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Karl

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I don't know what it was that made me go see Reed after my trip to the bathroom. Maybe it was because I haven't see her all day and since she was so preoccupied with Ghost that I just let her be. But she was my twin sister, my only other half and the one person I couldn't function without. So maybe I wanted to just see her before I had a good nights' sleep, kiss her goodnight and catch up with her in the morning.

Or maybe the urge for the trip to her room was something else all together.

I slowed pushed open her bedroom door and peaked my head in. It was pitch dark inside and I had an internal debate whether to put on the lights or just see
Reed with my nonexistent night vision. Whilst tip toeing to the edge of her bed, I noticed something strange. As I got closer, I realised the bed wasn't so occupied and that Reed was missing.

I frowned at the empty bed that was illuminated by the small moonlight, peaking from between the curtains.

She couldn't be in the bathroom since I just came from there...

I reached over her bed and put on her bedside lamp. Parts of the room came alive at the small light and my eyes instinctively landed on the pile of envelopes that were carefully placed on her bedside.

With dreaded thoughts lingering in my mind, I picked up the envelopes and my stomach dropped at seeing four letters addressed to four different people.

Everything happened too fast after that as I quickly touched the bed and realised it was semi-warm.

She couldn't have gone too far.

Shit shit shit.

I raced back to my room and roughly went through my jeans pocket and rang up Ghost. Whilst having my phone pressed to my ear, I ran to my parents bedroom and knocked on the door furiously.

"MOM! DAD!" I screamed, kicking at the door for them to wake up. Just then, Ghost picked up his voice and his grouchy voice told me I just woke him up from his sleep.

"It's Reed. She's gone to-" I didn't even finish my sentence before Ghost hung up on me. I looked up and saw that my dad was at his door and he was staring at me with wide eyes. Mom was behind him and her mouth dropped open.

"The river, near there. She can't go anywhere else." I said and quickly turned on my heel and raced down the stairs. I didn't think to put on my jacket, nor did I think to change out my shorts. I put on my shoes and ran out the front door, jumping over the neighbours fence to get to the other side of the road much quicker.

I ran past the trees, jumped over bushes and even tripped over something hard. A sharp pang of pain shot up my leg but I did well to ignore it and carried on running to the river bank.

As I got closer, I saw a hunched over person at the edge of the river. A few feet behind him was Reed's wheelchair.

My eyes dropped at the sight in front of me and saw a young boy, probably around my age, holding Reed's head in his arms.

"Is she--?" I started to say, my eyes locked on her limp, pale body. I couldn't tell if she was breathing or not but she was soaked from head to toe. The boy had taken off his jacket and draped it over her cold body, in hopes of restoring some warmth to her.

The boy looked up at me. "She needs a doctor. Now. Before it's too late."

Just then, several running steps came from behind me and I craned my neck over to see Ghost, Nate, Mom and Dad all running towards us. Ghost was the fastest and he came crashing down next to Reed, grabbing her body from the boy and crushing her into his chest.

I was shaking all over, trembling far too much that I couldn't even pull out my phone and dial for help. Luckily, a hand came around my wrist and I looked at Nate and saw that he already had a phone pressed against his ear.

"Yeah, we need an ambulance right now."

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Dear Mom,

I think I owe you the biggest thank you ever. You've been close to me as skin and I couldn't possibly ever be ungrateful of your everlasting help. Even though when I demanded I could shower myself or go to the toilet myself, you let me be but you still hovered around the corners in case I needed that one little extra help. You helped me realise that life will throw you ever curveball possible and that you either have to take the hit or avoid the ball all together. I think I'm avoiding the pain of the ball and maybe taking the easiest way out. Maybe...
Please don't dwell on my reasons but all I want you to know is that you did nothing wrong. You did all the right things and you made me who I was and hopefully you'll always remember your daughter.

Love always, Reed.

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Dear Dad,

You're like my own superhero in disguise: always there to carry me. In your eyes I was always that newborn and you never let a day pass where you didn't tell me that you loved me. Even those days where I wasn't exactly in your good books. Dad, you're awesome. There's no other way to put it. You're that one man in my life that I could honestly call my shield. But every shield cracks and let's in the dark. It's not your fault Dad, but rather call it nature's doing. Please don't forget me, because knowing that you'll keep me in your thoughts is what makes everything ten times easier.

Love you till the end, Reedie.

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Dear Karl,

Big brother, older twin, other half, best friend... You were everything to me Karl and don't for a second think everything is your fault. You were everything any sister would want in a brother. Your protective means did always pull a teeth out of me but I still loved it. Karl... I love you. I love you far too much to put in words and the love I have for you is out this world. You are the one person that made me see a few seconds of light at the end of the tunnel. You are the person that I cherish the most memories with and the thought of them being tarnished makes me very upset. So please cherish our times close to your heart because I know, even thought I'll be gone, our memories will linger. I'll always be your twin sister and I'll always be your best friend. I'll always be there for you, just call for me and I'll be there in every form possible. Look out for mom and dad, and especially look out for yourself.

Love, your baby sister Reed.

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Dear Ghost

You were never in my plan. You were never in my vision and now that I have to write and extra goodbye letter kind of makes this a bit easier. But it's still hard. The thought of letting go of you just when I have you is scary. You are the rock that kept me down and I just want to say thank you. Thank you for demanding to be my boyfriend, thank you for staying with me, thank you for being my friend, thank you for showing me the beauty you call magic, thank you for looking out for me. Just thank you. I don't want to drag this out so I'm going to end with a small note to please not to mourn me. Instead, live your life and make me happy and proud that I can call you my boyfriend. I'll be watching over you and someday you'll find that small happiness you crafted in my heart; or even ten times bigger. Because you deserve everything.

I love you... Reed

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Ghost lay down at the edge of her hospital bed, his legs tangled with her bare ones, his head planted between her shoulder and her neck. He could taste the saltiness of his tears as they rolled down his cheeks and fell on her bare shoulder. His fingers searched for hers and when they found it, they interweaved through her cold fingers.

He held on.

Ghost closed his eyes and let himself be engulfed by the darkness that was waiting for him. Ghost was too far gone in his darkness that he didn't feel the twitch of the other set of hands.

/////

VELVET VESTS IS OFFICIALLY FINISHED.

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And again, thank you guys so much for sticking till the end and for the ones that read all the other garment series, I thank you immensely and admire you for reading them all. You guys are the best!

If you want to read the story of the boy that pulled Reed out the water check out His Words, Her Story on my profile :)

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