Ups And Downs 3

“Mom!” Jex’s voice traveled its way through his room, out the hallway, and into the living room where I was.

“What, Jex?!” I shoved another handful of popcorn in my mouth and chewed slowly. The individual kernels practically melted in my mouth from all of the butter.

“Is that popcorn?!”

My eyes instinctively rolled.

“Yes! And I’m watching The Wizard Of Oz!” Smirking, I listened to Jex jump off of his bunk bed and race into the living room. He almost fell on me when he plopped down on the couch next to me.

“Hey! Give me some.” Jex grabbed at the bowl of popcorn, but I yanked it away. This went on for a moment until he finally grabbed ahold of it and popped a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

“What part are we at?” My son turned his body towards the TV and tried to figure out where The Wizard Of Oz was playing.

“Yellow brick road with the munchkins.” I motioned towards Dorothy starting her way down the golden yellow, glowing brick road.

“Aha.”

Jex and I just sat there for a while, watching the movie, and munching on the popcorn. But finally, he broke the silence.

“Mom, I’ve been thinking.”

“That never goes well.”

He rolled his eyes.

“I’ve been thinking about how Aunt Aleea just left that day without taking any of her stuff. I know why, of course, but shouldn’t we ship her stuff back to her in California? I mean, it’s not like we’re going to keep it forever, are we?” Those words hung in the air between us, very slowly entering my mind and processing.

“Yeah, I guess so. You can start it tomorrow when you wake up. I’ll be gone already for work, but I’ll be home around noon. Okay?” Even I could hear the sharpness in my words, and hoped that Jex didn’t take it too hard.

“Yeah, okay. Uhh… I’m just going to go play Fortnite in my room now.” I watched as he got up from the couch and walked into his bedroom with a solemn face.

---

The moment that I woke up the next morning, I poked my head into Jex’s room. With his back to me, he sat up in his bed. I could hear him quietly whispering to himself. Soundlessly, I retreated back out and got ready for work then left.

---

After a stressful, long day at work, I came home to hear Jex jamming out to rap songs that I couldn’t understand a word of. It annoyed the heck out of me, but after the night before I didn’t say anything.

I sat my purse down on the dining room table and followed the sound of the awful so-called music. It led me straight to the spare bedroom where Aleea slept while she had been there and left all of her things. Jex was surrounded by clothes, folding them. I chuckled to myself when I saw a pile of clothes that he didn’t want to touch.

“Looks good.” I motioned to the piles of folded clothes on the ground when Jex turned off his rap and turned to look at me.

“Thanks.” A heavy silence hung in the air. It suffocated both of us. Looking at all of Aleea’s things; it was awful.

“I found something, and I think you really need to see it. I don’t completely understand it, but I know enough to know that it’s bad.” Jex got up from his seat on the floor and grabbed a stack of papers from the bed. The moment he handed them to me, I knew they were doctor's office papers. I skimmed over them, spotting words like leukemia, stage five, and severe. By the end of the pile of papers, tears were streaming down my face and a million questions chased each other around my mind.

“Jex. This means Aleea is dying.”

---

That night I laid in bed, thinking about why Aleea wouldn’t have told me. But maybe she was going to, but I got mad at her and yelled at her before she could. But then again, why didn’t she tell me before? If she was at stage five already, then she must have known for a while. But what if she had just found out and it had already progressed that far?

I fell asleep with one last thing on my mind. Why her and not me?

---

“Mom? Mom, wake up. Someone’s on the phone for you. It’s someone named Dr. Jones.” I jolted awake to Jex shaking me and talking softly to me.

“What?” My eyes groggily opened and focused on Jex’s face.

“Some guy named Dr. Jones is on the phone for you. Here.” He shoved a cell phone out to me and I grabbed it from him.

“Hello, Sabrina Kiter speaking.”

“Hello, Sabrina. Are you the twin sister of Aleea Porte?”

Well, that was odd. Why would they ask me about Aleea?

“Yes, I am. Is everything okay?” There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. I could hear the man’s deep breathing.

“Miss Kiter, your sister has passed away from stage five leukemia. I am so sorry for your loss.”

Now it was my turn to have a long pause. Aleea - dead? It couldn’t be.

“Thank you for letting me know.” With that, I hung up the phone. I felt myself start to shake, tears stream down my face, my face turning pale, and the realization that my twin was dead. Jex stared at me from the side of my bed still, tears rolling down his face. I reached over and he fell into my arms.

Emotions overwhelmed me - sadness, frustration, anger, and everything else. Aleea was my sister and I pushed her away, I made her leave and she couldn't tell me. Now I regretted it all. And each time my body shook with each sob proved it.

---

“We are gathered here today to respect and love the memory of Aleea June Porte. She was a wonderful woman, who took care of her work with children in a classroom. Aleea was battling leukemia for years, but that battle was lost. God has quietly taken Aleea to stay with him. She will be happier now, in a better place. To all of you, please don’t be upset that it’s over, be happy that she was here for the time that she was. Thank you.” I sat in that back pew, staring at the pastor who spoke for Aleea. Those were the last words he spoke for her funeral since everyone got up from their seats and moved to the other room to talk about Aleea. I floated along with them, tears still filling my eyes. My entire body still shook. And my mind still wondered why I had to push her away - why I couldn't have just left the past in the past. But I guess that's just it. The past is the past.