Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Word Count - 445
Warning for character death.
Forever Warm
She walked down the middle aisle blankly, the faces of the people sitting either side of her registering no recognition in her mind. She didn't care who else was there - they didn't matter.
She hadn't intended to even come.
When she'd woken that morning, she'd been sure that she didn't want to be here, that she wasn't interested in saying goodbye because goodbye meant that her twin sister was gone and Parvati wanted no part of that.
Oddly enough, her legs had brought her here anyway.
Her mother was standing to greet her with a hug when she reached the front pew, but Parvati ignored her, drawn as she was to the open coffin that was resting at the very front of the venue.
A picture of the two girls had been placed on the table beside it with flowers.
They looked happy.
Parvati couldn't imagine ever feeling happy again.
She climbed the three steps silently, until she was standing directly beside the coffin. Padma had been laid out in her favourite dress, and her eyes closed. She could be sleeping, she looked so peaceful.
Parvati raised a trembling hand to clutch at Padma's.
"She's cold," she whispered, tears falling from her eyes in abundance. Turning to her parents, she implored, "Padma's cold. She needs a blanket."
"Parvati…" her mum murmured, her own tears falling as she approached Parvati. She wrapped her arms around her and gently pulled her away from the coffin. "A blanket won't make any difference, sweetheart. Where Padma is now, I'm sure she's lovely and warm."
Parvati shook her head, reaching for her twin. "She's cold and she needs a blanket. We can't let her stay cold forever, mum, we can't. She needs a blanket."
"Pav?"
Parvati and her mum turned to find Lavender approaching them. She was dressed all in black, except for the still pink scars that would ever adorn her once perfect skin. She was holding a fluffy pink blanket in her hands.
"Here, sweetheart. Wrap this around her and warm her up," Lavender said, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
Parvati took the blanket, separating herself from her mum to do as Lavender said. She tucked it around Padma carefully.
"There. You'll be warm now, Padma," she whispered, running a single finger down her twin's face. "You'll be warm forever."
Lavender was there to catch her when her knees gave out and she cried into her friends chest as the two rocked together gently.
It would be years later, while there were lying in bed, that Parvati would realise that Lavender had always been there to catch her when she wasn't strong enough to hold herself up.
Written for;
A Year In entertainment - Book - Sisters.