19

Marluxia

Namine had recovered fully since she had awoken. Her spirit was pretty strong, after being out so long, she still had pretty good mobility, and after a couple months of therapy, was now a running, active girl. She said she didn't have a family, she didn't even recognize where she was. Something about a big castle, with strange electric elevators. Kids, but as far as anyone in town knew, this kid came from nowehere. We had set up posters, and advertised on the media, informed the police of the situation. But, until anyone came, I was taking care of her. It was all in all a difficult situation.

I was cleaning up after dinner, and she was in the living room, drawing pictures, one of her favorite things to do. I wiped my forehead and took off the rubber gloves. Yeah, yeah, rubber glove guy, I'm so tough I know, able to resist the squemishness of dirty dishes. Oh well, what can you do? I turned around and saw Namine standing there. She was holding something silver in her hands, I didn't recognize it at first, but realized it was a picture after a few seconds thinking about it.

"Marluxia...who's this?" she said, looking at the picture. I didn't know who she was refferring to, until I realized that she was holding the picture I kept at my bedside, not one of the normal ones scattered throughout the house. It was special, before my sister died. It was full of memories for me, back when my family was complete.

"You mean the girl?" I asked her. She nodded her head. "That's my big sister, Kira. Why do you ask?"

"Where is she?" Namine pressed on. Oh great, a six year old. What do I do now? Does she know about death? Maybe, but I didn't really know, the first relative who died in my home was my sister, and I was about Namine's age, but I knew that wasn't very common, usually it happened later in a child's life.

"Well," I began, unsure how to proceed, I decided I'd be direct, "when I was about your age, she got very sick, and died."

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked, still keeping her gaze fixed upon the picture.

"Yes, often it is. Everyone dies, Namine, but, it's not a good thing, especially when you're a child, like Kira was."

"Her name is familiar. I think she's my other part, but it's not her name."

This, very confusing. I decided to ask her to clarify what she meant, "What do you mean by 'your other part'? Do you mean a sister?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. Finally she looked up at me, "She's my other part. Her name's Kairi, I'm like her, and was for a long time before the meteors."

"What do you mean by being like her?"

She looked up at the sky, like she was seeking the answers, like she understood it, but didn't know how to explain. "I think I'm actually a part of her, but I'm not really her. I'm...just not. I change from her every now and then, like that thing," she finished, pointing to her shadow on the floor.

"Oh, you mean you're Kairi's shadow?" I asked, making sure I had the right idea.

"Yes," she fnished. She looked back to the picture, "Does Kira dying make you sad, Marluxia?"

"Yes, very often it does. I didn't know her very well, but for the small part I did, I cared for her very much. But sometimes I wonder if it was worth it." I shook my head, listen to me, harping on a little girl about stuff like this. "Now why don't you put that back where it was Namine, and maybe we can read a book?" I offered the little blonde girl.

"OK," she said, and her little pitter-patter footsteps echoed in my wooden home, as she ran to my room, and put the picture back. I went into the living room, and was quickly followed by the little girl. I read her the story, and she seemed to enjoy it, but also seemed far off, like her mind was preoccupied doing something. Eventually she gave out and fell asleep. I went and tucked her in, and went to my own bed. I looked at the picture of my family I kept next to it, it always gave me a sense of warmth. Although, there was this one girl, she seemed maybe nine or ten years old, and for the life of me I couldn't grasp her name right now, or who she was. I figured I'd just sleep on it.

I woke the next morning, and remembered something about my family photo had bugged me the night before. I glanced at it. Nope, nothing wrong. Just me, my mom, and my dad, just like it was supposed to be.