Sierra looked out the window. She twirled her blonde hair with her index finger; she was never satisfied with the way her hair looked. Just below the window, was a whole village she wasn't sure she enjoyed living in.
Nearly everyone was on the streets, either starved or homeless. In this time, her family was considered " wealthy." Well, only because they were not living on the streets or starving. For this, a lot of people disliked her and her family. Sierra disagreed with them. They only had enough to get by, and they didn't get anything extra. The poor always accused her family of living a good life.
Nothing was very special about the village Sierra lived in. Some yellow and brown grass grew near what houses there were, and the village was built in a valley, which meant floods. It rained a lot for a place that was often blazing hot.
Sierra disliked when it was hot, but didn't like when it rained, either. Raining meant floods, and being wet, while the heat meant sweating and boredom. You couldn't do much while it was blazing hot, partly because you'd be even more uncomfortable if you moved around.
So, in short, the village was a place for people who had no where else to go. That also means, the Bringly family had no where to go.
Sierra heard her sister rummaging through papers on her desk. Ugh. She is so weird. Sierra thought. Then her sister gave her a look that said, " Yeah, right."
Sierra's sister, who was actually her twin, Odett, was her only friend. Odett was 17, but she was born on New Year's Eve, while Sierra was born on New Year's Day. Technically, that made Odett older, but only by minutes.
Odett had dirty blonde hair with golden streaks that she often put into a pony tail. Sierra and her looked alike, but had noticeable differences. While Odett had light blue eyes, Sierra had dark green eyes. While Sierra had a face that was flat, Odett had a face that was more pushed out. Her brows protruded more noticeably than Sierra's, which were flat against her forehead. Odett had a narrow head, while Sierra's head was more of a squished circle.
Everything else about them, was almost exactly the same. The shapes of their body, the firm muscle on their shoulders, their height and weight. However, there was one thing that was the same about them that was not noticeable. They had an empathy link. They could feel each other's emotions. If one of them was angry, the other would feel an unexplainable anger as well. They could also have slight feelings on each others' thoughts. If Sierra had thought something bad about Odett, Odett would have a self-conscious knowledge about that thought. But, because Odett didn't have an empathy link with anyone else, she would know it was Sierra.
It was not that only Sierra thought bad things about her sibling. Odett would often think bad thoughts about Sierra, too. It was an odd relationship. With a best friend, you couldn't know if your best friend was thinking badly about you, or thinking good things about you. That makes relationships work.
But if you were to know what your best friend was thinking all the time, maybe not. Sometimes, Odett and Sierra were the best of friends, and sometimes, they wanted to punch each other.
Sierra and Odett also had the ability of precognition. But their precognition abilities were slightly different from each other. Sierra could walk into the dreams of others, see other's pasts, and see signs of what's to come, or signs explaining someone or something's past. These were often displayed in dreams and visions. While she was asleep, she often could walk into another's dream, and often see signs. In visions, which came when she spaced out, she saw only signs of the past and future.
Odett, however, had different abilities with precognition. In fact, Sierra didn't want to call Odett's ability precognition. She could see the future and past like Sierra, but they were vague visions and she couldn't remember them well. She could walk into other's dreams and watch their dreams play out. However, then she could control their dreams. She couldn't control everything in another's dream, but things to her power. She could manipulate what was going on in a dream. Whatever was happening in the person's dream would happen according to Odett's thoughts. If Odett made it a nightmare, they would end up being haunted by vague memories of the dream. ( She often did this to people she did not like. ) However, she could not change the main subject of the dream. She could change what the person thought about the dream, and slightly change what was going on. She could make a beautiful place look frightening, as long as that did not change the subject of the dream.
Because of Sierra and Odett's empathy link to each other, they often shared the same dreams. If Odett decided to walk into another's dream, Sierra could end up tagging along with no choice. Odett could not manipulate Sierra's dreams, though. She had tried once, but had failed. She ended up swimming in a black lake that literally had no end, and there was no sky above her. Only darkness. She didn't try to probe Sierra's dreams again after that.
When Sierra had dreams, Odett would sometimes end up appearing in them with her. This was the only time Odett could remember signs of the future and past so vibrantly. In Odett's own dreams of precognition, she only had vague memories. Sometimes, Odett could even watch Sierra's visions. Sierra wasn't actually in her visions; she saw it through a third-person point of view, as if she was watching from someone else's eyes. This was why Odett could not appear in Sierra's visions as a figure, but she could watch them.
The twins' parents were young. They often disappeared on trips and refuse to tell them where they had gone. Odett and Sierra loved their parents, though. They are the reason they live, and without them, they would be on the streets. Their parents had never told Sierra and Odett their real names. Odett was the only one who took notice of that, though. Sierra couldn't care less about their names. To her, their names were " Mom and Dad."
Their father was a tall, pale man, with light blonde hair. He had pale blue eyes. His face was flat, but his eye brows protruded like Odett's. Sierra had gotten her flat face and blonde hair from her father, but Odett had gotten his eyes and brows. Sierra wished she had her father's beautiful pale eyes. But she had gotten dark green eyes, and no one in her family knew who's traits they were.
Their mother, however, was a different story. She was very tan, with hazel eyes and black hair. Only Odett had one of her traits, which was the pointed face. Both Odett and Sierra were pale like their father.
Odett and Sierra had different personalities as well. Sierra was more goofy and hyper, but was easily angered and held grudges easily. Odett, was a little the same, but was slightly more forgiving.
Odett resumed shuffling the papers on her desk. She loved to study chemicals, and was very educated. Sierra was also highly educated, but hated studying for things. She had photographic memory, so she could get away with not studying. However, she couldn't get away with not studying for mathematics. Mathematics was her low point. Mathematics, though, was Odett's high point. She had a memory for it. Sierra usually forgot her mathematics in less than four hours. Odett always wanted to call her a blonde; but Odett was a blonde, too.
Sierra watched as Odett slowly began to stop shuffling through her papers and look for her coat.
" Sierra, where did you put my coat?" Odett asked. She looked at Sierra through narrowed eyes.
Sierra looked from side to side. She had forgotten it at the butchery earlier; and she hated going to the butchery. Slaughtered animals. Yuck.
" You left it at the butchery." Sierra lied.
Odett raised one eye brow. " I left it at the butchery? You mean, you left it at the butchery?" She grinned as she finished her sentence. She liked watching Sierra grimace at thinking of the butchery.
She continued before Sierra could object to retrieving the coat. " It's okay. I'll get the coat." She didn't need Sierra complaining to her later. Odett wasn't bothered at all by the butchery. That didn't mean she enjoyed going there, though.
Sierra gave her a grateful look, and then resumed watching the village below her. Odett picked up her beige fur jacket and headed down the stairs. Sierra sighed as she heard the creek of the stairs. This house was so old.
When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she paused a looked around the room. At the bottom of the stairs was the kitchen, where her parents usually did their work. The table had papers scattered across it. A few were crumpled up and left on the chairs. Her parents always left a mess.
When Odett got to the door, she saw a note hanging on it. It looked like someone had quickly torn off a piece of paper. It read: " Sierra, Odett, we are out of town. We will be back soon. Don't get into any trouble!"
Odett sighed. This was the third time they had left the village without as much warning as an unexpected note. She tore the note off the door and threw it on the table in frustration. You could at least leave some food in the house! Now, not only did she have to retrieve her coat, but buy meat with the small amount of money she had. Odett liked eating plantation better; the meat wasn't as good quality as she would have enjoyed. Not to mention the merchant at the butchery was rude and disliked Odett and Sierra.
Sighing once again, she turned the wooden handle of the door and stepped out into the dim evening light. At once she saw villagers hurrying along, either carrying what little imports they had or trying to get their hands on an edible plant growing on the ground. Her bare feet felt ticklish on the sandy dirt. They had cuts and scabs on them from walking bare-foot around town.
As she headed north towards the butchery, she smelled the scent of fire roasting wood in small bakeries. Her mouth watered as the faint scent of bread. To her, bread was delicious, burnt or perfect. But it was the most expensive food in the village, so few in town had ever tasted it. Odett had tasted it once before when her parents brought it home after one of their " disappearing acts."
Odett wondered why there was so little vegetation growing around here. The soil was healthy, but nothing grew. Perhaps it was the acid level in the soil was too high or low to sustain life. She smiled. If Sierra was listening to her thoughts, she'd be calling her a nerd. Her smile turned to a frown as she saw the butcher tent. Time to hold my breath and try not to suffocate.
She pulled aside one of the flaps and lowered her head. At once, the smell of rotting meat hit her nose. The ground was littered with fur from dead animals. She instinctively put a hand on her nose, and then slid her hand back down to her side. She didn't want to be rude, even if the butcher was rude to her.
A short, slightly plump man looked up at her. He wore a thin white shirt that was see-through. He had a very pale face, but his arms were tan. Odett wanted to vomit at the sight of his thin-shirt. But instead, she blinked in shock. This wasn't the man that had been rude to her and Sierra.
He gave her a look that said " What do you want?" Odett was at a loss for words. Then she asked, " I n-need to buy three pounds of beef." The man gave her an annoyed look, as if he didn't want to get up or do anything, but he didn't object. He headed to the back of the tent, and came back with a fleshy piece of raw meat.
" Good enough for you, little miss princess?" He said with an edge to his voice.
Odett began to become annoyed. " Yes, Mister." She didn't stretch as far as to say " thank you."
" Excuse me, young lady, my name is not Mister. My name is Alfredo." He said rudely. Odett grabbed the meat and slid it in one of her jacket's pocket. She hated doing this; her jacket would smell like rotting flesh for days. Then, she remembered the original reason she was here. " Have you seen a leather coat around here?"
" Nope. They took everything out of here since 'ole fatso was drowned."
Odett froze. That's what happened to the butcher?
" He… drowned?"
" Well, young lady, he is missing, and for all we know, the last place he was at was the river. And nobody survives falling in that river. You'll die before you even begin to suffocate."
Odett shivered. There was a river a little ways off from the village that ran through the mountains they were surrounded by. It was extremely cold. You would get hyperthermia before you started to suffocate. Not to mention the water is very rough and it was nearly impossible to swim back up to the surface without being pushed and pulled in different directions.
" Oh…"
With that, Odett paid with what little money she had and hurried out the flaps. She was deeply disturbed by the butcher's sudden death in the river. There was no reason for anyone to go near the river, unless they wanted to drown themselves. She quickly made herself stop thinking of the butcher and hurried to her home. In the back of her mind, she felt Sierra's anger at realizing her parents had once again, left on a " trip."
Odett stopped and a little squeak escaped her mouth. She stepped on a splinter. Ugh! I hate being bare-footed! Then she felt a sudden outburst of annoyance. Oops. She had forgotten that Sierra was feeling everything that she was.
When she arrived to her home, she found Sierra waiting with the door open.
" Um, hello? What took you so long?"
" I…"
" I'm starving!"
Odett just smiled. Sierra. Always hungry. Odett and Sierra each grabbed a piece of fire wood and entered their home. Odett's bare-feet were soothed by the soft rug. Sierra kneeled down and began to light the fire to cook the beef. Since they had no bread, they were literally having only beef for dinner. When she was done, she stood back up and headed towards the cabinets in the kitchen. She was too short to see what was inside the top cabinet where the plates were, so she had to feel around to finally find two good size plates. Odett cut off two slabs of beef and got a pan from a drawer near the fireplace. She laid down the beef carefully so they were not making any contact with each other. She didn't want them to be stuck together, because Sierra would end up taking the bigger piece.
Sierra cleared the table of papers and carelessly threw them in the trash. She laid the two white plates down and retrieved two cups from another cabinet, and went to get wine. The twins loved the wine their parents bought. It was strong, with a noticeable edge of sweetness. Not to mention it was Sierra's favorite color; purple.
She poured the wine in both cups and stepped back from the table to look at the set up. Then, she poured a little more wine into her glass. Good thing Odett is too busy to notice.
Luckily for Sierra, Odett didn't notice that thought, either. A couple of moments later, the beef was done roasting. Odett got her gloves from a side table and picked up the pan. She delivered the pan to the table, placing it in the middle. She placed it in the circle that was left by hot pans being laid down there. Odett sat down across from Sierra, and they both eyed each other. Sierra gave Odett a pair of bug eyes, and they both broke off into fits of giggles. After recovering, the twins each took their slab of beef. Sierra, too uncivilized to eat with utensils, tore off pieces with her hands, leaving Odett mortified that this was the same person that lived with her.
" How come you don't have your coat?" Sierra finally broke the silence.
Odett began to explain to Sierra her coat, along with all other items lost there, were thrown away when the old butcher drowned. Sierra was shocked to hear the butcher was dead, but she wasn't sad about it.
Then, they changed topics to talk about their parents' disappearance.
" Where do you think they went this time?" Sierra asked, looking slightly worried.
" Oh, I don't know. They never tell us anyway. What makes you think they'll tell us this time?"
" We should be old enough to know now. It shouldn't have to be a secret unless it was important. I mean, going out of town is important, but so important that you have to keep it a secret from your own children, who are almost grown up?"
" If it was truly important, maybe they would have told us. Maybe it's nothing to worry about."
This silenced Sierra for the night. She remained lost in her thoughts, even after she had cleaned up the table. A little before dawn, she went into her bedroom, and let a fresh wave of sleep take her thoughts away.
