Chapter 15 The Flower Nine Once Was

Fina and Nina arrived at the gate, well beyond the date that they were suppose to be home from the winter fire fare. It was the eldest, who had to carry Nina back home -- whatever powers she may have obtained from the misadventure into the netherworld, certainly did not carry over here in the living world. And the binocular-ed girl made sure to check the pulse from her sister, just to make sure that she was still breathing. It was a matter of luck that she was, as you never really know what to expect in this weather. But Fina knew -- or at least hoped that everything was going to be OK. And wondered if the two would be back home. Wondered if Bernina had already prepared a tomb stone for them both. But they were alive, but just barely. Fina was at this point beyond the point of feeling hungry.

When they arrived home, their mother -- Bernina, now visibly shaken from a stare that seemed to go on forever, like she was looking into an explosion of a battle ship flowing along a distant sea, was there to greet the girls when she found them sitting in an alleyway in the cold breezing night. Nina and Fina savored any sort of affection that they could receive, welcoming their mother in a warm embrace. They went back home, and Bernina called their aunt on a dial phone -- and gave her the good news. The girls were not dead after all. “But that’s impossible, had we not already had the funeral.” she said to Bernina. Her voice was barely audible, but Fina sense a bit of over-joyment. This was surprising to them both, as there was no telling how many years it had been since they have once known her.

And over time, things became back to normal. But the girls, especially Fina who was always the closest one to her father, had a burning question on her mind. “Mother, where are our pappa? He has not been home.” Bernina had been holding off the answer for the longest time, as she wanted to see a permanent smile of their face. Yet when she stared into Fina’s face, she felt like she was staring into the face of the devil, or at least they had seen enough to know be able to handle the truth. “Your father, he is no longer with us.”

Fina’s breath began to pound quickly. And she felt like a jogger running fast enough to have a warmer temperature to negate the cold. “What. What do you mean, what do you mean Lucas is no with us, is he with someone else?”

“No sweetheart, no. He is no longer with us.”

And it was at that point she knew what she meant.

They never saw their mother again.

An orphanage had picked up their girls, and they wondered what had driven their mother to take her own life. How was Fina going to take her sister all on her own? Although they may have a bed, she wondered what they were going to eat. Of the few friends that she had, she heard tales of the horrid food there. And hoped that they were simply rumors. And she held on to Fina tightly. But they ran away, the caretakers were mean.

Walking through the snow, they wanted to find a home. They walked lonely in the winter night. Nina passed out in the cold not wanting to leave her dead sister. ... Fina wilted like the flower she once was.