Day 12 - Short story

The floor was a mess. It looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in months. There was a fine layer of dust on the surfaces of the room. Cobwebs hung from the light fixtures and in the corners. The bed was made, but the dust was there too. The room could have been nice if it had been kept clean, but it hadn’t. It had been left undisturbed. Until now, that is.

Aaron walked into the room and tried not to breathe. This had been his sister’s room, his twin’s room. Aaron and Alexia had been inseparable when they were little. Alexia had been his voice for so many years; years he had chosen not to speak. Now, she was married to the man of her dreams and her room was still the same as when she had left it at the age of eighteen. That was their mother's doing of course. She hadn't seemed to want to let go, even when she had grand babies on the way.

If Aaron were being honest with himself, he would know that he was here to remember. His life had never been as easy as Alexia’s. She had been the outgoing one, the popular one. He had been shy; some would go as far as saying anti-social. He didn’t like being the center of attention and Alexia had known that. She had protected him. Now that they were older, Aaron knew how to handle himself, but he still missed the way the two of them had been. The feeling of having someone know him better than he knew himself was a feeling that he missed dearly.

He was jealous of his twin. He had been for a long time, but he was learning to get over that jealousy. He looked around the room again and was sad. He had let his other half go, had destroyed their relationship and now this was all he had left. A single room in his mother's house. A room filled with as much dust as there were memories. With a sad smile Aaron closed the door behind him. He knew that he was going to change things, that the room behind him would once again shine.