THE TWINS
By Dan Ivey
The lady knelt among her slain children, a flickering torch
at her side. Its light was dim and a gloom
covered the area outside its light. The blood of her children
stained her robes, though she could barely
tell through her tears.She could hear the rest of her children.
They sounded angry, scared, confused.
As she cried a shadow fell across her.
"Sister," she heard, "please, stand up. They need you.
We all do."
The lady raised her tear-streaked eyes to behold her twin.
"Sister," the twin said, "this can not go on." "But, my
children," the lady cried. "How could this happen?"
"Those that do not understand us, they seek to destroy us.
We must end this."
"How?"
"You know how, sister."
The lady looked at what her sister was carrying.
"Must it be this way?" The twin raised her sword.
"Without this, I can not protect them."
"Is there no other way? Maybe I can shed
my light out there."
"Sister, those that did this, they hate us.
They hate our children. They will not listen. Our children have
tried. Our children have offered their hands in
friendship and help but look at how they were repaid."
The lady looked around. She could see that her children were in pain.
The loss of their brothers and sisters was weighing down their souls.
They flinched in the gloom but, as she could see, they still
struggled against it. Alone, and together, they still went on,
believing in her, believing in her sister as well.
She looked up at her sister again. Her twin still held the
sword but her other hand was empty. It was stretched out to help
the lady up.
The lady took her sister’s hand and rose
to her feet.
"What will you do?" she asked.
"Be there with them. Be among them to help them do what
must be done but also to do what is right. What about you
sister?"
"I will do what I have done since I came to this land.
What I have always done for our children. I just wish it
didn’t have to be this way."
"So do I, so do they. But, remember this,
if we fail them, we might lose them and they might lose us.
I won’t permit that. I love them too much and they feel the
same towards us." The lady nodded. "Again, you are right sister."
With that the lady reached down to picked up the torch.
As she raised it, it flared to life, chasing the darkness
from her land. The light shone out across the seas and touched
lands so far away; none of the children could see them.
The sisters could though.
"Here, keep this," her twin said, handing her a piece of
cloth. "I will need to see to show them right from wrong."
The lady looked at the children. "Who will go?"
"We will," some said, their eyes filled with tears and resolve.
"We will stay and protect those still here," others said,
moving out amongst their siblings.
"We will stay and continue, to give purpose
to those going," even more said.
The lady looked at her twin,
"Thank you for bringing me back out of my despair.
I love you, Justice."
The twin looked back.
"That’s what this is all about, Liberty."
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