Age 7

When Tatiana is 7 her mother sits her and her twin down, explaining that their parents are getting a divorce. She uses smaller words, tries to explain that they both still love them and it's not their fault.

Cora is upset, her twin trying not to cry as she can't quite understand what's going on. Tatia is just as confused, for a different reason.

There's that sharp tang of love around her Mother, harsher now but no less vibrant. Red and pink pressing into her skin, curling around her neck and leaving wisps around her eyes.

When their father comes home, it's the same. The red's of his love pressing on his hands and twisting through his fingers.

Tatia keeps her silence, pats her sister's back when Cora starts to actually cry. She doesn't say anything as they watch their father leave for the last time, with a promise to have them for half the year just like their mother.

That night they get tucked into bed and the lights go off. Tatia counts a low 10 seconds in her head before she slips out of her bed and scurries under her sister's white covers.

"It's okay Cora." Tatia pats her sister's cheek, petting her light colored curls. "They love each other. I know. He'll be back."

6 months later that idea comes crashing down when they visit their father for the first time since he left. Next to him at the airport is another woman. Tall and brunette and smiling brightly at them. 

There's a burgundy bright taste in Tatia's mouth when she sees them together. Her father's red and pinks swirl with this new woman's darker hues, never far apart even as their father comes to hug them.

Tatia flinches from him when he goes to pull her into the same hug as her sister. His face closes off and some of that red is spilling from him, trying to grasp at her as well but she backs away. Won't let them touch her.

She is silent on the way to their father's. Cora's chatter and question's to that woman help to mask that silence. She can't take her eyes off their entwined colors and can't help but taste the bitter tone of cranberries.

It all comes to a head when they get to the house. Tatia panics, trying to explain that he doesn't love this new person. He loves their mother, he belongs there. With them.

Cora is the one that stops her, pulls her into a hug and forces her to swallow her words. She's crying into Cora's shoulder and she won't look at her father. Won't speak to him again.

A week later she goes back to her Mother's house and never speaks to her Father again. Though she hears news from Cora.

Age 11

She's 11 when she notices the boy in her class.

It's late into the school year and Tatia has been too shy to make friends. Cora's been in another class so she can't hide behind her sister either. Which has left her feeling lonely and unable to do anything about it. It's frustrating and it's that frustration that lets her notice the new student.

He's tall, gangly, not yet grown into his arms and legs. His dark hair is just long enough to shadow his eyes and he grunts when the teacher asks him to introduce himself.

But what catches her attention is the almost angry, dripping red that coils around his neck. She's never seen someone hurt so much from love and when the teacher directs him to sit next to her. She strikes up a conversation.

It's hard going. He's angry and bitter and doesn't like to speak about it. So she's forced to fill in the silence. It's unnatural to her at first but she thinks she gets better as the month's pass.

By the time that summer rolls around she's gotten a few smiles from this boy and it makes her heart flutter strangely.

"You're a silly girl Tati." He would tell her, giving her pigtail or braid or ponytail a gentle tug. Sometimes he would reward her with a smile afterwards. 

It's only when the red starts to unwind, that she starts to smell cinnamon and feel like she's taken a bite out of a candied apple, that she starts to hope she's helping. When his red reached out to her and she let him kiss her cheek before it made the deep red look less like blood and more like roses, like love.

Two days after he kissed her he moved away and she never saw him again.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Age 16

Cora is going to stay at their father's for the next little while. Tatia didn't get a timeline when she asked so she can only say that her sister is leaving and she doesn't know when she's coming back.

Cora rolls her eyes when she sees her sister pouting. "I'm going." She reaffirms. Her bags are packed and everything is tucked away in their proper corners. Her twin's room looks like nobody lives there and it makes something in Tatia's chest tighten to notice it.

"I know." Tatia agrees. She can know something and not like it. Cora gives a chuckle, the sweet taste of lavender permeating the room, the color spreading across her sister's legs and around the ground. Never reaching out but always there. "I just don't know why."

"Yes you do." Cora sounds annoyed, huffing a breath and pushing her thick blonde hair away from her face. Tatia almost asks if she'd like her to brush it but pulls back. It's not the time for that. They have time later. "Dad and Sheila are getting married. I agreed to be the Maid of Honor and everything." 

Her sister smiles, lighting up her pale face and making her blue eyes shine. Tatia frowns, like she does whenever that woman is mentioned. She still thinks her father made a mistake and that's made it difficult to talk to him. She supposes she hasn't tried. He didn't try either.

"He shouldn't even be with her." Tatia mumbles, feeling bad about saying what she's thinking. 

Cora snorts. "People change Sis. Anyway, I'm off. Try not to pout the whole time I'm gone. Love you." Then she's giving Tatia a hug and sweeping out of the room, the lavender trailing after her.

Age 20

"I just wanted him to love me." She's 20 and hiding in her sister's college dorm room. Hiding from her ex-boyfriend and their friends and life in general.

Cora snorts from her desk. There's books spread across the surface of it. Measurements and fabrics, tape and needles that make up Cora's desire to be a Fashion Designer. "He did love you." Cora tells her. Her sister's blue eyes are mocking even as the lavender sweet taste fills Tatia's mouth. Her sister's love given form. "It just wasn't good enough." Her sister sighs. "It's never good enough."

"He loved that girl more than he ever cared for me." Tatia whispers, curling further into her sister's white comforter.

"She was his ex. And you told me he said they settled into friends afterwards. What did you expect? Them to have no affection after all that?" Cora's voice mocks her and she frowns. 

"No, I just wanted him to put me first."

"Oh get off your high horse Tatia." Cora pushes away from her desk, looking disappointed at Tatia, even when she's done nothing. Just had her heart broken. "People are allowed to love more than one person. He was in love with you, but I expect you messed that one up tonight." 

She could have put off the looks and the laughter and the inside jokes as just a platonic bond. But she couldn't mistake their flickering of deep red's. The twisting and twining of colors that brought to mind sunlight and roses.

"You can stay here tonight. I have a test." Cora pats her head, fingers carding through Tatia's dark hair and then her sister is gone, leaving behind little trails of light.

Age 23

"What the actual fuck Tatia?" Cora stares at her sister likes she's a stranger, like it's been Tatia that hasn't called or wrote or prayed that her sister would just call. 

"You never called." Tatia lifts her chin up stubbornly. Her arms are curled around her middle and she's desperatly trying not to notice the people staring at them, at her. She was just upset and had had enough of her sister ignoring her. 

"So you decided to practically break down my door?" Cora snaps, pulling herself back and crossing her own arms. Her twin doesn't look stubborn or upset or happy to see her. Mostly Cora looks tired. 

Tatia shuffles her feet a little, unable to help herself. Maybe storming in was the wrong way to go. "What was I supposed to do." Tatia grumbles. That woman their father betrayed their mother for takes two children out of the room quietly. Tatia would have done this later if she knew that her sister had company. She hates getting into an arguement when other people are watching. And this is going to turn into an arguement, no doubt about it.

"Phones are a two way street Tatia." Cora's lavender was curling around her legs, sweeping over their Mother and Father but steering clear of Tatia and something in her curled in on itself at that sight. Cora's her twin, what do these people have that Tatia can't give her. "You could have called."

"But..."

"Just," Cora stops her, lifting up a hand that's dripping in pale purple. "Get out Tatia. I don't have time for this." 

She nods stiffly, pushing her dark braid over her shoulder and trying not to see this as running away. Even though as she turns to leave it feels like the last time she's going to see her twin.

Age 25

'Life is full of Fairy Tales.' Tatia muses. Her fingers skating over a ruby red rose as she sets a dozen of them in perfect form in the glass vase. 'But none of them are for me.'

She puts the finishing touches of green, the card that sets so artfully in them. Her sister's wedding invitation on the counter of the flower shop. To some man Tatia has never met, and will probably never meet. 

Tatia may not be able to see her family anymore without feeling that swell of jealousy, of resentment that they have each other but she can never seem to keep them. But she can at least gift her sister something lovely for the event. Something that maybe reminds Cora of her, of good memories.

A bell chimes above the door to the flower shop and Tatia sweeps her eyes upwards. "Welcome to GreenHouse." She calls out, trying for a pleasant smile. Her customer service is still stuttery but the Shop owner is kind enough to work with her.

The man smiles at her. His eyes shadowed by his dark hair and the color of blood dripping from around his neck like a choker. 

'Oh.'