Published: August 3, 2021
Edited: May 15, 2022

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It broke Sally Jackson's heart to think of giving up her son. No matter what Poseidon said was the child's destiny, she just couldn't bring herself to do that. To part from either of her children was unthinkable for Sally, the fact that she had even considered it for a moment filled her with extreme guilt. Then again the god had been very convincing.

" The Fates have told me that he has to go." 

"I promise you that I will take care of him."

"He will be hurt if he stays, I can see that clearly."

No matter what arguments the twins' father brought up to try to persuade Sally, she put off the desicion, again and again, and again. But finally, she had told him that he would have his answer by tomorrow morning. She knew she wanted to keep her children, both of them.

   Sally Jackson lay in her small bed, steeling herself to tell the god that she would be keeping her son, unaware of what was happening to her children in the next room. A salty ocean breeze was blowing gently around the cradle. Far from waking the pair of babies who were snuggled together, it lulled them deeper into sleep. The two week old twins were nearly indistinguishable from each other, both with a tuft of fluffy black hair and swirling seafoam-green eyes that were currently closed. The only difference was their size, other than that they were identical down to their onesies. The slightly larger baby rolled over, murmuring contentedly and slept on.

Far away, the children's father knew what he had known from the beginning, that Sally Jackson would never agree to part with one of her children, and so the breeze in the apartment room quickened. Unable to see clearly through the Mist, the controller of the salty wind decided to focus on the more asleep baby, the infant that had not made a sound. Lifted from the cradle on a breeze, the small form drifted out the open window. Blessed by a god, the wind sped south much faster than any mortal vehicle could, carrying that small figure to a Virginia orphanage where it was placed on the front step with a Mist letter and a warm blanket. 

Many miles north, the remaining baby rolled over, reaching for the reassuring warmth of his sister. Nothing. Sally Jackson rushed in to find one crying infant, and an open window. The sheer white curtains rippled in the wind, flowing in the room as though to taunt the horror struck mother. Sally Jackson dropped to her knees next to her child's bed and wept, wept for the loss not of her son, but of his twin, her daughter. A young Neridia Jackson slept in the cold that night, mistaken for her brother and torn from her family.

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Word Count: 480