A black parade was being carried on. It was raining heavily, and Olivia could hear the 'thud, thud' splashing sound on the dark-coloured umbrella she was holding as the casket was being lowered. Ages ago- or, that was precisely the impression Olivia had as the funeral proceedings was taking paces which was too slow a tempo, everybody present had been in the church, almost unbelieving that the angelic girl lying in the wooden black box was already without her soul. 'Released', that was what Olivia had in mind. The deceased girl had only been twenty-one last fortnight, and had only been engaged. It had been a slow death, and Olivia thought that it had given her more time to reflect on her twenty-one years of life, and go without feeling the rue, which she detested. Olivia stared down at the girl. The four sides of the coffin resembled a flawless frame that closed up a long, light-reflecting glass which had a wax doll placed underneath. Her face had been so tranquil, so serene. What more was- she had been Olivia's twin sister.
Megan Traziano, as named by birth, was what Olivia had been calling her when she lived. Olivia had called her by her full name- deducting her awful middle-name. She detested Megan for owning affections, and jealousy would rise in her chest without her realizing until she began to have difficulty breathing whenever she saw Megan being showered with love dedicated by friends and family members. She had harboured hateful feelings towards Megan since the day they arrived in high school, because though they had been identical, she had gained popularity fast and within a week, Megan was already being surrounded by loads of boys in her many classes during lunch. Olivia had to sit somewhere else in the cafeteria's corner to make room for them as Megan's table had always been so crowded. Watching her sister being more and more intoxicated and obsessed with her new-founded popularity, Olivia felt a strong pang of acid in her heart. She had so desired those things her sister owned, nd did not know why Megan should always be the endearing silver angel, whilst she was always the gloomy and forlorn 'whatshername'. Nevertheless, now that her most hated obnoxoius twin sister had gone away for good, Olivia felt hollow deep down. Emptiness was around, and the apartment was somehow too quiet, too noiseless to live in without Megan's stupid piano singing and ringing out loud. It saddened her.
Olivia could not close her eyes and sleep that night, and so the lights were still on even when the grandfather clock ticked past midnight. She did not want her cup of hot chocolate as what Megan always had by her bed, and Olivia had always remembered to ignore it, as she had assumed that her hateful sister could have drugged it. Olivia laughed mockingly at herself, because she had been so stupid, so silly and so cynical. For most of the time when any of her cosmetics and summer hats had gone missing, Olivia would simply storm into Megan's bedroom right away and raged at her like she was crazy. Once, she even offered her sister a hard, rewarding slap- only to find that she had left her lipstick in the shower that morning before leaving home to meet the gorgeous guy in her college.
Olivia had not detested her twin sister that much when they were kids. They had loved each other dearly, and often dressed up identically when their mother brought them out to meet relatives. Everyone had praised Megan's bubbly attributes though she was always the naughty little kid, and Olivia had only been vaguely aware of those 'strictly for Megan' compliments as she was mostly absorbed in her little kiddy game with Megan. However, as she grew up to be sharper and brighter, she knew that everyone in her family- her aunts, he uncles, her cousins and her grandparents only loved Megan the Angel. They hugged and fussed over Megan the moment they arrived at their houses, and Olivia would be left unnoticed even when everyone had already entered the living rooms, leaving Olivia the Dark behind. She loved her sister, but this was too much for a little girl to deal with. She began to distant herself from Megan, and had stopped sharing silly stories and girly stuffs with her sister, even though their always-gentle, always-kind mother had assured her that she was loved.
Megan and Olivia soon grew up to be lovely ladies, and Megan was always the focus during wild parties, which Olivia never bothered to attend. Or rather, never got a single invitation card. Whenever there were proms and dances in school approaching, Megan was always surrounded by eager boys bombarding her with sweet invitations, which Megan had declined every single of them because she was going out with a nice guy called Johnny who lived next door and grew up with them. Olivia had secretly harboured romantic feelings for Johnny for the past few years living so close to him, abd hated that Johnny had only eyes for her sister. Their mother liked Johnny too, and often invited him to come over for tea. Every weekend, Olivia would watch over the top of her gossip magazine she was pretending to be reading, and see Megan brushing her hair and applying some light makeup before stepping out to meet Johnny for a movie. Then she would come home after eleven, but their dear mother would never fail to stay up to wait for her, and was never mad at her because she knew that Megan would be very, very safe with Johnny. Olivia would then leap from her seat and accuse Megan for being 'loose' and attempt to interrogate her. Then their mother would chide at her only gently and firmly, she would declare that it was past bedtime and Olivia should have had enough. It was never fair when it came to punishments. Olivia was almost always scolded and made to make less-than-reasonable amends for the slightest mistake- that was, using Megan's things without her knowledge but Megan was always oh-so-sweet. She would grin and promise that she would never do it again before getting away as successfully as ever. Olivia knew perfectly weel that things like that would never occur less than a couple of times, especially when Megan was responsible for them.
It was then Megan complained of having sleepless nights and shooting pains in her leg that sent sparky susts flying in the air whenever it arrived. Their mother had not suspected anything amiss, and gave her some painkillers she got from the pharmacy. Even Johnny had assumed that they were due to overexercising since Megan had loved swimming and surfing and also tennis and would participate in activities like that pretty often. It was only when Megan collapsed and was almost drowned in the deep blue sea while surfing, everyone was struck by the news that Megn had Stage Three bone cancer. Though Olivia hated her sister to the core and ta many occasions wished she was better off dead, the information hit her hard and sent her reeling back. Nevertheless, Olivia was exactly what her aunts and uncles had described as- thick. She could not be bothered to accompany Megan to chemotherapy sessions. Johnny and their mother had always been the dedicated ones to do the job. Johnny assisted her with her college studies and helped her in catching up with the lessons she had to miss for chemotherapy. Their mother quit her job so that she could cool and make onion soups for her daughter. It pained her that Megan had to undergo such test of agony, but it hurt her even more that Olivia was virtually blind and deaf and even uncaring towards her twin sister's deteriorating condition. Nevertheless, Olivia's heart was made of stone. The cancerous cells spreaded unbelievably fast and soon, Megan was so weak that she had to be admitted to the hospital. Once, Megan had permission to leave the sick while building to be engaged with Johnny. They traded rings and it was the happiest day of all of her life. Friends and relatives showered the couple with blessed falicitations but still, Megan's mood sank a little when she could not see Olivia as she scanned through the crowd. She was just not there, which made it so very incomplete.
Megan left them all that very night. Johnny had been out to get her favourite cream-cake and their mother was in her bedroom, trying to get some sleep but couldn't. As she closed her eyes, all she got was visions of her little angel child leaving her. Olivia had been in her bed, her eyelids twitching. Olivia thought thst Megan must have been so afraid, so lonely in the face of Death, and had fought so valorously in her last battle after several encounters with the hooded man who had threatened to take her away so many times. Olivia had wished she would go away and never come back, and now that Megan would never return, she missed her terribly. She laughed again at her own silliness before closing her eyes and falling asleep on the coach, ignoring the TV that was still blaring.
That night, Olivia dreamt of her little sister. In her dream, she was in a cold and isolated place, weak and hungry but there was no escape. She heard a ringing call and turned to meet Megan, who was surrounded by silver aura, like a kind of protection, and she had tender wings spreaded from behind which Olivia pictured them attached to her back at the middle. She could not hold back her feelings anymore and threw her arms around her sister and sobbed uncontrollably. Olivia told her how much she missed her and how sorry she was. Megan hugged her back and told her that whatever it took, she would always be the tyrannical, always-sulky, always-mean identical twin sister whom she loved.
