~It's not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.~
-Leon C. Megginson-

Every soul residing in the web of our universe gets its equal share of pain and pleasure and that of turmoil and peace as well. Some people might complain about several sorrows enveloping their entire existence while there are the ones who have an attire that's always bubbling with happiness and it makes us think that they're devoid of all sort of griefs, but when I say 'equal share', then in literal sense and from all dimensions, I mean it.

Everything in this vast universe works according to an equally balanced system and the only reason of doubt in this fact is the variety of outlook towards things that generally exists in human beings. The scale of glee and gloom in one's life depends on an individual's tendency to perceive either one of them. Life is a bed of roses if one has a tendency to fall for happiness but what a tragedy it is that every upcoming generation holds the tendency to fall for sadness slightly more than the prior. What we all forget is that time passes regardless of anything and so it did for us too.

Silently, I watched her pick up bunches of allysum flowers from the caskets displayed outside the little shop of town florist. A sweet scent like that of honey stood out over the faint fragrance of other flowers as she walked over to me and set the flowers in the bicycle basket. Sparing me a fleeting glance, she smiled lightly and brought more of the pure white flowers to adorn the straw basket lovingly. My back rested against a stone wall and my arms were crossed in front of me as I looked over her sprightly gait before smiling back faintly.

She went inside the little vintage shop and I heard an echoing jingle of little bells hanging supposedly above the wooden door. Some moments later, my eyes met the sparkling silver on her head as sunlight kissed her messy hair playfully. Walking over to me, she looked up to meet my gaze and my heart melted at the depth of blue oceans crashing insanely in her eyes even after all this time. She snapped her fingers right then and I blinked awkwardly before crinkling my nose playfully and rolling my eyes.

"You're so small!" Laughing off my previous trance, I exlaimed mischievously.

"Don't you dare call me small!" She punched my chest and let out a cute chuckle.

"Why?" I rubbed my finger on my chin and feigned ignorance but her next words showed me that I really was ignorant as compared to her. She skipped to Rob's bicycle and took her seat before gesturing me to do the same. I sat on my bicycle and in no time, both of us were cycling our way back to the library. A light breeze swayed her short silver hair over her forehead and I couldn't stop admiring the fact that her hair were smooth and messy simultaneously.

"So..you asked why." She passed me a mischievous glance as both of us neared the library. I laughed and nodded. Cycling on the winding streets, we dodged a few cars and after fifteen minutes, we were in the lounge with our bicycles parked back by the wall which was decorated by my paintings that Cara had chosen last week. Sprawling myself on the sofa, I looked at her enthusiastic form that picked up the tiny flowers from the basket and set them in an old china vase resting on the window sill before filling it with water. Afterwards, she treaded back to me and took a seat beside me.

"There is this flower called Rafflesia which is the largest flower of the world." She started speaking and ran a hand through the silver mess on her small head. I looked at her hair in awe and started loosing myself in her soft voice.

"Even though it's the largest flower, it's also known as Corpse flower because it smells like rotting flesh." She wrinkled her nose in disgust. I couldn't help but smile at her funny expression. It amazed me to know that she knew some facts too.

"Now look at those flowers in the window." She pointed towards the china vase graced by sunlight. Just for her satisfaction, I turned around and peeked at them before turning back towards her and raising my eyebrows in query.

"They are small yet they fill this air with the sweetest fragrance that resembles honey. So don't call me small. You never know what someone is capable of." She concluded with an air of confidence and I smiled goofily at her feigned pride in her knowledge. Reaching over, I twisted her little nose playfully and she scurried away quickly while rubbing it cutely.

"I won't call you small, Cara Evelyn. Do you know why?" I smiled mischievously at her. She jerked her head questioningly.

"Because you're not small. What you are is actually called 'short'." I laughed out loud at my words and the next moment she was throwing cushions at me.

"Aargh! Why Aaron..ugh..why! You are so stupid!!! Huff!" She beat me with cushions repeatedly as I raised my arms in defense and kept laughing loudly. "You know, you are just so stupid, I'll just leave you here. It's better to go talk to that wise boy in the library than waste my time with a jerk like you." She threw one last cushion at me and started walking off. My laughter faded away as I got up hurriedly and held her wrist to stop her.

"Wait. I'm sorry. I won't tease you. Sorry. Please. Don't go." I shook my head over and over before dragging her back to the sofa. She pouted at me and sat down. I raised my hands and whispered a mouthed 'sorry' once again. Reluctantly, the right corner of her rosy lips turned upwards and then, she smiled whole heartedly. My jaw dropped down to the floor as I saw the sides of her jewels wrinkle with pleasure while her smile poured into her eyes magically.

"You are too sweet, Aaron Troy. I feel I'll become diabetic soon." She spoke excitedly like a little kid as I rubbed the back of my neck and laughed at her words awkwardly. Cara Evelyn was calling me sweet and I was swooning over her words deep inside me.

"Stop acting stupid, Aaron." She punched my knee playfully and asked casually, "When will you shift in your house?"

Her words took me off guard. I looked at her confusedly and pondered over her question for some time before replying finally, "Rob was really heart broken, you know. Grandma shouldn't have told his mother's story just like that. I can't believe he cried. I've never ever seen him cry before!" I shook my head and set it in my palms.

"You're forgetting that he was the one who embraced you right after that news..even though he was crying." She spoke lightly.

"I know. I know. He has a big heart. He's just like my..well..our dad. I always wondered why his smile looked exactly like mine but it never occured to me that both of us resembled..our dad. He even got his eyes from him. Gentle brown. I am just a jerk because I never noticed anything before. I felt so dumb that day." I shook my head in disbelief at my idiocy.

"Aaron...," She placed a light hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her soft features with helplessness.

"He took the news better than you. Do you know? He was the one who was kept in shadows about his own identity all this time. Put yourself at his place and imagine your entire existence puffing into a cloud just in a single moment. How does that feel?" She looked at me softly and I closed my eyes in agony.

"That boy took it all gracefully. He embraced you as a brother because that's what he's been to you all of your life. Your bro is a gem. It's only been two weeks and he's already into the flow of life once again. He's managing the library even better than before. Look up to him for strength, Aaron, because I've learned so much from him." Her hand left my shoulder and she looked down at her lap silently.

"You're right. I love him so much. He's my best friend. I've loved him all of my life. He's supported me through everything and I'll shift to..our house when he agrees to move with me. I don't want to live without him. Also, that house is so huge, its emptiness will freak me out now when mom and dad are...," my voice broke slightly before I completed my sentence, "...no more."

Taking my hand in hers, she rubbed it lightly and whispered, "It'll pass. I promise. Lets go help him. Our vacation is over, Aaron!" She smiled lightly and I nodded faintly before returning her smile.

Whole of the day, we worked in the library with Rob and I felt glad that we had adopted so well to the fact that we were brothers. Nothing had changed except for the fact that now, both of us knew about our kinship. Things were fluent and smooth between us and I could claim that my life had never been better. I had always been the immature one among us and indirectly, I had relied on him for support throughout my life so it felt better to know that he was bound to me by blood and nothing could ever change that. Walking through the sunlit alleys separated by wooden book racks, I smiled as I thought about how he had devoted himself to our ancestral library and finally, fate had gifted it to him. God knew, I had never been so happy before.

Eventually, night arrived and glittering stars scattered themselves on the canvas of the sky. The three of us enjoyed a lovely dinner in the lounge and watched some kind of an unknown hilarious movie later on. Jokes were passed stupidly and the air ringed with our carefree laughs. Cara felt like a family member by now and everything made me feel at peace.

Sometime later, Rob got up and stretched before telling us 'goodnight' and walking off to his cabin. I turned off the lights while Cara stepped out onto the soft sand. A light breeze encircled us and her dress ruffled against her bare calves. It was a clear night and I could see the waves crashing against the shoreline in moonlight. Turning around, my gaze met with the top of her head that dazzled my eyes with its silvery sparkle. I looked down into the depths of her midnight jewels and I could tell that she had something on her mind.

"You know, you can say it out loud." I whispered and smiled gently at her hesitant expression. She raised her eyes to my face and smiled faintly before turning her head around to look at the wild sea waves.

"I want you to paint me tonight, Aaron Troy." Silver locks graced her forehead delicately as she whispered into the night air. My breath hitched at her words. I knew that my insides had never melted so bad before and right after ten minutes, we were sitting in my hidden art room.

An overhead light casted dim shades of shadows on her fair skin as she sat peacefully like a porcelain doll on a little wooden stool placed behind the canvas. My fingers swirled across the white surface and played with water colours as moments rolled by in silence. Occasionally, I stole a peek at her fragile frame that was devoid of all traces of chaos and contained magnificient tranquility tonight. The specks of silver stars in her midnight blue eyes seemed diluted as if they were focusing on a long lost temporal or spacial shift. Slowly, I got myself drunk on two things I loved the most; art and Cara Evelyn.

Lost somewhere in the middle of night, I was absorbed in the silver water colour that adorned the canvas like magic when she finally rippled the air around us which was dense with nostalgic silence for two hours.

"Do you know what's an isolated system, Aaron?" Her voice was dissolved in a strange hypnotic trance.

My fingers stopped moving as I silently pondered over her question in my head.

"Umm..I guess, a system that is kept in isolation is an isolated system?" And right after the words were out of my mouth, I felt extremely dumb.

"You are actually right." Her eyes, somehow, shifted back to the present and registered my existence after two whole hours as she nodded. I exhaled out a sigh of relief at her approval and my fingers started moving on the canvas once again but my mind was stuck on her query and sometime later, she cleared it all.

"Nothing goes in, nothing goes out. Utter isolation. Amidst this seclusion, the matter residing in this system burns and decays before giving life to new matter. This cycle goes on until whole of the matter is transformed into something completely different. This is how an isolated system works." Deep in thought, she kept speaking in her soft voice and I didn't even realise that I had lost myself to her lullaby once again.

"But why are you thinking about an isolated system in the first place?" I gave final strokes of silver to the painting in front of me and passed her a fleeting glance.

"I was wondering why people change with time." The midnight shades of blue flashed enchantingly in my direction and I bit my lip at her response.

"Then do tell me too." I released my lower lip and spoke softly. She took a deep breath before shifting her gaze out on to the night sky.

"More the specks of an individual's innocent childhood dissipate, more he encloses his emotions inside. The consciousness of harsh realities dawns upon his soul and he starts suffering internally. The person inside him burns and decays before giving life to a new person. Just like that, this cycle repeats until the whole person undergoes a major change and you know what the world says?" Her silver hair ruffled above her head as the sea air floated inside through the window. I realised that I was holding my breath and so did she. Therefore, she continued speaking without waiting for my answer.

"It says that 'you've changed a lot' but it doesn't realise that this is exactly what happens in an isolated system. That's who we are; isolated systems. Alone we come, alone we go." She closed her eyes as if in pain and I looked at the masterpiece in front of my eyes before deciding that I could capture her physical attire in my painting, but never her soul. Cara Evelyn had the most complicated soul ever, it slipped through my fingers everytime I tried holding on to it. Just like tonight.

"You hate change. Don't you?" I whispered and she opened her eyes to pierce her gaze right through my existence.

"I hate change because I miss the person I used to be." Sheer nostalgia and longing poured in her rolling voice.

"I love you for who you are." Helplessly, my eyes shifted between her lifeless portrait and her chaotic frame.

"That's because you don't know who I was." She took a deep breath and smiled sadly.

"I wish I knew, Cara Evelyn." My vision blurred slightly before I rubbed my eyes to capture her in my sight once again.

"People adapt. That's how isolated systems work. But I seem to get stuck always. Do you know why?" She ignored my statement and hid her past once again, just like that.

"Why?" Her portrait was complete and flawless but I knew it would always be incomplete because no one could attain her in her true essence. All they could do was survive on remaining specks of who Cara Evelyn was by then.

The right corner of her lips turned upwards as a hautingly beautiful smile sparkled star dust on my scattered thoughts and heavy heart. A bright gleam of light twinkled in her magical eyes and after a long time, I saw her childhood reflecting somewhere in their depths. Standing up gracefully from her seat, she walked over to me and leaned in to look at her dazzling moonlit portrait before whispering drunkenly in the night air,

"Because Cara Evelyn is the most destructive isolated system of centuries."

Author's Note

I hate myself for attaching that image with this chapter because no image can ever portray Cara Evelyn in her true essence. :(

Also, how was this update? Lately, I've been feeling so insecure regarding this book, you have no idea. :( I feel like I'm letting you guys down. :( I'm sorry. </3

Be ready for the next update because there's a HUGE surprise in it and finally, all of you will have a clear vision of her past. There's going to be a...omg omg..I can't reveal it just now. I'm super excited for it though! :D Fasten your seat belts, the storm is coming your way!!

Who wants more of Cara Evelyn? ♥♡

Much Love xX
Hazel ^-^