Everyone slept early compared to yesterday because they were all tired from going out two days in a row.
After eating and washing dishes, Alek brushed her teeth and went straight to her bed. She was planning to read a few chapters before she slept, but her eyelids were like magnets, pulling each other to close. Alek didn't go against her body and slept.
She dreamed about meeting her brother. Aether was waiting for her in the sunflower clearing. He was wearing all white, making him look like an angel.
Alek ran to her brother and hugged him tightly.
Aether had not changed his appearance from his death. And Alek thought she would be taller than him, but to her surprise, she was smaller than him when she was hugging him. It was as if they were little again.
"Are you back?" Alek asked him, still in the hugging position. She did not forget that she was dreaming. Alek had met Aether many times in her dream but never once touched him. Whenever she tried to touch him, the dream ended.
"I wish," Aether told his sister, patting her head softly. "I heard you, in the graveyard."
"Really?" Alek asked. Her voice sounded was also back to when she was little.
"Yes." He replied. "You know I'm always with you."
"You are not!" Alek started to cry. "Why aren't you here with me?" Even though she knew the answer, she still asked.
"Alek, you know that I'm gone." Aether pulled away from her and looked at his little sister in her eyes. "You are the oldest now. Take care of them for me. Protect them for me. Find them for me."
"How could you say that?" It was like ignoring the existence of Aether and, Alek didn't want to do that. He was forever going to be her older brother, dead or not.
"You have to, Alek," Aether told her sternly. "From now on, many bad things are going to happen. Mom and dad would not be able to protect you and everyone from it. You are the one who is going to protect your siblings, our siblings. You need to be strong enough to be able to make cruel decisions. You need to become a person who can be trusted and looked up to."
"What do you mean bad things?" She couldn't comprehend. "I don't want to make cruel decisions. I don't want to become a person who can be trusted and... and... looked up!"
Alek didn't think she could protect Bia and Kai as he did for her.
"You have to," Aether told her calmly. "Listen, there are going to be new things in your life soon and you have to embrace them."
"But I don't think I can protect them like you did for me." Alek told him, her voice cracking.
"You might not be able to protect them like me. But, I'm sure you will find a way soon to protect them in your own way."
Alek was surprised. Aether spoke to her like he knew everything that would happen in the future And he also sounded like a grown-ass man.
"You understand, Alek?" Aether asked.
Alek nodded wiped her tears from clouding her vision.
"You have become a little stronger since I left." Now, Aether asked the crying baby in front of him with a proud smile. "But I want and need you to be stronger than this. Can you do that?"
When he talked to her like this, Alek felt like she could do it.
Alek nodded her head, still wiping her eyes.
"I want to hear it, Alek." Aether told her.
"Yezzz." She couldn't pronounce the words properly because of crying too much.
Aether pulled Alek into a hug again and told her softly. "Is it weird that I can trust you like myself?"
This made Alek calm down and embrace the moment they had even though its a dream.
"No it's not. I am a very trustable person." She told him playfully and, this earned a laugh from him. She missed his laugh and everything about him.
Alek wished that his death was just another nightmare. That when she wakes up, he would be right next to her. Waking her up from the nightmare. She doesn't remember how many times she had hoped that and ended up not becoming true. It broke her up.
Sometimes she still couldn't believe that he was gone.
After hugging each other for a long time, she started feeling that her dream was going to end. And she knew that Aether knew that too.
They both looked at each other and, Aether kissed Alek's head softly. "I may not be here physically but my strength is going to be yours, remember that." Aether told her before she woke from her dream.
When Alek woke up from her dream, sitting up, she heard herself saying don't go and, tears streaming down her cheeks. Looked like she was crying in real life too.
She wiped it and calmed her racing heart. Alek clenched her fist from crying again and it worked. Soon after, she was calm and she went back lying on her back. Alek hugged the sunflower looking lion in her arms. The lion reminded her of Aether because of its sunflowerness and how brave and strong lions were.
She kept recalling her dream before she forgot about it. Alek wanted to remember every moment she had with him.
She remembered Aether saying that she needed to be stronger. To be able to protect her siblings. She didn't know how she could do that but, she could do it.
Alek got out of the bed soundlessly and went to Bia's bedside. Her little sister was sleeping peacefully and, this made Alek smile a bit. She promised herself that she would protect her no matter what.
Bia was always on her side even though they quarrel a lot. She was more than grateful to have them in her life. They were gifts to her. Irreplaceable ones.
Alek bent down on her sister and kissed her forehead softly before going back to her bed and hugging the lion tightly in her arms until she fell asleep.
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When Alek's breath was steady, Bia opened her eyes. She had been awake before Alek was. She had heard Alek saying something and that was what woke her up.
Alek was begging. She heard 'here with me', 'don't go' and 'no' and she knew that Alek was having a dream about Aether.
Bia thought Alek slept when she heard her stop talking, but soon she realized that she was wrong. Her breathing was not steady and this made her worry. She quickly got out of the bed to check on her sister.
She saw tears flowing down Alek's face. Bia sat on the bed and hugged her sister tightly. She thought Alek would wake up so she continued hugging her sister. It was rare to see Bia hugging or holding hands with somebody. It did not feel right for her. But tonight, it was something that she needed.
Sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night and watch Alek sleep and never touch her. In rare times Bia touched her shoulder slightly as if to check if she was real. She didn't want Alek to disappear as Aether did in her life.
Bia had already lost he big brother, who she doesn't remember. But she could feel that he was a big part of the family and, the loss of him sometimes lingered around the house.
Bia was somehow happy that she didn't remember him and somehow not.
She was happy that she didn't know him because if she did, she would feel the sadness and hollows in her heart as her father, mother and Alek did. She was not happy that she didn't remember him. Bia wanted to remember his voice and his presence in her memories. She wanted to know him. He was her brother, after all.
Bia couldn't even imagine if she lost her older sibling. Alek was too important for her. It's just that she would never say that out loud. She didn't want Alek to become memories. That was something she couldn't bear.
Her sister is everything to her. She didn't want to imagine the world without her and live without her. Bia needed her sister. She may fight with Alek. But once they lay a finger on her, they would be facing her.
Bia hugged her sister tightly for some time before realization hit her that she was hugging her sister. She went back to her own bed like a robot and think about what she just did. Bia was surprised with herself.
'What have I done? What was that? Please tell me that I was dreaming or something.'
Bia was questioning herself when she heard Alek sitting up on the bed. She quickly shut her eyes and made her breathing steady. Soon, she heard her sister getting off her bed and coming closer to her. Her mind was in chaos. Did she know that she hugged her? Does she know that she's awake?
Bia's heart was thumping inside her loudly and, all she could hear was her heart. She was concentrated on her heart that she didn't notice Alek getting closer to her. She stopped breathing before reminding herself, Alek would notice. Alek soon after went back to her bed to Bia's relief.
Bia knew that Alek wouldn't do anything even though she was caught hugging her as she would just hug her back happily, but still, she was glad that Alek's breathing became steady after minutes of getting into bed.
She quietly sighed and sat up. Bia saw Alek hugging the lion that she had gotten years ago. Probably around Iris's age. The lion had red-orange spiky hair around its neck and the rest of the hair was yellow.
Bia looked at how Alek was hugging it and smiled slightly. She quickly went back into her bed and closed her eyes to sleep.