Sweet, Sweet Arizona

The glowing ball of a sun began to creep up the sky. The top of the sky was a medium lavender, and the bottom was orange with the sun’s light. The warming rays washed over the red rocks of Arizona, brightening the land, and striking a conversation with my best friend, Alexa. 

We were sitting on a rocky ledge, looking out to the vastness of the rocks, with the bustling city of Phoenix in the distance. We had been sitting there for a good 2 hours, just thinking. 

I was mindlessly gazing at the city that seemed so far away when Alexa turned to me. Her golden eyes locked with mine, and she said, “Melissa, are you afraid of anything?” I looked over her choice of clothing, and replied, “Not really. Spiders, and maybe ghosts, if they’re real.”

I had a bad experience with the so-called ghosts. Last fall Alexa went with my family to go camping. We went to a place called Canyon Lake Marina CampGrounds, and we set up the tent, my dad started making dinner, everything was a-okay. But then me and Alexa went to the washing cabin to brush our teeth after dinner. We brushed, packed everything back inside our travel cases when we heard something. It was a creaking sound, almost like a child screaming. The door opened and closed along to the sound, even though it was a still night. Me and Alexa were petrified, so we didn’t move, just listening. The door of the cabin slammed closed, the creaking now a loud whistling. Alexa and I had our backs pressed against each other, and I was literally horrified. But then the howling stopped. The door flew back open, and it went back to being a quiet, still night.

Alexa, remembering that memory, nodded her head and looked elsewhere. She was wearing a pastel pink t-shirt, with washed-out ripped jeans. Her sneakers were a light yellow, with bright green socks. Her earrings were giant golden hoops, and her dark brown hair was in a bun. Her eyes were a blazing hazel, like mine, and we both had skin the colour of light whole wheat bread. Lots of people said that we looked like sisters, but we’re not. Her style is much different from mine; today I was wearing a black t-shirt with a skull, and black bootcut jeans. I had a black leather jacket, and grey Nikes. My earrings were hanging black chains, and my hair was in a braid. We were completely different, with our opposite clothing tastes, but also very similar. Our personalities are both bubbly, carefree, and sometimes serious. We like similar food; I like ramen, and she likes Thai noodles. 

Speaking of Thai noodles, she took a to-go bag out from her purse, added some water from her water bottle, and started slurping noodles up with disturbingly loud noise. I glared at her, because once she said that slurping loudly was polite in Asia, as it meant you like the food, but I told her we are not IN Asia, and that we live in Arizona, and that she should stop slurping loudly as soon as possible. I also give serious glares. Alexa stopped slurping, and asked me, “What time is it?” I looked at her with arched eyebrows, and asked back, “Why do you need to know the time?” “Well,” she started, “I have a thing at school that I have to do with my group, and I have to get there at 8:00 am” I checked my watch. “6:57,” I said. She nodded her head and continued to slurp her noodles, a little quieter this time. I sighed, starting to calculate how much time it would take to drive back to Phoenix. Alexa wanted to drive out here in the morning to try and get some work done in the quiet nature, but so far, we haven’t touched our computers since we got out. I thought that Alexa would have been chatting about anything and everything in her mind today, but now she seemed different, being quiet and just saying everything in her head. I’m not complaining, it was just so different for her, to be slurping noodles and not trying to fit every word in before she took the next bite. I didn’t feel like doing my English essay, so I just sat there, organizing my brain, accompanied by the melodic notes of Alexa’s noodle slurping.

After a very long 15 minutes, Alexa put away her noodles, took a swig of water, and sighed very heavily. I eyed her and checked my watch. “It’s 7:20,” I said. “Do you wanna head back now?” She took another giant swig of water, swallowed and said, “Ok.” Alexa cleaned out the noodle container with some water and waved it around so it could dry. I got up and waited for her, because I didn’t take anything out of my purse. She put the container in her purse once it was dry, and clumsily stood up to hike a bit back down to the car. 

It wasn’t a hard hike, about 100 steps down a rocky slope. Another thing; I like sports, Alexa does not. So when I was already at the bottom, Alexa was 20 steps from the top, shaking her legs like she was having a seizure. I shook my head and started to climb up to help her. Sometimes I wonder how Alexa will do anything when we become adults. We’re both 17, but my birthday is in 2 months, and Alexa just turned 17. 

She interrupted my thoughts when she said, “Wait, where’s the car?” I looked around. Alexa’s red SUV was nowhere to be seen. “Where could it have gone?” I asked. “Someone couldn’t have stolen it, right?” Alexa asked, landing on the dusty orange ground. “Maybe someone could have,” a deep unknown voice said.

 Alexa and I spun around, trying to locate the voice. A shadowed figure stepped out from behind the rocks, with navy blue pants, a police cap, and a blue police uniform with the Phoenix Police Department embroidered with gold thread. I got confused; why was the police here, and did they have anything to do with Alexa’s car? “If you would like to know where your car is,” started the police officer, “One of you will have to turn yourself over.” Me and Alexa met each other’s eyes, filled with confusion. “Turn one of us in?” Alexa asked. “Why? What did we do?” The police officer settled his right hand over his handcuffs. “We were notified that a young adult aged girl with gold eyes and long black hair was caught vandalizing the city hall with spray paint,” the police officer said. Alexa threw her head back in disbelief. “What were they wearing? We would never do anything like that!” The police officer said,” They were wearing black leggings with a black hoodie, and bright white sneakers. They were also wearing chains from their ears.” I glanced at Alexa. “If they were wearing that type of clothing, it looks like someone was trying to look like me!” I said, piecing together the things that the officer had told us. 

The police officer started to walk closer to me. “We have come to a conclusion.” he said, still inching towards me,” That you were the person who vandalized the city hall.” My eyes blasted open with surprise. “I didn’t do anything! When did that person do that? I was at school and home for the past, like, 2 months!” I cried, now fighting the officer to get away from me. “You look the most similar to the person, and no one else in Phoenix has golden eyes except for you two,” said the officer, now almost wrestling with me. I glanced up at Alexa between hits, to try and get her to help me, but she was just standing there, pretending that her best friend and a police officer were not wrestling on the ground right beside her. 

Finally, the officer got his hands on my wrists, cuffing them in a short 3 seconds. The cool metal clanged against my skin, and he pulled me by my shirt over to his police car. I stared at Alexa, pleading with my eyes to get her to help me, but she just stood there, staring off into the distance, as she had done while slurping her noodles earlier. As the police officer buckled me in the backseat of his car, I kept staring at Alexa, knowing that she was hiding something from me.

Now I am looking out the window of my grey jail cell, thinking about that moment. Since that happened, I have been in jail for 1 year, running this record tape over and over and over. After thinking for a while, I realized that Alexa was the one who vandalized the city hall. She dressed up like me, so I would be framed. That’s why she did nothing while I was getting arrested. I gazed outside my cell window, the glowing ball of the moon high in the navy sky. On the water below, the moon’s twin mocked every move, every shadow, every thought. The dark water rippled softly like silk. Outside looked peaceful, but my heart was not. I had found out that Alexa was my twin sister. That’s why we looked the same, that’s why we acted the same. Why did she do this, I don’t know, but when I get out of jail, I will track down every one of her footsteps, and get my sweet, sweet revenge.