Rising Waters

In a tree house, in the middle of the ocean, lived a woman and her sister. Their names were long forgotten, along with how they got there, and when, or why. In this small, wooden tree house, there is a little kitchen, a table with two chairs, and two windows opposite each other. The older sister stood tall, with her long black hair draped down her shoulders. The younger sister with yellow hair stared at her sibling from one of the seats next to the table, before switching her gaze out the window. The little sister could see the tree goes straight to the still ocean, then disappears immediately in the cloudy blue water.

“Sister, how much longer before we can be found?” The younger sister sighed angrily.

“I am not sure. But we need to leave.”

“How? We have no boat.” Little, and angry, she crossed her arms.

The sisters thought for a moment.

“Let’s go looking then.” The little sister headed straight for the door that lead to the ladder outside.

“Wait, no! You’re right, we don’t have a boat, and I don’t see land close by. We can’t just swim forever, we will get tired and drown.” The older sister’s grip was tight around the little one’s shoulders. “I-I’m sorry.” Her hands dropped from her sister.

“But I think we must go. I can’t take being here any longer. Where are we? Where’s mom, or dad?”

“I... I don’t know, but we can’t just go ou-”

“I want to leave. I want to find them. I miss... I can’t remember what they look like..” She began to tear up.

“Let’s just relax here a little longer before we decide anything. Maybe a snack?” The bigger sister marched her way to the cabinets, but all were empty. “W-well, maybe we need some water?”

“Seems we have plenty of that..” The little sister spouted with tears running down her cheeks.

A turn of the faucet, and nothing comes out.

“I don’t think we should be drinking that water. We don’t know if it’s safe.”

“I’m not thirsty anyways..”

The older sister turned back to her sibling and watched her stare out at the horizon. It was all water, pouring into the distance. The only visible object was the tree house.

“It’s all water..everything! I want to go home.”

“I do too. Wherever that is..” She smoothed her hair in her hands and tried to remember her home. “I can’t remember anything.. Do you re-”

“No! I don’t remember anything!”

“Why are you so mad at me?” This made the older sister feel little.

“What? I’m not-” The younger sister was taken aback. “I..” She thought about it. “I’m not.. I don’t- I don’t know why. I just feel that I am mad at you for some reason!” She shouted.

“Did I do something to upset you?”

“It’s your fault we’re here! You!” She stopped, then looked down. “I don’t remember what you did, but I know it’s your fault..” She seethed.

“I’m sorry I did this to us..”

“You don’t seem that sorry.”

The older sister lightly gasped but it turns into a deep noise of frustration. “I am.. I don’t know what I did, you don’t even know, but I’m still apologizing! How can you be so sure it’s my fault? What if it’s yours?!” She pointed at her little sister with fury.

In response, the little sister sprung to her feet. “Me?! Me?? It’s your fault. You had the knife!”

“Just because I had a weapon.. I caught you! With him.. I saw you in my house, with him.”

“Who?” As fast as those vague memories came, they left even quicker. “You had a.. thing.. because I was with someone?”

“I think..” The older sister felt ashamed for getting so mad over something she forgot so easily.

“Who?”

“Our brother...I think.”

“Why is it bad to be with our brother...wait..we have a brother?”

They stared at each other confused. “I can’t recall if we do now..”

“Me either, but it still feels like it’s your fault.”

The older sister turned her back, and stared out the other window. “I don’t think I will talk to you, until you stop saying that.”

A long, blinding silence overtook them. They stood there, lost in their own thoughts.

“It’s time..” The younger sister sounded excited.

“For what?” The door was already closed before she could finish asking. She spun around to see her sister gone. “Hey!” She rushed to follow her out. Down below her sister was already descending the ladder.

“It’s time, it’s time to go!”

The older sister began to panic, until she noticed her sister didn’t fall in. “You’re standing on water.” She was shocked.

“It’s time to go. The water is rising, soon the tree house will be gone.”

“How do you know?” The older sister waited for a response, but nothing. She watched her sister grow a few inches with the ocean. The water was rising, very slowly.

“Let’s go. The light is waiting.”

“What light?”

The little sister smiled and pointed beyond the tree house. The older sister walked to the side of the house and looked, but there was nothing more than the water filled horizon. “I don’t see… I don’t understand..”

By the time she looked back, her sister was already heading towards the light she claimed to see.

“Wait!” The older sister finally climbed down the ladder to the water. She stared at it briefly before putting her foot onto it, but it fell through. The water felt absent of anything. Fear overcame her as the color drained from her skin. “Sister wait! I can’t come!” The water rose just a little more. “Sister!” She climbed back up and ran to the side of the house and looked for her younger sister below. As she stood there, staring out, she noticed the water had left her feet soaked. “Sister!” She screamed loudly. “I can’t walk on the water! Come back!” She pleaded.

“No.. I have to go to the light.”

“But I can’t..”

“You weren’t meant to..” The younger sister said plainly before continuing forward.

“Don’t leave me! I’ll drown!” She cried out for her sister, but she didn’t stop. Her heart pounded as she ran back out to the ladder. “No!” The water rose high enough to cover the ladder. She put her foot out, but again it went into the water.

“No..” She whispered. She went back inside to see her sister again, but she was gone. The older sister stared out hoping to see a light, but there wasn’t one. She looked down into the water, but there was only the abyss. She sat in the chair across the table from the chair her sister always sat in. The water was beginning to seep in from under the door. It looked like darkness coming to take her. The woman looked over at the chair she wished her sister was still in.

“You left me..” She cried hard, and as her tears hit the water that enclosed around her knees, she saw something. She saw one last memory, as the water continually consumed her. By the time the memory was gone, she realized the water had risen to her neck.

“I-I’m sorry..little sister..it was my fault..”