Rhyme would write out lists of all her dreams. She always said she had too many to just leave in her head. She started to get worried that she would lose her lists, so she stopped writing them on paper. Instead, she wrote them on the walls. They weren't allowed to write on the walls in their family's apartment, so she would write her lists and cover them up with furniture. Behind couches and bureaus one could find row upon row of her small, neat handwriting. Beat wished that he had bothered to read some of the things she had written on the walls. He could only remember shouting at her when he'd noticed red and orange ink peeking out from behind one of the posters in his room.
Rhyme's lists were different now. She had only had one marker with her when she died, so now she wrote everything in black. Beat remembered how she would change colors every other line, her dreams written out in ever changing colors.
"You want another marker, Rhyme?" Beat had asked when they'd entered the shop.
"My marker is working just fine! We shouldn't spend money on things we don't need. 'A penny saved is a penny earned!'" She smiled a little and waved a finger in the air to emphasize her maxim. Beat couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. She acted like she was his teacher more often now that she couldn't remember that she was his sister. He'd always wondered if she'd developed her penchant for those quotes because of him. He hated himself for being angry about it it but he hated himself even more for being so stupid.
They wandered about the shop, looking for something that could help them with today's task. Neku and Shiki would probably finish first anyway, but they had to at least try. Beat couldn't help but think that Rhyme wouldn't be doing so badly if she had a better partner. He pushed those thoughts away and let himself become distracted by the store's displays.
"Yo, Rhyme, check it out!" Beat leaned over the display case excitedly, waving for Rhyme to come on over. "It's those new pins! Think we got enough for one of 'em?"
Rhyme popped out from behind a hat rack and walked over to look at the display. She looked down at the pins and pulled down her right sleeve, revealing a detailed list of all of their pins, items, and money. Fighting Noise gave them more spending money than either of them had ever had. Beat thought that it was a really sick joke that they were richer when they were dead. Rhyme nodded her okay and repositioned her hat with her left hand. Her sleeve slipped down her arm and that's when Beat noticed it.
His name was written unevenly across Rhyme's arm.
He'd never noticed her writing on her left arm and he knew she couldn't write very well with her right hand. He wanted to ask about it, but he just couldn't talk to Rhyme like he'd used to. Sometimes he felt like she wasn't even his sister anymore. At that thought a tightness and an emptiness twisted up his insides and made him feel all wrong.
There were other words on her arm, but Beat wasn't a very fast reader and he hadn't been able to look away from the one he had read.
He could find no sleep that night, fighting against alternating waves of guilt and curiosity. Finally he found himself gingerly pushing Rhyme's sleeve up and looking down at the messy black words.
Get Beat back to his little sister.
It was the closest thing she had to a dream now. Beat stuffed his fist in his mouth, biting down hard on his fingers to stop the sounds that would surely come out of the hole in his shaking chest.
"Beat, are you crying?"
"Bwaaaaaaaaaaaah! O' course not!"
Writer's Woes: Something tells me this is a bit of a mess, but I wanted to post it anyway. I did a bit of editing, but I find that I just don't feel happy with my writing anymore. I really liked this idea so I tried my best to get it out and I hope everyone enjoys it!