Gemini

• Jamieson Sukkarieh, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2017

People used to call me Francis Cooper the boy-girl freak because apparently ‘girls aren't meant to be good at sport’. Well it was like that at my school anyway. One day I was so upset that I went to the back of my school and started crying my eyes out, feeling nothing but hopelessness and rage. Josey my twin sister then suddenly came out of nowhere made me stand up, wiped away my hot tears that were slowly coming to a halt. She looked me straight in the eye and said,“Hater’s gonna hate”, she paused and smiled at me which made me feel warm and relieved, she continued to say “but you just have to shake it off and keep going”. I chuckled at how she referenced my favourite Taylor Swift song. I smiled and then went to eat lunch with her.

That was 6 months ago. Now I am standing in the middle of a hospital, hot tears burning down my face, my mum crying on my dad’s shoulder. There were doctors and nurses rushing back and forth, people coming in on stretchers, it was chaos. To me it was all just a surreal blur. Josey and I had only ever been separated by three minutes. My mum glanced over at me with a look of regret, almost as if she was wondering why it hadn't been me. Josey was the perfect daughter who everybody loved and adored, I was the loser jock who got straight c’s that everybody had to learn to tolerate. I know, pretty stereotypical, right?

Flashes of today came rushing back to me, it felt like I was suffocating, struggling for air all over again. My family and I went camping and stupid me decided it would be a good idea to take the boat out to the river with Josey. I should have listened to her. She said that it would be dangerous to go by ourselves, but I didn't listen like I always do. There was a strong current and our boat tipped over. I managed to make my way to the shore, then I realised that Josey wasn't with me. Fear and anguish struck me like a lightning bolt, I couldn't move, all I could do was scream which sent my parents running to the river. Washed up against some rocks was my sister, she wasn't moving which sent a wave a shock, regret and sadness through me. She was covered in blood.

My sister was unconscious the whole way to the hospital. She hit her head hard enough on those rocks to have blood covering her face and clothes. When we arrived at the hospital the doctors said that they would need to operate on her since the blow to her head caused internal bleeding.

It had been hours before the doctors said anything to us. All I could think was, how could this have happened? Why am I so stupid? Josey is my best friend, my partner in crime, my twin sister. I can't lose her!

The doctor came out of the operating room with a look of sorrow in his eyes. And, just like that. My twin sister was gone and right then in that hospital, I felt of part of me die too.