Cousins

The four people in the car exchanged a wordless glance before the girl joined them.

It was clear they knew what was up, but she didn't. But they needn't worry since she was distracted by a distant memory of when her brother found her when she was lost.

She and Aether were playing hide and seek in the forest located in their backyard when she accidentally stepped into deeper parts of the forest, unable to find her way back.

She cried and called out her brother's name, but not even an echo responded. The day was turning into twilight, making the forest quieter and creepier. The screeching of birds and shaking of leaves that was beyond her height was the monster she saw in her nightmares.

Desperate to escape, Alek moved her legs as if racing in the Olympics, but instead, ended up stumbling on a root and sprained her ankle. The tears flowed without a strain. Her ankle was in pain, the forest was frightening, and no one was there for her.

She wailed louder than the sounds engulfing her and screamed her brother's name. Just as there couldn't be any more words forming from the throat, she heard firm footsteps coming her way, slowly.

Instinctively, hair on every part of her body rose, sensing the immense amount of danger. She sucked in her breath.

Suddenly, the footsteps vanished. The next second, Alek felt warm air blow at her right shoulder, but at the same time, it felt as if millions of insects crawled onto her skin. The breath smelt like they were from a dumpster.

Followed by breathing, the smell of thick blood gradually caught up. Suffocating her and sinking into her. She could taste the rotten blood in her mouth despite being shut tightly.

Alek was frozen sitting down by the root of a tree, she stumbled and whatever was behind her began touching her. Her mind went blank. Four hands were touching her, leaving a trace of petrifying hotness.

One of the hands glazed past her chest and to her face. The hand circled her face, spreading the tears with its burning fingers. But after a round, it lowered its hand and grasped her throat, applying pressure as if slowly squeezing out a cut orange.

She didn't know who was ending her life, see what was happening and couldn't call out for help.

But the hand abruptly let go, leaving her coughing and gasping for the stenchy air. One hand was over her chest and on the ground, digging her fingers into it.

Right then, thousands of various coloured lights swarmed towards her like angered bees. The last scream was about to sound in the silent night when the lights flew past her and attacked the one behind her. The thing that almost killed her, screamed in agony, but within seconds, silence returned to the forest.

Alek was literally gaping at the scene when those lights came to her, swimming through the air as if to protect her. Before she could touch any of them, it glowed brighter than the sun, momentarily blinding her. When she opened her eyes, they were gone, and her brother was running towards her.

Aether embraced her and apologised. He immediately carried her piggyback style, and she passed out.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was on her bed, with no sign of ever tripping on a root or scratches. Her parents scolded her for sleeping in the forest and that was it. Because of that, 'till now, she didn't know if it really happened or if it was a bad nightmare. But she believed in the latter.

Alek was brought back to reality when the car parked in front of her grandmother's house.

As soon as Bia exited the car, an old lady opened the entrance with a warm smile. Even though all her hair was white, she was a charming and energetic lady.

There was a time when she and Alek went on a morning walk when the family came for a sleepover. Alek found herself unable to keep up with her grandma, who was in her sixties. After the walk, she was drained of all of her energy, but her grandma looked alive more than ever. Since that day, Alek promised herself not to tag along with her grandmother for a walk.

Their grandmother, Mikoto, came down the steps and hugged each of her grandchildren and children. She wore a casual, sunflower printed crew neck white long dress.

Mikoto lived in a one-story, Japanese-style house with a garden with a pond filled with Koi fishes, shishi-odoshi and a Bonsai. Behind the garden, a sunflower farm flourished till the horizon. Her husband, Keith, had died when Pandeia was barely an adult, and since then, she remained a widow and single.

When Alek and others entered the house, they met Astraea. Then Lake, Astraea's husband, who also was a younger brother to Robin, and their kids, Jin and Rin, the twin brothers, and Iris, the youngest of the family.

Alek greeted her aunt and uncle and moved to greet the twins. The twins were older than her by a year. When they were, small they often played in a group of four, Aether, Alek, Jin and Rin.

The twins always argued, and Aether had to step in to end it. Those were the fun times.

Alek didn't know if they remembered that night when they experienced the incident deeply engraved in her brain.

But the fun times ended when their family moved to the other side of the country, becoming harder for them to meet and eventually, they stopped talking.

Apart from Astraea and Lake, who often visited their siblings and their family, it had been seven years for the children. So When Alek stood in front of the twins, she found herself looking up to talk to them, unlike in the past when they were eye-to-eye.

Men, they're tall!

Nobody wanted to talk after the greeting. They didn't know what to talk about.

So instead of trying to talk to find a topic they could bloom on, Alek settled her eyes on the little girl hiding behind her brothers. It was Iris.

Iris looked like a flower fairy with a sunflower headband on her head.

'I see a real-life fairy now!!' In Alek's eyes, she saw blooming flowers behind the little girl.

----

Iris grasped her handmade bracelets at her wrists and stared into her cousin she had only heard of.

She was not good at meeting unfamiliar people. The way she basically had no knowledge about them made her restless.

This was her first time meeting them.

The girl in the blue dress looked like she was the oldest of them all, but she somehow was like a five-year-old. The moment girl with a blue skirt looked at Iris, she thought this girl would eat her whole, but the girl wearing the suit stopped the oldest from coming to her.

The girl in the suit looked cold, but Iris could feel that is just the outside of her. How did she know? Because those eyes were the same way her brothers looked at her, like a personal bodyguard or a guardian angel.

After glazing through the female cousins, Iris's eyes settled on the only boy in their family. She could see he was older, but not there wasn't much of a difference.

He had the aura of maturity compared to the dress girl. He appeared calm but had something childish about him. He looked like someone who couldn't stop talking when asked about what he liked. The blue-dress girl had the same atmosphere as him but without the calmness.

----

Alek found Iris staring at her and her siblings with curiosity. She bent down next to the girl.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce ourselves. Hi, my name is Alektrona. People call me Alek, but maybe you can create a nickname for me and call me that. The one in the suit is Bia, my sister. She may look cold, but she is funny if you get to know her. And the boy next to her is Kairos, my brother. People call him Kai. He is a few years older than you, but I have a feeling you two would get along pretty well."

Alek told her little cousin with a smile on her face.

Iris reddened her face and looked down at her bracelets.

The gesture reminded her of Kai, the observing type. They gathered information through their eyes and ears. She had a feeling if Iris was a boy, she would have turned out just like Kai.

Alek was dozing off, imagining fake scenarios in her head like always while a smile was plastered on her face.

It took some time, but Iris replied. "Hi. I'm Iris... Nice to meet you." She looked more precious than ever.

It was a whisper but, Alek heard it crystal clear. The fact that Iris responded, was like hundreds of heart arrows being shot at her.

Someday, Iris would be the end of me, she thought.

"Nice to meet you too, Iris." The girl flushed a little harder when she heard Alek call her name.

Alek stood up and was about to talk to her mother when she saw that the girl seemed to have more to say. "What's wrong?" She asked, but Iris seemed scared.

She thought Iris wanted to talk to Bia, so she was about to get out of the way when Iris tugged her skirt.

With hesitant, round brown eyes, the girl quietly asked, "Can I call you Nana?"

"Of course!" When those words left Alek's mouth, Iris's face lit up as if she just ate her favourite food.

Alek almost hugged the little one, but she didn't want to scare her, so instead, she held Iris' hand with her hands and beamed at her.

When she averted her eyes from her cousin to find her siblings, she saw them deep in conversation with the twins that they didn't care to give her congratulations on befriending the little fairy.

She looked back, and her eyes met with Iris's. Iris didn't look like she wanted to let go of her new friend, and Alek wanted to know more about her.

"Do you want to take a walk with me outside the garden?"