“Innie, where are you going?”
“Just down to the stream, I’ll only be a bit. Don’t worry about me!”
But I always worried.
I knew something was wrong that day. She seemed slightly off whenever I’d say something to her. She acted like she was separated from the world. But we’d all had days like that before…. Right?
And she went down to that stream that night, but even later than usual. And she left without a word – It wasn’t like her. I should’ve known something was wrong.
She came back at dawn, just as the sun began to paint the horizon with the colors of the day. She tried to be quiet getting into bed, but I was awake already. I waited until I knew she would be asleep, rose from my bed, and walked quietly over to her. She had a thin layer of dirt on her face, and her sleeve was torn a bit. I went down the hall and into the bath, where I caught a small drop of blood Innie had missed in her cleaning.
What had happened to my Innie?
She wasn’t herself the next day. Or the day after. I couldn’t stop worrying myself about her.
And one day, she left again. Late at night. But this time I was going to follow her. I couldn’t let something happen to her again.
I was her shadow, following her down the street, down the dirt path, and watched her from the tree line as she neared the stream. She stood, staring across the stream for what might’ve been fifteen minutes, until she collapsed onto her knees at the water’s edge. She thrust her hands deep into the stream and started to thrash at the water, turning the peaceful flow into an aggravated spray that startled a small bird from a nearby tree.
Innie calmed after a minute and stared down at her dripping hands. The moon glow reflecting off the water illuminated my sister’s tormented face. My gut clenched and fell from my body, leaving me both numb and anguished. I turned from the pain to return to the sleep of ignorance, knowing I would awake changed.
Just like Innie.
