Generation 2: The conclusion

"Charlotte... Can you hear me?" I softly whispered by her ear, careful to not stir any part of her. I didn't know what the damage was to her interior, but her exterior seemed fine. And yet, there she was, on the ground, as if near death. She had been smart enough to see the oncoming accident, and managed to launch herself out into the night before we hit the truck. But it seemed as if that maneuver cost her. One of the cars must have bumped hit her while it was spinning.

As soon as I heard her weak cough, I started having hope again. "Y-yeah... I can hear you. God, it...it hurts...to talk..." She softly whimpered into my hand.

"I know it must hurt, I'm so sorry. You have to hang on, okay? Just till the ambulances come or something."

"I...don't think I can, Lia," her eyes flickered, and her voice was all but a rasp. "Listen... I have to tell you...something. Important."

"Please, Charlotte, conserve your-"

"Shut up...and let me...talk. I know that...that I haven't been the best sister, or even a saint. Deep down...really really deep down...I do care for you. And...I'm sorry, for not encouraging you or that kind of shit. But...but I see now. You have to follow your dream. No matter how impossible it seems...you have to do it." 

"She's becoming delusional...," I wanted to cry out. She was spiraling away from me, that was for sure. I had to help her.

"Mom! Dad! Anyone?! Please, help me, please. My sister, Charlotte, she's...""Lia? Are you...are you okay?" I heard my mother coughing from afar, and saw her struggling to walk towards us."I'm fine, but Charlotte, she's not, she's..." It dawned on me all of a sudden that I couldn't hear Charlotte breathing, nor did I feel any kind of movement. Even though every part of me screamed against doing it, I glanced down...only to see her laying lifeless. "Oh God, NO! No, no, no. No, it can't be... Mom, she's not breathing, she's... she's dead."

It couldn't be true. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be true...yet it was.

"My baby...Charlotte? H-h-how? No... NO! Sh-she doesn't deserve this! She doesn't have to pay the price for my mother's actions!" My mother sank to her knees, crying out to the moon. I didn't understand her words. At that moment, I didn't care.

She looked beautiful, even in death. So peaceful, completely different to how we looked when we were fighting. All my life, I had despised her for being prettier and popular. I didn't exactly want it for myself, but it would have been nice of her to not rub it in my nose every five minutes.

I hadn't appreciated her enough. Now it was too late. For the first time, I hugged her close to me, drying my tears in her hair. "I'm so sorry, Charlotte..."

~*~

The memory of that night plagued me each day and each night. I couldn't get it out of my head. Even in the middle of doing research, the words kept popping into my head. Perhaps it was a good thing that my mother sometimes disturbed me. It was the only thing that kept me sane. "Amelia... You're not dressed at all," my mother pointed out the obvious fact of my attire. "We're gonna be leaving soon for...for the funeral."

I blinked away the oncoming assault of tears. "I know. I'm not going."

"Lia...," my mother sighed behind me. "It doesn't help ignoring the fact. Please, come pay your respects. You need to say goodbye. We all do."

"I have to complete this project. It has to be done by Monday and I haven't even started on it," growling under my breath, I kept on working, my fingers jetting over the keyboard with ease.

"It doesn't help to bury yourself under work and projects," she inched closer to my desk, reaching out to lay a comforting hand on my shoulder. I brushed it off with a shrug. "It'll distract you for a while, but sometime, when you're alone, like when you're in bed... Your mind will wander. It'll hit you hard, sweetheart."

"Maybe it will... Maybe it won't. Who knows?" I kept my eyes pinned of the screen. Little did she know that it already hit hard, and it kept hitting harder.

"Fine, then. I'll leave you alone. But if you change your mind, we're leaving in ten. Hope that's enough time for you to get ready..." I heard her footsteps moving away from me, towards the door. They halted, and she turned back. "Oh, I forgot. Charlotte's friend from school sent you some homework, and she included something special as well. I think you should read it." She dropped a notebook next to me on the desk, and left me to be alone.

It was the usual chemistry homework our teacher loaded on us each afternoon. But between the scribbles of page numbers, there was a whole load of text. It didn't make sense to me until...until I noticed it was a poem.

Pain is numbing

It builds up, until

You are swimming

A struggle by struggle

Drowning drowning

Pain is numbing

It builds up, until

You are suffocating

A breath by breath

Choking choking

Pain is numbing

It builds up, until

You are starving

A pain by pain

Falling falling

Pain is numbing

It builds up, until

You are burning

A spark by spark

Dying dying

Pain is numbing

It builds up, until

You break, flying

From what you were

Finally free

The poem was...beautiful. As if the words had caught Charlotte's final moments perfectly. She had experienced pain, felt Death's embrace, yet she broke free from it in the end, moving on to whatever comes after.

It's those words that fueled the idea that I had to follow Charlotte's advice, and live out my dreams.

My parents deserved to know what my plans were, what Charlotte had said to me in her final moments. Without wasting another second pondering my life, I launched myself out of my room and run into the living room.

"Mom... Dad... We need to talk."

"Sounds serious," my father commented. "Have you decided whether or not you're coming with us? I understand if you don't."

"No, nothing like that. It's just... I know what I want to do, as a career I mean, and it's all thanks to Charlotte."

My mother frowned. "Would you mind sitting down for a moment and explaining to us, please?"

I skip around the small armchair, sinking into it quickly and immediately launch into talking. "So, it's pretty obvious to...everyone, I guess...that I have an obsession with space stuff, right?" As my mother and father nod, I continued with my little speech. "Before Charlotte...before she passed away, she talked to me about my future. She told me I had to hang on to these dreams of mine. And no I've decided that, in honor of my twin, I'm going to make these dreams a reality. I'm going to become an astronaut."

"You mean... You want to go up to space?" my mother croaked, looking down at her feet on the floor.

"Sweetie, that's a lot of a hard work, becoming an astronaut. You'll have to study for so many years before you're even qualified for doing anything in space," my father offered his words, a lot more accepting of it than my mother.

"No... NO! I will not lose another daughter, not to the dangers of space."

"Babe...," my father placed his arm around my mother's middle, gently squeezing her into a hug.

Lowering my head, I sighed. "Look, I know I'm throwing this on you guys too quick, especially after Charlotte and Dwayne... But I just thought you should know. Maybe when I'm older I'll realize it's not what I want, but for now, I'm working towards my goal. I just wish you two could see it."

And with that, I left the room, going outside to wait till it was dark enough to see the stars.

Being alone was the time I felt in my element. No one to bother me with idle chit-chat. No one to insult me. Nothing. Just my thoughts and I.

As soon as the sun set behind the mountains, I took a stand behind the telescope, peeking into it every now and then. It all looked so amazing, and big. Humans shriveled when compared to the wonders of outer space.

And to think, I could one day go there.

All thanks to Charlotte.

~♥~

Not a lot of you know this, but...

This is the end of generation 2.

Which is why there's no a chapter number or anything, because it's...the end.

I wish this post could have been better, i.e., it could have included the funeral, Bridget and Cameo's future, etc. But unfortunately, I just got too lazy.

Check back every so often to see the start of Amelia's generation, which will take place ten years after the events of this post.

Oh, and a big thank you to someone I only know as "al", for sharing her beautiful poem with me in the comment section, which I have used in this post as I deemed it incredibly special.

Thanks for reading!

:D