Augusta, Maine
Present day.

An old Maiden's tale about how I came into existence.
-K. D

THERE ONCE was nothing but darkness.

There was no earth to live on. No humans to wander the lands, no animals to graze the fields or swim in abundance in the waters, and no Gods to conquer the skies. There lived no stars, no planets, and no galaxies. Only the Darkness. The Darkness and the Silence.

The two beings have only ever known eachother. For millions upon million of years, they shared an affair that nothing else could ever phantom. The darkness mingled lovingly with the silence, keeping it cloaked and swaddled in its everpresent nothingness. In return, the silence would leave the darkness with a sense of security. Because if all was quiet, all was well. If all remained muted, everything remained okay.

This was the way of things for a very long time. The galaxy continued to be vast and infinite and silent. It was dark and often lonely, but more than anything, it was lovely. The Darkness and the silence never tired of each other and their bond never once faltered.

Until one faithful day...

ALONE IN her room, Winter Reynolds suddenly jolts awake mid snooze. She blinks her eyes rapidly and pushes her reading glasses up the bridge of her nose. Laying limply on the bed by her left hand, a pen; in her right, she holds the spine of the large book she was reading. Or was trying to read. Dozing off mid-sentence seemed to put a pause on that.

She sighed loudly and sweeped her hand roughly across her face. She did not know what time it was, or how long she'd been up before her slight relapse into sleep, but she did know that she had been trying to busy herself with things to do to survive the rest of the night for quite a while now. And she was aware that fully going back to sleep wasn't really an option.

Winter had experienced a terrible nightmare.

She didn't exactly remember what the nightmare had been about, but what she did remember clearly was the very prominent feeling of fear. A very... profound sense of fear that ate her from the inside out and left her feeling weak. It had chased her awake with a scream that had been barely contained in her throat. The feeling clung to her even now, hours after she was last asleep. It served as a reminder of what was to come if she decided to slip into her conscious again.

When she woke the first time around, she could feel her anxiety come alive within her. Hot sweat was practically poring out of every pore in her body like a faucet. Her chest ached so badly that it'd hurt to take breaths, like a hundred hands were pressing down on her from above, trying to see how much she could take before her ribs shattered and her organs went splat.

So, after doing some light sketching, painting her finger and toe nails an eccentric color of blue, a therapeutic crying session, and binge eating a whole bag of sour gummy worms to distract herself, she decided to read.

And what a lovely book it was so far, the point of view made to be centered around the beginning of time, before the creation of anything. She scored it from the local bookshop she often went to last weekend, but never got the chance to read it. The lady who owned the shop, Mrs. Kyson, had insisted that she take the book for free.

"The book has been sitting on that shelf for God knows how long now. No one has tried to purchase it. Just take it, child, free of charge," she had said after Winter tried to pay for it. The book keepers eyes seemed distant for a moment, as if she was recalling how many times shes attempted to unload the book on someone.

"Please, take it. I insist. I will not accept your money, Winter."

So she reluctantly accepted the book. She grabbed it from Mrs. Kyson's ashy hands, came home, and put it on her bookshelf, where it has been for over a week now until today. She was only one page in, and even though she momentarily dozed off, she found that she loved the book already. Her veins tingled with excitement as she turned the thick page.

... When there suddenly was a loud BOOM. It was the loudest sound the Galaxy would ever know and would never want to expirence again, followed by an explosion of light. The light was yellow and Orange and powerful. It blazed and sizzled with an intensity that the Darkness had never expirenced before. The Darkness could not even call itself the Darkness anymore because this new entity cast such a strong glow of light nearly everywhere, reflecting hundereds upon hundreds of miles. It warmed the Darkness, filling it with its rays of intense heat. Never had it experienced such a feeling before. The Darkness had fallen in Love.

Almost too distracted by this revelation, The Darkness knew that the silence had disappeared, just like it knew that it would not return for a very long time. Replacing the silence were the sounds of crackling and popping that bounced off and on each other one million times over. The Darkness loved this sound more than it had ever loved the Silence-

Bonk.

Perplexed, Winter put her reading on hold once more and raised her head. She listened intently for a few moments before rolling her eyes at herself. She knew that her lack of sleep was starting to catch up to her, making her imagine sounds. She looked back down at her book and tried to concentrate once more.

The Darkness loved this sound more than it had ever lo-

Bonk. Bonk. Bonk.

There was a slight pause.

Bonk.

Okay, so not my imagination.

It sounded as if someone was bouncing a tennis ball against the wall beside her. It bounced three times, stopped for a few moments, then proceeded again. The room opposite of her's was her brothers- her twin brother, Spice. Spice Michael Ashton Reynolds. Double the middle names for the double the personality, creating double the asshole. Dad said that it made him feel special to have them, but personally, Winter thought that it just made him feel above everyone else for some odd reason. Although she couldn't understand how something as miniscule as that could make him feel liberated?

Bonk, Bonk, Bonk!

Yep. The King of Assholes has awoken. Which meant that she'd successfully survived the night and it was now time to get ready for school. Although why he was bouncing a ball against the wall at six A.M was a huge mystery in itself. Perhaps to get a rise out of her? It wouldn't be very surprising if that was the case. Spice tended to take on many hobbies: Football, Lacrosse, Flirting with girls, and, his favorite, toying with Winter for no good reason. Typical big brother stuff. Typical Spice.

Winter climbed out of bed and book marked her place in the book- even though she only made it to the second page. She placed it down gingerly in the armchair next to her bed, and with as much calm she could muster, shouted, "Shut up, Spice!"

Almost instantly, there was silence. That was easy. Entirely too easy. Spice was accustomed to torturing her relentlessly and, usually quite often, didnt give up his teasing unless he had her in a headlock on the floor, kicking and screaming until her dad came and broke them up. Their father would scold Spice and tell him to grow up, that he was far too old to be acting like a little kid who didn't know how to get along with his sister.

As if reading her thoughts, the ball began to bounce again. This time around it became faster and louder. He really didnt like to give up. That was another trait of his: Fuckboy, annoying brother, and a never-giver-upper. A never quitting, fuckboy and pest of a brother? Seems about right. Though who could really blame him for how he is? With girls constantly throwing themselves at him left and right, and his dumb sporty friends constantly hyping him up to be some kind of ginger haired legend, was it really only his fault that he was like this? It wasn't an excuse, not by a long shot. But the blame didnt entirely all on him.

Winter once even heard a rumor that he was talking to the whole volleyball team at one point in the beginning of the school year and none of them were aware of it until a few weeks after he cut them off. When she'd asked him if this were true, he simply shrugged his shoulders and grinned his typical cocky grin.

"Gotta show some extra love to girls who play volleyball. They're so under appreciated," he had said. Then he began to slap his hand at the air as if there was an invisible butt in front of him and his grin widened.

"They got those big ol' volleyball booties. Just ass for days, Win. Ass for days. Those girls were begging for some."

She had called him a pig and told him to be quiet. Their conversations often went like this. She would ask him something, he would give her an obnoxious response, and she would tell him to shut up. Sometimes, she didnt even know why she bothers with asking him anything. The only time he ever gives a decent response to her questions involving girls is... Well, is never, actually. Spice is a fuckboy and doesn't give a fuck.

That's just the way he was.

Winter groaned and banged her hand against the wall with as much force she could muster. After the rough night that she just had, she certainly did not want nor did she feel like dealing with Spice's shit.

"Be quiet! Its too early in the morning to be dealing with this!"

He turned on his stereo.

Winter was immediately assaulted with the steady pounding of loud drums and guitars. And the ball was still bouncing against the wall. She cursed and slammed her hand on the wall again, telling him once more to shut up before throwing her arms up in the air in frustration and stomping out of her room. She made her way over to the door next door to hers and banged against it with her fist as hard as she could.

"Turn down the music right now and stop banging that damn ball!"

No response. Just his music and the now faint sound of the ball bouncing.

"Spice! Spice, open the door!"

Nothing.

"Spi-"

"For the love of God, What! What do you want?"

Confused, Winter whipped around and found Spice standing down the hall next to the open bathroom door, a plain green toothbrush sticking out the side of his mouth and a slight stream of foamy toothpaste dribbling down his chin. He had an annoyed look on his face- the masculine equivalent to her face with very few differences.

Where her identical twin brother had a sprinkle of freckles dancing across his nose and splashing onto his cheeks, Winters carried a smooth and pale complexion. His eyes were a dark blue color, as to where hers were a mix of blue-green. Like sea foam. His lips resembled hers some, there was not much of a difference there. They both had pouty top and bottom lips, only his were forever smiling or grinning, and hers were somehow always turned down into a frown. And where his hair was a straight light ginger, almost strawberry blond color, hers was blue.

Originally, Winter's hair was a firey red mess of waves, and she thought it was fine for awhile. But over the years, she's found that she did not like having comparisons of her and Spice being made. And her family always had something to say about the both of them and their looks. It didn't bother her that she shared almost the exact same complexion as her brother, but it did bother her that she wasnt exactly an individual.

She was practically a carbon copy of him, having been born only a mere seven minutes after he was. The only extraordinary difference between them was that her features were feminine and smooth, and his were masculine and rough. Had they both been born boys, or both been born girls, she would have driven herself mad by now. The last thing she wanted to do was look exactly like someone else.

But her hair is something that she could temporarily change about herself. Hair is always changeable. His is short, so her's is long. His is red, so now her's is blue. It was probably an odd choice to go by considering all of the more rational colors she could have gone with, but at the time blue had felt so... Right. So her. It had started out to be a magnificent color of mermaid blue. But now it was starting to fade out and her roots were starting to turn back to her original red. She would have to re-dye it soon.

Winter stared at Spice, trying to comprehend why he was across the hall and not in his room where she thought he was. Knowing him, he probably knew she would come running out yelling at him. So, as a joke, he decided to play it off like he- what? Didn't do anything? Why leave his stereo on, though? To get on her nerves? That had to be it. Just another Spice annoyance.

Winter swallowed her nerves and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Running out of your room and leaving your stereo on just to get a rise out of me? How original."

Spice raised his eyebrows up in confusion. "What're you yammering on about now you blue booger."

Ah, yes. The classic blue booger nickname. That one never got old.

"You know what I'm talking about, dumb ass. Why the hell are you blaring your music and bouncing a ball against the wall like some obnoxious oaf at six in the morning?"

"What are you even going on about? I just woke up and now I'm hearing your nagging."

She scoffed. "I'm not nagging. Its not called nagging when you purposely do such idiotic things at the crack of dawn."

Spice took hold of his toothbrush handle and began to brush his teeth again. His movements were fast and jerky, as if he was angry at the toothbrush. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Win, and I really don't care enough to figure it out righ-"

He paused and listened, the steady sound of his music now coming to his ears. His eyebrows raised in confusion again. He stopped brushing his teeth. "Did you turn on my stereo? Why did you go in my room?"

He quickly went back into the bathroom, spat out his spitty toothpaste residue, and rushed back towards his room. His long legs made great strides across the hall, and in no time he was standing beside Winter. He pushed her aside with no problem and ran into his room.

"Why did you come in here?"

"I didn't go in your room! You turned on your stereo!"

"And just why would I do that?" he mocked.

"Oh, I don't know," she said sarcastically. "Maybe because you're an idiot who loves to get on my nerves?"

But he was no longer listening to her. He was rushing to cut off his stereo. Winter peeked in and saw his forest green walls illuminated by the artificial light of his light bulb. His stereo was parallel to his twin sized bed, and in the corner was a shelf piled with magazines and video games. His TV was sitting on top of the shelf, and a single framed photo was on the wall. It was of him, Winter, and their parent's. They were only five going on six when this was taken, and their parents were youthful and happy. This was maybe just a few weeks before their mom got sick and their dad fell apart.

Winter turned her eyes away from the picture and blinked back the moisture welling up in her eyes. It was so long ago, she knew that she shouldnt be getting so worked up over practically nothing. Sometimes she could barely even remember what her mom was like or her face. She would need to look at a photo of her and stare at her face, the face that looked very much like her own, and try to remember five things about her. But she didnt want to think about her mother right now. Right now, she had to focus on her brother. And how he was pretending like he didn't turn on his music when she knew right well that he did.

Spice cut off his stereo and glared at Winter. He didn't like her coming into his room when he wasn't in it, and vice versa.

"What?" she said angrily. " I didn't turn on your stereo. You did that."

"You really don't know how to be honest, do you, Win?"

"What!"

Winter stomped her foot against the floor and threw her middle finger up in the air. There was no way that he could just lie and pretend like she was the one who did all of that. And to make matters worse, the ball in question was nowhere to be seen. She quickly concluded that he must have kicked it under his bed or somewhere else when he first came in so she wouldn't see it.

"Don't you dare blame me for this. Just... Just don't do it again!"

With those as her parting words, she exited his room and made sure to slam the door shut behind her.

.....

After a quick shower and changing into a pair of black high waist skinny jeans and a comfortable fluffy white sweater, Winter furiously rubbed her wet hair with a towel and rushed down the stairs to grab breakfast before her best friend, Kristopher, came to pick her up.

Although she was seventeen, she didn't have her licence- or even her learners yet. She tried the test, failed it, tried it again, failed it, tried it yet again, failed it, and than screamed at the women closest to her working behind the counter that the test was a big fat joke and so was the DMV. Her dad apologized for her behavior and ushered her out the doors before she could say more about it. They have not been back to the DMV since, and Winter didn't mind that one bit.

Spice, on the other hand, passed his test at his first go. He studied only one time, which was the half hour before they left to go try, and immediately aced it. He had his licence now, and constantly flaunted it around Winter. He liked the fact that he could drive before she could. Before Kristopher offered to drive her around, Spice would literally make Winter beg to get a ride, and would accept nothing below her groveling.

Well, no more of that, she thought.

When she made it to the kitchen, she found that her father was already up and ready for the day, too. He was dressed smartly in a gray suit and black leather shoes. His patented dad look. His strawberry blond hair, almost the exact same shade as spices, was cut short and held back with a bit of gel. He was sipping coffee from a mug- the mug Winter had made for him years ago in art class. Her weird middle schooler handwriting was displayed across the front, spelling out:

MY DAD IS THE BEST DAD EVER

What a simple time it had been. A simple and... horrifying time. Middle school her was a time in her life that she'd rather not talk about.

Or think about.

Ever.

Her dad looked at her as she approached and smiled warmly, although she noticed it did not quite reach his eyes. She couldn't remember the last time his smile actually reached his eyes.

But she tried to not let that bother her. Instead, she smiled back at him with everything in her and kissed his cheek as she headed towards the fridge.

"Mornin' Matthew," she joked. This got a laugh out of him.

"Good morning, Winter. You're looking particularly plain this morning."

"Yep. No 'bold colors' for me today. I'm trying to switch things up."

She reached into the refrigerator and rummaged through it until she found one of her strawberry yogurt cups. Yogurt was her absolute favorite food ever. She could slurp it down all day and night without a single complaint.

Her father, knowing her well, handed her the spoon that he had been holding in his hand and ruffled her still slightly wet hair. She popped the tab on her yogurt and dug the spoon in. Then She quickly gulped all of it down, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and tossed the spoon in the sink and the empty cup in the trash can. Her dad laughed at her once more and shook his head.

"I see that you've gotten over your yogurt addiction, Win."

She shrugged." I find that its best not to fight what you love."

"Very true."

He took another long sip of his coffee. "I heard you and Spice arguing."

She rolled her eyes at the mention of her brothers name.

"He had his music blasting and then pretended like he didn't turn it on. And he was bouncing a ball against the wall."

"You know better than to pick fights with him, Win."

She gawked. "I didn't pick a fight! He started it!"

"It doesn't matter who started it. You know how he can get... It just wouldn't do you any good to try to say anything to him. He's not as mature as you are."

Again, Winter rolled her eyes. Just because he was immature doesn't mean that gave him a free pass to act like a spoiled brat. He's seventeen for goodness sake. And he's older than her. Giving him a free pass to be a dick doesn't make any sense.

However, she did not wish to start an argument with her father. She wanted to keep him in a good mood-or a good enough mood at the very least.

"Yeah dad, okay. Whatever you say." she forced herself to smile. He didn't seem to notice the strain of it, and seemed more relieved that she wouldn't be putting up a fight. The little wrinkles lining around his eyes softened. He looked older than thirty seven. He looked so worn out and tired all of the time. Sometimes she found it hard to look at him. She adverted her eyes from his gaze and instead studied her finger nails. Her father, bless him, changed the subject before either of them would shut down completely.

"Kris coming to pick you up again?" he asked knowingly.

Winter scoffed and made her way to the living room to retrieve her bag from the spot she leaves it at every day. Her father had the insane idea that she and Krissy would one day be a couple. He loved Krissy like a son, and believed that, for some odd reason, he and Winter would one day end up together.

"Of course if that does happen he won't be allowed to stay past ten," he'd said to her one day after he caught Kristopher saying goodbye to her at her doorstep. His 'all-knowing' dad smirk had appeared, and as soon as Winter closed the door, he bombarded her with his crazy dad notions.

"No child of mine will be having any babies for a long, long time. Not on my watch."

Typical dad.

She gave her dad a look that suggested that she knew what he was thinking, and that he should stop thinking it right now.

"Yeah, dad. He is."

"Okay..."

Maybe it would be best to wait outside until he came. Winter pulled on her backpack, readjusted the straps, and called out a "Love you, bye" to her father before walking out the front door. She stood on the porch for about thirty short seconds before she saw Kristopher's clean white Toyota turn the corner and slowly make its way up the street. When he made it to her house, she ran down the porch stairs and through her front yard. She threw open the door, hopped in the car, and slammed the door shut behind her.

Kristopher smiled at her and shook his head. "Happy to see me?" he asked. She fastened her seat belt and rolled down the window.

"Happy to be out of my house is more like it," she replied.

"Bad morning?"

"Bad morning... Bad night. But what's new?"

He shook his head and began to drive. "Way to stay positive. I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

She snorted and looked at Kristopher. He never failed to amaze her by how gorgeous he was. His hair was a light honey color, so blond it was almost white, with clean tan skin and eyes that looked as if he had some of the sky infused withen them. He was tall, too. Atleast six foot three. The total package. She could understand why her father thought that she would fall for him one day. But she didn't believe that all too well. If she had feelings for him, they would have presented themselves by now, right? She's known him for nearly three years now and yet her feelings haven't changed. He's always just been... Him. Her friend. Her best friend. Maybe her father just hasn't seen it like that yet.

"It was terrible, Krissy. Absolutely terrible."

"Tell me what happened?"

So she did. She told him everything that happened since she woke up last night up until this morning, after her argument with Spice. While she spoke, she bent her head out the window and let the wind whip around her face and through her hair, making it dry more so she wouldn't show up to school with a wet mop of half dry blue waves. He listened patiently, never interrupting her or telling her to pause while he asked questions.

He just nodded and listened. Always the perfect listener and the perfect person to lean on whenever there was a problem in her life. She wished she had that particular personality trait. It would make everything so much easier to be so calm and collected all of the time like he was. But she was like a thunder storm, and he was the calm that followed it. Sometimes she wished that the roles were reversed.

When Winter was done retelling her events of the morning and he was sure that she was finished, he shrugged his broad shoulders and said four simple words:

"It could've been worse."

And, of course, he was right.

It most certainly could have been worse.