Orla found the solace she had yearned for all week as she sat at the pool ledge in their home, her hands were conventionally supporting her chin.
She let her mind stray around everything that had been happening in her life lately.
Things were both good and bad.
Good because she was doing exceptionally well at work, but bad because she still hadn't made up with her husband and didn't plan to do so anytime soon.
She didn't want to let go, it was hard to.
The thoughts of divorce had almost wrecked her, she was so scared she might actually go with what was on her mind, but was she ready for the aftermath?
At a distance away from her stood a younger version of herself, staring intensely at her. Orla looked closely only to realize it was Isla.
Heaving an exasperated sigh, she waited for her twin sister to catch with her where she was seated.
As soon as Isla was close, she got to her feet, stepping away from the poolside. "Isla, why are you here?"
"Why am I here?" Isla's little voice pealed with animosity. "This house belongs to our Father, I have equal rights as you have to be here." Stepping some paces away, she took her eyes off Orla.
Orla remained quiet.
"I see you have been thinking about what to do with Callan and you haven't gotten a definitive answer." Roaming the pool, apprehension grasped Isla.
Orla could see the fear in her eyes, like she didn't want her to come close, like she would push her into the pool if she was closer. She sighed, stepping farther away from her sister, but not too far not to hear her words.
"Callan cheated on me with our Sister and some sluts that I don't even know. What should I do? I can't keep going. This marriage was built on infidelity." Tears pooled in her eyes again.
She had avoided crying whenever she thought about Callan, but it didn't work. It hurt so much, the pain was killing.
"And do you think leaving him is the best thing to do?" Swiftly, Isla appeared right in front of her sister, almost closing the distance between them.
"He hurt me," Orla answered, dropping her head. She couldn't stare into her sister's face.
She lacked that courage, she couldn't even help her when she was in danger, she didn't deserve to be called a sister.
"And what do you think love is all about? All sweet and roses without thorns? Huh?" Hands joined together, she shook her head, smiling sheepishly at her twin.
"I don't know, Isla. Maybe I don't know what love means." She shrugged in defeat, daring to stare into her sister's face.
"He hurt you and he begged with all that he has, he vowed never to do that again, but you still want to leave. Where do you plan to go if you leave him?"
She had thought severely about it. There really wasn't anywhere to go. But she didn't respond to Isla. How did she even know that she planned to leave Callan?
She had never said it to anyone aside from when she mentioned divorce to Callan. Could Callan have told Isla about it? She shook the thoughts off her head. Callan didn't know Isla.
"Isla," This time, the courage rubbed heavily on her. Orla stepped closer and looked into her eyes, beholding her soft gaze.
Looking closely into her eyes, she noticed that was the first time she wasn't mad at her since she had been appearing to her in her dream, that was the first time she was staring differently at her without accusative gazes, that was the first time she felt the closeness they used to share before she died.
"Everyone makes mistakes and what makes us responsible is if we own up to our mistakes and make up our minds to be a changed person. Callan didn't cheat on you with Mia, he slept with her before he met you—"
"What about the whores? About three of them!" Orla interjected before her sister could finish.
"You are hurt, aren't you?"
"My heart is bleeding, how do I forget all about this? I can't, It's hard to let go." She tried so hard to hold back but got even more vulnerable when Isla touched her legs because she was too short to reach her shoulders.
Orla looked down and her heart broke. She wished they had grown up together, she would have been her companion for sure. Her little hands on Orla's legs were warm and assuring as she ran her fingers through her smooth skin.
She missed her sister terribly.
"Divorcing Callan will never make you happy."
"You never can tell. I might just do fine if I don't have him anymore." Orla protested. "We haven't gone deep in this marriage, I can leave now."
"You will never be the same, Orla. You will never be happy again. You've built your world around that man, you don't even realize that you have fallen madly in love with him, and can't live without him in your life."
"Madly in love with him?" The words sounded bizarre to Orla. Shaking her head, she took a step back. "I am not in love with him."
"You can feed me with lies, but you can't lie to yourself."
Maybe Isla was right. There was something more than being husband and wife randomly living together. His touch, presence and even stares did so much to her, things she craved all the time.
He made her happy, shielded her, he fought for her and cared about her. But he cheated…
"One more chance wouldn't hurt, would it?" Isla jerked her sister's hand, enclosing it with hers.
"Can you forgive him this time for being truthful and owning his mistakes? Can you forgive him this one time? Callan loves you dearly, he loves you differently and I am afraid that you won't find someone to love that way anymore, Orla. He's the only one who can love you the way you want to be loved. Forgive him."
"Isla, it's not as simple as you think of it."
"You care about him, don't you? Love forgives too. And this one time, I beg you to forgive him."
Orla marveled at how her sister confidently talked about love. She was just seven. How the heck did she know so much about love? Where did she get those words from?
"It doesn't come easy, Isla. I have thought about this, it hurts that he did that to me."
"Orla, don't forget that no one is perfect and we are bound to make mistakes." She stepped away as if she was moving away from her sister.
Orla tried to hold her but she was out of reach. She smiled, waving her hands as she muttered the words, "Think carefully about it and forgive him. Forgive him, forgive him." She repeated, fading away.
Orla's phone began to ring out loudly, jolting her out of her reverie that looked so real.
For a second, she had believed that Isla was really with her. It had been an imagination all along.
She wasn't by the poolside, she was alone in the bedroom, and nobody was around in the house, not even Callan.
She had over-thought which resulted in the trance. Grabbing her phone from the table, the number that appeared on the screen was unknown.
She swiped up, gently placing the phone on her ear. "Orla," she recognized the voice immediately after the conversation began.
"Sophia?" Surprised, she called.
"Orla, we have to see. I need to see you very soon, can you schedule a time to see me? It's very important that I see you. I can't live with this anymore, I have to let it out." Sophia whimpered, Orla could feel the seriousness that something was wrong.
Her heartbeats spiked up a million times. What was so important that Sophia wanted to discuss with her?
"What is this about?" She asked, a heads-up will do.
"Orla, I need to see you and that's it."
"What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Orla, please. You will find out when we see each other," she sounded worried and that scared Orla even more.
"Okay," she tried to calm down. "Where and when do you want to see me?"
"As soon as possible, I will send an address to you when you are ready. Thank you," she didn't wait for Orla's response before dropping the call.
Orla jumped out of bed. She just got out of a reverie with her dead twin and now Sophia was calling her? Claiming she had something important to talk to her about?
She shook her head, it couldn't be what she was thinking.
It wasn't about Callan. He didn't sleep with Sophia too? He didn't do it. She tried to shut her inner thoughts, but it got louder with each second that passed, heart raced beyond control.
Her hand shook as she picked up her phone to call Sophia back. She was ready now, she needed to know what it was before she went crazy with the weird thoughts that crammed her mind.
As the phone rang, she prayed that whatever Sophia wanted to tell her wasn't about Callan sleeping with her too.
She would lose it if it was about Callan. She really would lose her mind.
She couldn't take more of his infidelity news.
Hello, Everyone.
What do you think Sophia wants to tell Orla?
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Thanks for reading.
I love you all.