He believed that everything and everybody in the world was worthy of notice but this person beside him was something beyond that. To him her presence was as important as the world. And the stars around it. If she was an instance of the goodness in this world then passing through by her was miracle enough.

---Bernard MacLaverty, (Midwinter Break)

_______________________________________

Squeezing my eyes painfully shut, I clutched my knees close to my chest and swayed back and forth, hoping to get a hang of my disarrayed emotions.

"Lucas", My voice shook as I took in the broken look on his face, but the questions were too hard to contain.

"How does she look so much like me?"

He smiled. "I've been asking myself the same question ever since you walked into that dining hall, hand in hand with my sister's former boyfriend. For a moment I thought you were Athena, pretending to be someone else for some reason, but I soon realised how wrong I was, as nothing about you two was similar, except your physical attributes. Also, you can't be some long lost twin of her either, since I asked my mother if she'd ever lost any child or something during the initial years of our life, and she looked like she was seconds away from referring me to a psychiatrist, so I know she wasn't lying."

"No I can't be her twin. I already had one.", I said.

"Had?", Lucas murmered, startled at my declaration.

"Yes. He's no more."

The man next to me, pulled me on his lap and hugged me close to his heart. Amazed by the unexpected comfort, I leaned closer to him, and pushed my face in the crook of his neck, inhaling his sweet essence. He smelled nice. Familiar. Familial.

"I want to meet your sister.", I suddenly declared.

"You can't.", He breathed into my hair,and hugged me tighter. "She's with your brother now."

I felt like my vitals had been pulled out of my gut. No! There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but I knew nothing would make a difference. I'd been in his place. I'd shared his pain. And nothing could ever make it better.

So I pushed back the condolences which'd been on the tip of my tongue, and mumbled instead,

"You have me now." He nodded his head, took me into his arms and carried me to my bed. After laying me down, and putting a blanket over me, he shuffled inside and lay beside me.

"Athena and I had always been inseparable, even though she was two years younger than me. Instead of having friends of her own age, she had accepted mine as hers. She grew up as our mate. But suddenly one day she wasn't. I blame it on puberty. From not giving a damn about matted hair and torn jeans, she went to being insanely conscious about the length and shape of her nails. Her personality changed with her dresses, and so did her relationship with Evangeline, her best friend, and her equation with her then boyfriend, Ethan."

Ethan had liked her for years. I'd seen it in his eyes, and it broke my heart to see him shattered over her disregard of his feelings. But I'd also realised that my sister had never reciprocated his affections. She'd always been devoted to Theo, and the moment she saw him with another girl, it was like a switch had flipped within her. She started avoiding Ethan, as her relationship with him had failed to evoke any jealousy in Theo. He continued to see her as a friend; someone whom he was fond of, yes, but not even remotely interested in, from a romantic point of view. This irked Athena so much that she completely transformed into a diva, and started seeing an older boy from another school despite my constant objections towards her relationship.

Ethan was furious for many reasons. The obvious being unrequited love, and another being his helplessness to stop his love interest from walking down the path of destruction. I shared his latter concern, but none of us could force Theo to go out with her, since it would've been unfair to both of them.

Before long, Athena realised how futile her endeavours had been, and she slipped into depression. This time, however, Theo stepped in and agreed to date her. Turning a blind eye to the obvious, Athena went berserk with joy. The relationship was doomed from the beginning. We all knew it. There was only so much Theo could do. Getting straight to the point, she went missing after one of her night outs with Theo. According to what he tells me she tried to seduce him, and he pushed her away. I had no reason to doubt Theo, since I'd known them both from my childhood, and he's as much my brother as she's my sister. Two days later the police found her unrecognisable body. Till date, we don't even know what happened to her. We were able to recognise her only by her accessories, and the post mortem confirmed it was her.

I slipped my hand into his, and gave it a hard squeeze. He returned the gesture, and rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb, absentmindedly.

"I really don't understand. If Theo never liked your sister, why is he after me?"

"He didn't like you, though, remember. Not in the beginning. He avoided you like plague. Infact, he was downright disrespectful. But none of us understands what happened suddenly. As I'd said earlier, you are nothing like Athena. That must've got something to do with it. But you'll have to ask him to be sure.

I nodded. I'll ask him, alright. I'll confront the whole damn lot for keeping me in dark regarding something as important as this. Was I just her substitute to them? No matter how uncomfortable the notion was, there was always a possibility, and I prayed to God this wasn't the case. Threading my fingers through Lucas' hair, I massaged his scalp, and murmured words of comfort. Soon his rhythmic heartbeats motioned that he was asleep, and I followed suit, trying to keep the disturbing thoughts at bay.