Kanan's POV
"I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do but hope."
The last words from the doctor who treated her, before she said her last words to Ezra, Sabine, Hera and I.
They were: Don't let this be something you have to be sad about… Please?
Then, the monitor went flat line.
Hope.
A word that never helped me at all. Now here I am. At my daughter's funeral.
Lung cancer…
It wasn't her time.
Then, the reverend began his speech.
"We are gathered here today, to celebrate the life of this young woman. Who had a life planned for her, but misfortune took wing and took her life with it. Lina Jarrus: Straight-A student, sister, daughter, actress, and by far the best at making your day. Today, we come to our final goodbyes until the day the Lord comes to judge us all…"
"Judge us"
Why not now? Why can't it be now? When so many people have died because of selfish things?
"…May you rest in peace…"
Later that day after the funeral was over, I decided to take a walk.
I put on my sweat pants, green t-shirt, my boots, Aeropostale jacket, and tied my hair up.
Halfway to the park, I felt my phone vibrate. I turned it on and saw I had a message from Hera:
Dinner will be ready in 30.
I decided to go ahead and walk back.
I mean, it's not like I was planning on leaving for good.
Ezra's POV 3 days earlier…
She took off her breathing mask, and beckoned me closer with her shaking hand.
I knew I was taking a risk on getting her type of cancer myself, but she's my sister. My little sister.
I kneeled down by her bed, took her hand and pressed it against my cheek.
"What is it Lina?" I asked.
Her hand was burning up, but she was always cold.
"Ezra, take care of Sabine. And, even though I'll be watching you all, I know that you will watch them even more than I ever could. I mean, all the time I have left will soon be gone…" I cut her off.
"Don't say things like that. We still have hope…" I said as I started breaking into tears.
"Shh. It's okay Ezra…".
And then came the coughing, and all the rush of the nurses and doctors…
"An hour later, they put her on a sedative.
When she was calm enough to be spoken to…
She said this:
"Don't let this be something you have to be sad about… Please?"
And the steady beating of the monitor was replaced by a loud, high pitched screech…
I was awoken out of my flashback with the sound of mother calling.
"Ezra! Sabine! Dinner's ready! Get down here."
"Okay!" I shouted back.
Sabine is my sister. My twin sister. Even though we're twins, and we look alike, we have nothing in common.
Almost.
The one thing we love most is getting in and out of trouble.
I got up off my desk, and headed down.
But, classic me, not paying attention, and I run into dad on the way to the kitchen.
I pass by the door, just as it swings open. Get a face-full of door and end up splat on the ground.
Sabine slides down the stair rail and lands on her feet.
"Seriously Ezra? Now is not the time for a nap."
"No, I think he was going to be the Welcome mat." Dad said as he walked in.
"Dad! You're home!" Sabine and I said at the same time. Then, we jumped up and hugged him.
"Kanan, Kids! Get in here and eat!"
"Mom sounds mad. What did you two do?" he asked.
We both looked at him as if he was stupid.
But Sabine and I both know that without mom, dad would never get anything done.
Seriously, when she was at the hospital with Lina when she was born, dad had to keep an eye on us at home.
Long story short, there were waffles on the wall, the air conditioner was broke, the microwave was in the oven, and the washing machine had chocolate syrup in it.
Sabine and I were only involved in one of those!
We sat down at the table. It hasn't been the same since Lina passed away. Usually, she would have some sort of tale to tell and would rather act it out than eat.
Since then, it's been quiet.
I wonder what's going to happen to her stuff. Will mom and dad throw it away? Will they sell it? Will they put it in a box in the attic?
The next day…
I didn't even want to get up that morning.
I wasn't woken as I normally was. Instead of Lina jumping onto the bed- Scratch that, rather than her jumping onto me, I was awoken by Sabine's air horn.
Dad dropped us off at school. Our last day of spring break was yesterday.
Sabine and I are twins, so we have the same classes with each other.
Speaking of class, I just remembered something:
Sympathy.
Our first hour teacher is big on helping out with families in need of sympathy.
We were the highlight when she found out about Lina's lung cancer, and she made the other students make get well cards for Lina.
We walked into class, and saw a substitute… That's a relief… For today.
The day was going great. Just like any normal day with a substitute.
Then came the announcements.
The PA system blared everything it said. I'm surprised we haven't lost our sense of hearing yet, "…and tacos are on today's lunch menu. I would like everyone to have a moment of silence for Lina Jarrus. A straight-A student here at Washington High, who passed away last week. Her siblings are Ezra Bridger-Jarrus, and Sabine Wren-Jarrus. Please share their sympathy with them. I know some of you knew her…" I just wanted to slide under my desk and die.
I didn't pay attention to the rest.
The next six classes were a blur… Sabine had to constantly snap me out of my dazes each hour to keep from being caught by the teacher.
My version of a daze is doodling in my notebook and putting my head on my desk.
At lunch, Sabine came to me and asked what was wrong. I usually never daze off in class because… I'll quote her… "I'm often always staring at the board imagining the teacher blowing up and the lunch lady coming in class to scream: free ice-cream"
"That's not true. I imagine the lunch lady screaming, "Free cake" and then, "school's out; go wild"
"My problem, Sabine, is that I don't want to forget Lina, but I don't want to be constantly reminded of her every second of every day for the rest of my life."
She thought of something to say, then spoke, "Okay, I feel you. Maybe it's the "Twin Telepathy" or last night's enchiladas, but I know that isn't all." She brushed her hair back.
I forgot about how mom and dad let her dye the tips of her hair orange for her birthday. Two years ago. When we found out Lina had lung cancer. She never grew out of it. She said she's thinking of changing the orange to green.
"It was Lina's favorite color" she said.
"Why did it have to be her Sabine? Why did she have to die?"
"Ezra, are you still asking yourself that?"
"It's something everyone asks. I just think to question it"
"Come on, tomorrow's Saturday. Luckily we got an extra week off this year, so, mom and dad are taking us to Florida. Maybe we can ask them to homeschool us."
"Can we?" I never wanted to see this place ever again.
The next day…
Ezra's POV
"WAKE UP!" Sabine shouted out in the middle of the night.
"Seriously?" I asked as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I looked at the clock:
3:30 a.m.
"Sabine?"
"Yeah Ez?"
"Why are you waking me up at three in the morning? On a Saturday?"
"Because we're moving?" she said as she went into my closet and pulled out my suitcases and a box.
"MOVING? Sabine, have you lost it?! All we're doing is going to Florida for a few days."
"Uh, it was your idea that mom and dad homeschool and move us…"
"Actually, that was your idea. Come on! We're 16! Mom and dad would never have us move when we are two years away from graduation…" Right on cue, I heard mom yell:
"Kanan! Have you seen the suitcases? We're going to have to hire a moving van if we want to get this all to Florida by tomorrow!"
I did not see that coming.
"So, it's basically a life-long vacation. Whatever, I'm just glad that you'll be happy without everyone saying "Sorry for your loss" every five minutes of the day. Besides, you asked if we could move"
"What did we have for dinner last night?" I asked. Whenever we have pork roast, I get tired and I can never remember anything from the night before.
"Pork roast." Dang it.
"Well, I've already packed. Want help?" she asked as she continued packing everything from my closet into the bags.
"Well, you've already packed a quarter of my room, so, why not?"
I got up and saved a t-shirt and a pair of jeans before they were shoved into my suitcase. I always wear my Converse sneakers.
At exactly 6:39 a.m. we had finished packing everything in our rooms…
Well, every room was clean except for Lina's room.
"Mom? What's gonna happen to Lina's stuff?" Sabine asked as mom came down the hall with a bag filled with photos and books.
"Oh, we're going to leave that here."
Sabine's POV
That?
"Well, why?"
"We don't need it. Besides, the people that buy this house will probably enjoy going through it. Lina was all time making things. They might find something useful."
And then she left.
"Ezra, remember that box Lina had that she said if she ever went missing or didn't live we open it?"
"Yeah, but, I can't find it. I've already looked" Ezra said.
"Lina gave me a hint as to where it might be. She said it's where her heart is. What do you think it is?"
"Remember that time when we went to the Austin Mahone concert? Well, you went with mom to go get some snacks, and while you were gone, he started singing and Lina shouted out "Austin, you are my heart" The sad part was, she shouted it in my ear. As if she isn't loud enough."
"But… what does that have to do with Lina's box?" I asked getting tired of this.
"Does she have any posters of him?"
"Not that I know of."
"Maybe… Just maybe… it's behind one of her posters of him! Like in the movies"
"Ezra, not everything in a movie applies to life. Now come on. We'll check one more time."
Ezra's POV
Lina's room is an organized wreck.
She has everything labeled, everything color sorted, and everything is crafted. Nothing is store-bought. Except for the things used to make her crafts.
I turn to look at her dresser. Pink with green designs and an Austin Mahone poster over her bottom drawer. Bingo!
The small pink, locked with a heart locket box sat there waiting to be opened… Only, we didn't have a key.
"See Sabi? I told you it was behind the poster. Now, you wouldn't happen to have a heart-shaped lock pick or key would you?"
""Nope. And, I think the necklace that had the key on it was the one we buried her in. Great" and she plopped down on Lina's bed.
"Well, we can't just leave the box in here. So, let's take it, and we can figure out how to open it on our way to Florida. Sound okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah it does."
Hera's POV
"Okay, does everyone have their cargo loaded? Did anyone forget something? Do you need to use the restroom before we go?" Kanan said as he finished putting the last suitcase in the back of the car.
"Yes, no, and no" Ezra and Sabine said.
Sometimes, I wonder if they are even related. They get along so well.
"Okay! Say 'goodbye house'" Sabine said as she got out her camera and took one last picture as we pulled out of the driveway.
Sometimes, I think she's too cheery.
Ezra's POV
Mom fell asleep about an hour after we left Washington County, Arkansas. Probably because we woke up at 3 in the morning, but went to bed at ten last night.
I wanted to fall asleep as well, but, I promised Sabine that we would figure out the box while on our way to Florida.
"Okay, so, we know basically every single way to open a lock… But nothing on how to open a heart lock. Ironic."
"Well, how about the paper clip method? It could work." Sabine said as she started digging in her duffel bag that sat in between us.
She pulled out the box and the paper clips we had stashed from Lina's room.
"So, we bend the paper clip to where it is completely straight, and fold it in two. Then, make a crescent with the top, and use it like a real key. Right?" Sabine asked.
"Right."
I heard the lock inside the box click open.
"Ready?" Sabine asked as she put the box in between us on top of the duffel bag.
She flipped the lid open.