Promise Me You'll Try

June pulls out a mini dome from her pocket, activates it, and places it on the ground, the light pulsing over the surrounding area and subsiding.

Turning around, a chill runs through her spine, and a knot forms in her stomach. Her eyes meet with a woman sitting on a fallen log behind her. Her hair, a bright orange-brown color, sat just just below her ears. The hair was wavy and shiny.

The woman’s eyes were a light brown, accompanied by scattered freckles on her cheeks. June shook her head to try and solidify what she was seeing. “What’s wrong June, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The woman starts to laugh lightly with her remark.

“Penny? How are you sitting there, what's happening? You’re so much older now.” June feels her face get hot as tears form in the corners of her eyes. “Come sit with me for a while sis. Let’s catch up.” Penny pats the spot of the log right next to her.

June runs and jumps onto Penny, knocking both of them off of the log and onto the floor. “Ow June, that hurt!”. “You’re alive? How, Why didn’t you come back for me back then? Why-” Penny grabs June’s mouth, her hand fully able to cover the bottom half of her face.

“Jeez June, calm down a second. Get up and sit with me I said, not tackle us both to the bloody ground. You’re actin’ like you're steamin’!” Getting up and sitting on the log, both sisters dust themselves off.

“June do me a quick favor and look around really quick. Notice anything?” Searching around, June immediately notices a dense fog all over the grotto. “Use the suits environmental scanner really quick.”

“How did you?” June questions as she lifts the holo-interface up and scans around her. June looks at the finished scan, her eyes reading over “Gasuos secretion from unknown nearby plants. Gas is likely harmless for a short amount of time but further exposure could lead to unknown issues. Inhaling the gas will likely cause intense hallucinations affecting all senses.

Single streams fall from June's eyes as she reads the information. She looks over at Penny. “So, you’re not real? Then why do you look like this? You never got to grow old because of me!” The tears swell and fall heavier as June feels confusion filling her head.

“Ah don’t cry on me now June, don’t you remember what Mom said? This isn;t your fault damnit!” Penny puts her hand on June’s shoulder. June's eyes shoot up at Penny, “You aren’t even real what do you know? You're not my sister!”

“The hell I’m not! You’re subconscious memory of who I was has never faded even a little bit. My body may not be physical but I sure as hell am your sister! Every single part of me right here is your subconscious memory of who I was.”

Penny grabs June’s face and squeezes her cheeks, looking her in the eyes. “June, It’s me. Your big sis is here,”. Her words ring in June's ears as Penny pulls her in and holds her tightly.

The two sit there for a while as June weeps. Eventually, June looks up from Penny’s shoulder. “So why do you look like this?” June's eyes observe the womans, large, muscular frame, her fuller hair, and all the changes in this older version of her sister.”

Penny pats June on the head, “Well, I’m what you think of me. I’ll always be your older sis, but you’ve gotten so much older and bigger now, so I guess I had to compensate so I could still be your older sis. I must say, I do look pretty damn good if I must say.” Penny laughs and flexs to show off, just like when the two were growing up.

June chuckles softly as she looks up at Penny. Locking eyes, Penny pushes the conversation along. “June, I’m proud of you by the way. You’ve actually made a friend. Someone you cared so much about forced you to take a different approach than what you vowed to when I died.

“What do you mean?” June looked over at Penny confused. “When I died, you buried this idea that you would never get close to someone for the rest of your life. If you didn’t get close enough to care about anyone, then if and when something bad happened to them, you wouldn’t have to go through the pain you felt losing me,”.

Penny looked off into the grotto as she spoke. “But look at you now. You're sitting at halfway down a titan cliff in a little pocket sitting in a grotto with your body fallin’ apart all because you risked your life to save someone you care about.”

June's eyes glass over, “I refused to lose another person close to me. Especially when the only reason Peewee was there was because of me. If I caused another person close to me to die I-” Penny smacks her forehead against June’s aggressively. “Damnit June, YOU DIDN'T KILL ME!” Her voice shuddered through the lush surroundings

June’s body falls slightly limp as she begins to scream, crying out with years of built-up pain and regret. “June, I’m a manifestation of everything you remember your sister as. This version of me is Just as real as the one you grew up with. SO damnit, listen when I tell you that I forgive you! It was not your fault!”

Shaking in Penny’s lap, June lays there as Penny runs her hand over June's hair. “I Love you Lil sis. I always will, even after death, don’t you dare think I’ll ever stop loving you. Bloody hell, you’re my sister! Mom told you to use our memory to drive yourself to a greater life than what you had with us in that musky house,”.

Shock runs through June's mind as she feels tears fall onto her face. “Are you crying, Penny?”. Wiping the tears from her own face, Penny rebuttals the question. “Why’d you make me a crybaby, huh June?”

“I’ve never seen you cry before Penny.” June looks up from Penny’s lap at her sniffing face. “I don’t cry, must be a weird fluke in your little head or sumthin’” Sniffling Penny works her way to let out her thoughts.

Looking down at her little sister, reduced to a weeping mess over the idea of her, Penny cries more. “Look June, Like I was saying, You remember what mom said to you right?” June nods her head.

“Well, Use mom’s memory to keep doing greater things, but I want you to use my memory to go out and let yourself make friends. Stop letting me hold you back! The last thing I want is to see you lonely because of me!” Penny’s tears start again.

“But I’m terrified! I have no issues talking to people but as soon as I stop seeing them as an object and more like a real person, I feel my anxiety start to go out of control. I don’t even know how I got close with Peewee, they just kinda showed up as a cool scientific discovery one day,”.

Reminiscing on the last few weeks she’s spent with Peewee, she looks off into the distance. “Eventually, our time together became more natural and they went from a discovery to a convenient tool. Eventually, I started feeling my anxiety again when I felt myself caring about them, but I rationalized it by thinking of them as a tool to help with my loneliness,”.

June chuckles a little, “I know it’s a super dumb thought process but It made me feel better. Helped tuck away my true feelings. But when I was starring at my “Tool” falling to their eminent death, my mind didn’t think ‘Oh no, my irreplaceable tool!’, I thought ‘Please god no, I don’t want to lose my best friend again.’.

“But you didn’t. June you saved them.” Penny smiles down at June. “I’m so proud of who you’ve become sis. I always told ya, your awesome June.” the feeling of happy tears fall off of Junes face and on to Penny’s lap.

“So,”, Penny starts playing with June’s hair, “Why haven’t ya watched Eddie’s video yet? He clearly cared enough about ya to keep his word a whole three years later, so why not respond and thank em for everything?”

Feeling slight regret, June looks off to the side, a little ashamed. “Y’know, while you're at it, you could maybe thank him for what he did the night before you left to.” June giggles a little.

With an annoyed tone, June says, “Oh god, I wish you didn’t remind me of that. That was a mess,”. Looking a little pitiful, Penny chimes, “No, you were a mess. That situation was really nice. You just wouldn’t let yourself feel that so you left abruptly as soon as you were done throwing up.”

June looks up at Penny in defeat, Knowing there's no running from this. “I mean, I freaking forgot to lock the door, and when he came to knock to see if I was ok, he heard me so he came in to help me! I didn’t know how to react to that. Ugh, it was the worst!”

Smuggly, Penny remarks, “He clearly likes you. I know you noticed the way he acted around you. What do ya think? How’d ya feel about Eddie?” Embarrassed, June looks away as she says, “Not cool sis. I never saw him as much more than a tool, but I let myself slip and decided to say yes the day before I left. I guess I felt some kind of sentiment from leaving,”.

“But, When I saw him out of that dorky lab coat, I had a light feeling of butterflies. Never had it before but my guess is that means that I found him attractive.” June's face lights up. “That’s why I couldn’t let it go any further after he rubbed my back while I threw up. Him sitting with me made the butterflies even worse! He’s the real reason I threw up so much sis!”

Penny laughs at her sister, “You're bloody red! Haha, you're blushing so much June!” June smacks Penny’s arm, “C’mon sis, I’m a freaking recluse, I’ve never had these feelings brought up before like this. The last time I did was when I liked that boy from the house over and you wouldn’t stop pestering me after catching me staring that one day! Give me a break Penny!”

Both girls spend time laughing and chatting about back in the day, reminiscing for a while. Eventually, it came to a point where both Penny and June knew what was meant to come next.