Snowflake

“Just a little bit further,” I hear my boyfriend whisper into my ear, his hands covering my eyes so I wouldn’t yet see where we are. We take a few steps forward before he removes his hands from my face. I open my eyes and take in the amazing view.

“The beach?” I ask, totally shocked at the location he picked out for my birthday picnic.

“Don’t you like it?”

“I… I love it. How did you know I love the beach?”

“I talked to your aunt. She told me that after your parents died, she used to take you all the time. She said that you’re the happiest here,” my boyfriend tells me. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes. Not sad tears, but emotional tears.

“Thank you. You couldn’t have picked a better place,” I thank him before he grabs my hand and leads me down to the beautiful surface filled with white sand.

We sit down about seven feet away from the water. The sun is shining bright and I can feel the soft summer breeze rush past me. I take in a deep breath before slowly letting the air leave my lungs again. I love the smell of the ocean.

“Are you alright?” Scott asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… This is amazing.”

“Well, everything for my baby girl,” he says, giving me a wink. A genuine smile appears on my face just looking at him. I’ve never met anyone as sweet as him. You know, when my parents died, I ended up living with my aunt. I was only six years old. After that event, I completely closed off. I didn’t want people in my life anymore because I was so extremely scared of losing them. So, I learned myself to build walls and push everyone away who got too close. But Scott, he’s another story. Even though I kept pushing, he never gave up on me.

“You know, when you think about it, you are actually pretty weird,” I hear Scott tell me. I look over at him confused.

“What? Weird? Why?” I ask him.

“You love the ocean and you love the beach, but you don’t like going into the water. That’s pretty strange if you ask me. And yes, I know that you don’t like to be seen in a bathing suit but I don’t think that should be an excuse.”

“Don’t start, Scott. You have seen my scars. You know how ugly they are.”

“They are not ugly. They make you special, and I don’t think you need to hide them,” he tells me.

“That’s sweet, and I know you don’t mind them but I don’t feel comfortable showing them off in public. Maybe one day though. Maybe one day, I will have the courage to stop hiding.”

“I know you will baby girl,” he says as he shoots me a small smile. I return it before I look into his eyes, deep into his chocolate brown eyes.

“But you better not start strutting around, looking for other guys because you’re mine,” he adds, trying to lighten up the mood. A little chuckle escapes my mouth as he hands me a bottle of beer.

“I think we need to propose a toast. Happy 18^th birthday baby girl,” Scott says as he holds up his bottle.

“Thank you,” I say back to him, touching his beer bottle with my own. I take a sip as I feel a cold sensation on my cheek. My hand shoots up and I can feel that my cheek is wet. Curious, I look up and you’ll never believe what is falling from the bright blue sky right now. Snow. It is snowing.

“Snow it the middle of summer? How is that even possible?” I hear Scott ask. I put my hand out in front of me and catch a few snowflakes. I look at them, melting on the palm of my warm hand. She’s with me. She always is.

“I love you too,” I whisper as I look back up to the sky, a tear rolling down my cheek.

“Hey baby girl, what’s wrong?” Scott asks, worry and concern clearly present in his voice. I quickly wipe away the tears stranded on my cheek before looking at him.

“Nothing… I… I… I just miss her so much,” I blurt out as I start to cry.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Scott whispers into my ear as I feel two strong arms embracing my fragile body.

“She was everything to me. After mum and dad died, she was all I had left.”

“Who, baby girl? Who?”

“My sister. My twin sister,” I scream out, tears still flowing down my cheeks.

“I didn’t know you had a twin sister,” I hear Scott say. I can tell he’s taken aback from the information I just gave him.

“I don’t like to talk about it,” I say as I back away from his embrace. “She was my best friend. We were always there for each other. She wasn’t just my sister. She was my twin sister. We had a special bond, a special connection that I can’t describe. We always knew what the other one was thinking about. We always used our twin-telepathy to cheat on tests at school. We even pulled some twin-switches to get out of trouble with mum and dad. I could always feel when she was in pain. So, I knew how much she was suffering, how much pain she was in. I knew I had to let her go,” I tell my boyfriend, a single tear escaping my eye. I instantly wipe it away before I feel my hand being grabbed.

“Was she sick?”

“She was. She had leukemia, a type of blood cancer.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“She fought long and hard but after three years, I just knew I had to let her go.” Trying to think about all the beautiful memories I have of her, I smile to myself.

“Were you guys alike?” I suddenly hear Scott asks me. I look at him, my eyes red and puffy. “You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to,” he quickly adds but I shake my head.

“No, it’s okay. I’m glad you know about it,” I say before taking a deep breath. We looked the same. We had the same wavy blond hair and ocean blue eyes, but if you’re talking about our personalities, we were completely different. Polar opposites. She was an extrovert. She loved going out and getting into trouble with her friends. I’ve always been an introvert. I would rather stay in and read a good book than go out. We were very different, and yet we were so similar,” I tell Scott and I can see he’s hanging on to my every word. I let out a sigh before continuing.

“When it’s snowing, I know she’s with me.”

“How so?”

“When we were little, we made up these nicknames for each other. Mum always said that we were like ‘sweet and salty’ but we didn’t really like that. So, we kept searching and one day, we found the perfect nickname. She was my snowflake and I was her sunshine.” I look back over at my amazing boyfriend and see a little smile planted on his face.

“The day she passed away, it was snowing. The whole city was covered in beautiful white snow. So, from that day on, whenever it snows, I know that my sister is watching over me. It’s just her way of saying ‘hi’ and checking up on me.”

I slowly lift up my head and look up at the sky one last time.

“I miss you.”