Hi, Writing_in_the_dark! I'm not going to be able to finish the story by the end of the weekend as I orginally planned, but I will hopefully get it done before the due date. 

AAAAAHHH!!!! Ok, ok, so..... my story is a little over 1000 words..... please tell me that's ok and that I don't have to cut anything out because I REALLY don't want to.....

Great, I just finished that one! Sorry it took me a few days to get back on this, I was on a campout.

(Untitled)

It's the kind of day where the air is so thick and humid that the whole world feels drowsy and distant. I fan myself with my baseball cap as a shrill whistle slices like a blade through the muggy air. Marina splashes into the water along with the rest of the kids in her race. I know it shouldn't anymore, but watching her feet disappear under the water still makes me a little nervous. Still, I watch her closely; mom will want a blow-by-blow from both of us, even though she knows the meets all look the same to me.

When it's over, I'm not shocked to learn that Marina didn't have any outstanding times- she's not good, she's not terrible. Sometimes she loves swim, sometimes she can't stand it. I try to avoid pools as much as I can. But with mom evolving into something of a workaholic, I'm the only one who can chauffeur my younger sister.

Swaddled in towels and a stormy attitude, Marina slams the passenger door shut before I can even start the car. Looks like today wasn't her day. I think I can guess why. The awkwardness of our silence thrums along to the humming of the engine. Finally Marina speaks.

"I wanna quit swim."

I laugh. "Mom would never let you."

"I don't care." She puts her feet up on the dash, staring death rays at her toes and crossing her arms so tight she looks like a pretzel. "I suck. There's no point. And she needs to get over it anyways."

I nearly slam on the breaks. "'Get over it'? Marina! Thank about what you're saying!"

Her defiant look softens into guilt. The reality of her words hit harder now. Jenna's birthday is soon and we both know what's coming. And it kills us to think about it, but I know we both are. It was impossible not to love Jenna when you knew her like Marina and I did.

"I think about her before every meet," Marina says quietly. Her eyes don't budge from her feet, but she's blinking quickly and I can tell she's holding back tears. "I look at the water and think, 'This is for Jenna.'" She kicks the seat and sniffs noisily. "I know you think I don't care, Celeste. But I do, just as much as you."

"I've always know that you care," I spit back. "I hate that you think you're above showing it." I see the way Marina looks at Jenna's empty room. The way she stares at her empty chair at the dinner table. Even how she changes the channel when Jenna's favorite show comes on because she can't stand to watch it without her. Marina cares. She has to. We lost a sister and it's not going to be the same. But Marina's fourteen, stubborn, and too cool to grieve.

My knuckles are white against the steering wheel and the car in front of me is blurry from tears. We're both crying now, there's no good in denying it. I should say what's on my mind before the moment's gone and Marina goes to sulk again.

"I know you care, but you can't pretend this isn't real. We both see it, everywhere she would be, we see how she's gone. But sometimes we can't just carry on, Marina, cause sometimes we're not okay."

The car behind me honks at me. I've been sitting at a green light for the past five seconds.

"She'd always get cupcakes from Mario's," Marina whispers. "Strawberry cupcakes for her birthday. And every year she'd get frosting in her hair."

I hate Jenna's birthdays. It just feels like a big reminder that my baby sister won't get to grow up.

I hate that it had to be Jenna. She was always so good. And not just that she followed all the rules- though she did, all the teachers liked her even though she was way behind in reading and she wasn't good with numbers either- she was just so good because she was happy and she was never fake about it. She could find a million and one reasons to smile and they were always real. Jenna might not have gotten good grades, but she was smart in the way that counted- she could say things in a way that stuck with you and made you want to think about them for weeks. She'd compare sunsets to symphonies and chat about the endless faith the stars had in us to shine long after they died. She used to talk about eternity, and now she's part of it. She might never grow up, but Jenna's a tragedy and she'll go on living forever.

Jenna drowned, that's why Marina's swim meets are so important to mom. The logic seems backwards to me, but I guess Marina makes up for what Jenna didn't have. Pools still scare me to death. Marina's braver than me that way. 

"Marina, do you like swim?" I ask.

"I like it. I don't love it. But now I couldn't quit and.... I don't wanna be mean, but Jenna makes it all different."

I nod. "You can't just approach it like any other sport."

"Exactly!" she exclaims. "But I want to. If this was any other sport mom would let me drop it, but..."

After thinking it over for a few seconds, I say, "Tell you what. We'll talk about it with mom together. It's not like you'll never go to a swimming pool again. She shouldn't just go on making you do something you don't want to because it makes her feel a little better."

"You'd do that?"

"Of course I would."

Tomorrow is Jenna's birthday. She would be twelve. Tomorrow we'll all have a good cry and lay flowers on her grave and I'll tell myself about my baby sister and how she's a shred of eternity. Tomorrow we can go on telling ourselves about the ways we can finish what she barely started, but we'll forget that our lives aren't supposed to make up for hers. We're just supposed to be us.

I look at Marina. She has the same hazel eyes as Jenna. I give her a smile, mess with her hair. I do what I can. Jenna, she's more than a bunch of memories, but she's disappeared and left us scarred. And her goneness is always going to hurt. But we had our years with her, and now we've got to see that there's life beyond it. 

I can't promise it will be okay, because it won't all the time. But I can promise some light when we bother to look for it. 

Another Update: I finished writing my story and just need to edit it. I'll aim to do that and then post it tomorrow. I'm very excited to see what you think of it and your artwork for it. Also, I love your art style!