The Sisters  By Kaleb Northrup

          At the edge of the big city, at the banks of the river and right by the sea, two beautiful twin sisters had stood for decades.  The sisters were so tall and beautiful; everyone in the town loved them.  But they weren’t just sisters – each had many children, whom each mother caressed and cared for within their very hearts.  The mothers loved their children, who came to them every morning to come inside them and work on the things that they did.  Not only beautiful, the sisters were strong, keeping their children safe from storms and winds, and from mean people who might want to hurt them.  At night the children would leave their mothers to go home to their own children and families, and so the sisters could rest before looking after their children again the next day.

          One day, the sisters were beaming down on their children as they arrived in the morning.  Their smiles glistened in the morning sun.  They didn’t notice an eagle soaring by – birds of all kinds were always in the air, often giving their own children a ride in the sunny skies over the city by the sea.  But this wasn’t really an eagle…a fiery demon had kidnapped these children so he could look like a mother eagle, and for some reason he wanted to hurt the sisters.  The demon flew as fast as he could, right into the side of one of the sisters!  The other sister screamed, and cried for help as the first struggled to stay standing.  The demon had hurt the sister very badly, but if she fell down, all of her children inside would be hurt too.  The second sister cried and told the first that it would be OK, that help was coming…the first sister hurt so bad she couldn’t even reply, but looked down to see other children from the city running towards her.

          The strongest and bravest of the city’s children climbed up into the injured sister, to help her children get out in case she did fall over.  As all the children in the city watched and hoped the sister would be all right, another eagle came into view.  But it was another demon, and he hit the second sister even harder than the first!  The first sister could do nothing but watch her only sister be attacked by the demon, and she felt like her heart had broken into little pieces.  She was using all her strength to stand up, and choked on her words as she tried to call to her sister, who could no longer hear her anyway.

          The second sister was hurt so badly, she shook and tears rolled down her face as she used all her might to stand as still as possible…now her children had to run away too.  Even more of the city’s children ran into the second sister to help her children get out…many children tried desperately to heal the sisters’ wounds, but they didn’t know how.  No one had ever seen someone like the sisters get hurt that bad before…all the children who had gathered at the sisters’ feet felt so helpless and sad.

          The sisters looked at each other, and they knew they would not be able to stand much longer.  The heroic children from the city were getting many of the sisters’ children out, but there were so many more still inside.  The first sister knew that the other was hurt worse than she was…she wanted to hold her hand and tell her she loved her, and that somehow everything would turn out OK.  But she had no extra strength left to do so – it took everything she had just to stand up.

          In a few moments, the second sister turned her face to the first, who could see in her eyes that all her strength was gone.  Silently each sister wished the other good luck in whatever would come next, and then the second sister could no longer keep her eyes open.  The tall, beautiful sister, whose smile glistened in the sun and who loved her many children, fell and crumpled into a pile of dust.

          The children at the sisters’ feet yelled and ran…very many of the sister’s children had gotten out, with the help of the other brave children from the city.  But there were many of her children who didn’t have time to get out.  And most of the heroic children from the city who ran in to help them were still inside the sister when she fell.  Tears welled up in the eyes of the children who remained…they knew that they would never get to see those other children again.

          The first sister’s heart broke again…twice.  Once for her beloved sister, who now was only ashes at her feet, and again for all the children who were in those ashes, and would never be able to come out.  If she had the strength, she would shake and cry and try to help her sister’s children.  But she was also losing her strength – it was so hard to keep standing, she knew she wouldn’t be able to for much longer.

          She courageously stayed standing, as her children and the city’s children who were helping them continued to run out.  It made her feel glad, as glad as she could be, that so many of her children were not going to be hurt.

          The children knew it wouldn’t be long before the other sister was too tired to stand.  Everyone ran out of her as fast as they could – helpful children on the street worked to help those who had been hurt with the sister, or on the way down.  No more children ran inside – it was too dangerous.  All they could do was just wait and hope that their friends could find their way out, and soon.

          Even as children kept running out of her, the sister felt her strength going.  She wished a blessing of love upon all of the children of the city, including hers and her sister’s.  Finally, she couldn’t stand any longer – she had no more strength left, no more time to give to her children running away.  Everyone gasped as the sister dropped to her knees, gave one last sigh, and turned to ashes just like her sister did.  The whole city cried.

          Now all of the children of the city were looking through the ashes, trying to find their friends or even complete strangers, anyone they could pull out.  They did find a few, but then didn’t find anymore.  The children kept looking anyway, frantically digging in the ash for anyone they could find.  They would not give up until all their strength was gone, just like the sisters.  Many hours later the sun fell and the city grew dark, and although the children continued to work through the night, they all knew that the sun would never glisten from the sisters’ smiles again.