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It’d been too long.

Or maybe too short? No, that wouldn’t make any sense.

Monoko couldn’t keep track of how long she had last seen her big sister, though whether it had been seconds or years it felt like it had been long enough. Troubled by this, she summoned up the courage to exit her tunnel into the scorching-white desert that was her home.

Instantly she shrunk, shrunk, shriveled into herself, doubling over and putting her hands over her eyes in the unmerciful bright light. She groaned loudly, and gradually lifted hand and hand and hand and hand over her eyes. It was still too unbearably unbearably unbearably bright but there was no escaping it.

Already lost and only a few steps out of her own tunnel, the girl blindly ran around for a while, the crunch of sand and grit fueling her frantic search for that one tunnel that—Oww!

Monoko had directly faceplanted into a wall of something? Something very solid, she figured—and staggered back a few paces. She tried going around the white wall this time, both eyes watering now. Seeing the familiar gaping tunnel entrance Monoko found she had entered the right tunnel! Her sister was just inside.

The triumphant feel of her success warmed her cheeks more than the sun had, and she hurriedly rushed in, arms spreading as far as they could.

She roamed the dampness of the place, wandering through the blackness to find

“Monooooooe!”

…Ah!

A glimpse of some sort of figure in the distance. It couldn’t be anyone else.

“Muh-muhhh..!!” Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth. But she swallowed and tried again.

“Monoe!” she yelped, running now towards her big sister.

She tripped and fell, but that was alright!!

Monoko picked herself up as fast as she could, and dashed again to her big sister with a grin on her face.

Dark, dark, dark…

Spin around twice and—

Dark over here…

Take two steps to the left and—

Dark over there…

Turn around once, three steps backwards, bump into a wall and feel the merciless cold stone against your back, causing a giggle to bubble up from the pits of your stomach because oh! It tickles..

It’s always dark in here, day in and day out, there’s never any change in atmosphere, but that’s okay. That’s okay because Monoe likes it in here, it’s quite suited to her style. Quiet, dark, enveloped in a solitary silence that is only broken by a small sliver of light emanating from the entrance far away… But she tries not to look over there, it ruins the illusions, interrupts the thought process that can only emerge in this dank scenario; a parade of entertaining images and ideas that prance around the cavities of her mind, secrets that only she knows, that only… that…

That only she knows—ooh!

And another giggle bubbles up. Heehee, secrets, indeed… and— No one will ever know these secrets, no one! Because no one comes in here—no one is allowed to come in here. Why don’t they come in here? Because they’re awful, despicable beings th— Ohoho, they’re afraid—that’s it !so afraid of these secrets that she harbors, they can’t handle it and that’s fine because she doesn’t want them to handle it they can stay out for all she fucking ca—

“Monooooooe!”

And suddenly her bubble of entrancement is popped by a strained voice that can only belong to one and one only, a sound that resonates and bounces itself against the walls before disappearing into the darkness.

Yes, that voice…

A smile cracks across Monoe’s face—a smile unlike the one perpetually scarred onto those pale cheeks, one that tickles the inside of her gums and causes her nostrils to wax.  But oh, what if it was just another illusion, one of those many sickly fantasies that plagued her senses…

“Monoe!”

The noise of footsteps and a thump followed by more steps reassure her that it’s real, and finally the monochrome girl turns around to see a five-armed little girl rushing straight toward her, outlined by the streams of light leaking in from the cave entrance. Only a few steps are needed to close the gap between the two, and with a shower of hands Monoe pulled her little sister into an embrace, feeling her skin against hers as she pressed the younger child’s form closer.

There were no giggles, no snickers, no crude or choked laughter because it was not needed. There was no funny business, no warped inside-jokes or self-made secrets. No,  not with Monoko, not with her sister. A few seconds passed before Monoe finally spoke up, still cradling the other in her arms.

“There you are… it’s been—he—h… a while.”