Moving On

James Thorley

“I hope things have been peaceful on your end.” Eli sighs as he sits down cross-legged in f ront of Emily’s tombstone. As always, his twin sister was silent. He could scream and cry, but she would never respond. She had been like that in lif e, too. Eli pulls a half-empty water bottle f rom his backpack and begins watering the f lowers lining her grave. They’re blossoming f rom the late spring heat, but it’s only thanks to Eli. Af ter the f irst f ew months, his parents stopped tagging along and the upkeep of Emily’s f lowers f ell solely onto Eli’s shoulders. “Mom and Dad have made up their minds. We’re moving up north to be closer to Grandma and Grandpa, even though I want to stay here with you.” Eli looks at the f lowers instead of the tombstone, unable to f ace his sister as guilt claws its way up Eli’s chest. Eli needs a f resh start away f rom the pain of Emily’s death and the constant reminders riddling his lif e here, but he doesn’t want to leave Emily behind without her permission. “Can you give me a sign? Just something to let me know how you f eel. Good or bad, I can take.” Eli digs his f ingers under the plush grass, f eeling the sof t, moist dirt beneath. He resists the urge to dig, to splay his f ingers across the smooth wood, to try and f eel his twin sister’s presence again. “Can you give me a sign?” Not even the wind bothers to move, and a f ew minutes of quiet later, Eli starts to cry. He yanks up handf ul af ter handf ul of grass until a scared meowing causes him to look up. A kitten, with oddly f amiliar black f ur, cowers around the side of Emily’s tombstone. Eli f reezes, gasping through his tears as the kitten begins to slowly approach him. It hops over the f lowers and steps around the bare patches of dirt until it can nudge Eli’s knee with its tiny head. The touch makes Eli’s anger f izzle out and he slumps over onto his side. The kitten purrs and waddles up until it can curl up against Eli’s chest. He lif ts his arm ever so slowly, terrif ied of scaring the kind creature off, until he can run his f ingers gently over the kitten’s head. A f ew pets along the kitten’s sof t f ur make it turn its head to peer up at Eli. Eli f linches in shock as the kitten gives him the same look that Emily would give him whenever they hugged. A look so tender, so unique between twin souls, that it could never be replicated by another human. The kitten purrs louder, closing its eyes and leaning into Eli’s touch. What once was the odd f amiliarity of cat’s f ur color is now a homecoming f or Eli as he diligently strokes the same color of hair that he used to stroke on Emily’s head whenever she cried.

“Is that it, then? You’ll come with me?” Eli’s voice, raspy f rom crying, makes the kitten look up at him again. It nudges him once, twice, until Eli sits up and pulls the kitten into his arms. “Will you come with me, Emily?” He whispers to her, and she purrs louder, rubbing her cheek against his chest. Eli takes one last look at the f lowers surrounding Emily’s tombstone and smiles. Nature would take care of them, and Eli would take care of the kitten. 