early and I sat in my bed kicking and screaming and throwing a tantrum despite the fact that it was my birthday. I didn’t want a nap, I wanted sissy. I fell asleep cranky, exhausted, and frustrated, but when I woke up, sissy was sitting on my bed grinning at me. I had little wooden stairs to get on my bed and she had managed to crawl up them, sitting on her butt on top of my legs, her little arms out wide as she clutched at my hair. “Sss, Sssu,” she said, her eyes wide as she stared at me. I didn’t care that she had some drool in the corner of her mouth, I sat up and hugged her close to me, wrapping my little arms around her shoulders as I shushed her.

Mommy came and carried us both downstairs to the kitchen, sitting sissy down in a wooden chair she was strapped into and I sat on my knees on my own chair, looking around the kitchen excitedly. So many people I loved were here, and mommy had a big cake sitting in the middle of the table. Mommy and daddy had a tradition, we had big parties with those we loved, and we got presents from them, but when the friends left we celebrated ourselves, so I didn’t expect any presents from mommy and daddy yet. I got so many cool things. Jareth got me a knife and daddy took it away, saying I was too young. I grabbed it back again when he wasn’t looking and Lenny winked at me. I got clothes, toys, and so many things, and I got to sit next to my sissy the whole time helping feed her some of my cake, and I was happy. Then the friends left, and mommy took sissy away to clean her while I helped daddy clean the kitchen. Afterward, sissy fell asleep and mommy and daddy gave me my presents from them. My favorite present was a necklace, with a sun on it. Mommy said Sissy picked it out for me, that it was my present from sissy, and after mommy and daddy put me to bed I crawled out of my bed and went to sissy, waking her up in the process. Outside the window, we could see the moon and the stars and I pulled her to the window so she could see my necklace in the light. “Thank you, sissy,” I said, pointing at the necklace.

I could hear the door open and mommy and daddy came, watching us with expressions of amusement that I had woken her up to thank her. “Sun,” Sissy said, her voice loud and sweet, like a bell. I blinked at her as she pointed at the necklace, then at me, a bright grin on her face to reveal the little tooth she had poking out. “Sun, my Sun.” She said, her eyes wide as she gripped my shirt.

“Your first word!” I said, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her against me. I looked at mommy and daddy over her shoulder, sticking my tongue out at them with a grin. “I’m her first word,” I said, making them laugh softly at my childlike innocence. I looked down at sissy, noticing she was staring out the window, her little head pressed tightly against my shirt as she watched the stars falling. She lifted her hand towards the window, her eyes filled with excitement, and I smiled. “Those are falling stars, sissy,” I said to her, staring at the stars, at her, at the stars again, then smiled. I pulled her away from me, staring down at her as I patted her on the head. I looked at mommy and daddy, and grinned. “Falyn,” I said, pointing at sissy. “My Falyn, my star,” I said.

Mommy and daddy smiled, daddy’s arm wrapping around mommy’s waist as she placed her head on his shoulder, and they nodded. “Sage, and Falyn,” they said, accepting her name.

Falyn looked up at me, a question in her eyes, and I smiled at her. “Your Sun,” I said, pointing at myself. “My Star,” I said, pointing at her. She grinned, nodding her little head as she placed it gently on my chest, and together we watched the stars falling to the earth as I stroked the little fluff of brown hair curling around her eyes. I realized then, as we fell asleep together and mommy and daddy placed us in her bed, our arms wrapped around each other, that I had loved her all along, my little sister, my star. I didn’t need to grow more for my heart to make room for her, she was always there, along with everyone else I loved, and she’d always be there. I’d always be there, her protector, her Sun.