The Ceiling After the Hem

The warm sun shakes me up with a jolt. Ignoring the loud call I'm receiving from the kitchen to have my breakfast, I cozy up into my blanket a bit more. The warmness is something I'm grasping for, but why is it always so hard to keep a hold of it? Right on cue, my sister knocks on my door.

"Nee-san, time to have your breakfast. Mom's calling for you!"

"Yeah, coming."

I resolved my drowsiness by having a good old cold face wash, and ran downstairs lest my mom come upstairs herself. My relationship with her was not quite like the generic untold love you see between a mother and her daughter. It was kind of like she was ... not interested? Anything that concerned me was not even on her radar, but she never quite said no to my requests. Like an ideal mother, she kept her head out of my desires and so did I, but she did make sure that I grew up sound. Obviously, that increased our distance quite a lot over the years, and me being the older sibling also came with being less pampered in the later years.

Not that I minded that, as my sister was actually kind and sweet. She always kept me in mind, being the more active of us two. Actually, it felt more like that she acted more like the bigger sister. I remember there was a time we used to always stay glued to each other. Sitting in my lap, she would look up at me with her googly eyes. As she was scared of the dark, sleeping with her was not a choice. Now it feels like there is a wall between us, a thin one that can be easily broken. While she still tries her best to burst through it, she is still quite weak. And me? Well, let's just say I am the biggest coward that will ever lay foot on this ground.

The table was pretty well served, with my favourite omurice with a dash of the hottest coffee. Just the thing I need to wake me up. The food looked unusually warm, even though I was quite late in waking up.

"Let me know if you want more, you skipped yesterday as well." my mother commented as I was eyeing my breakfast over the table. Looks like we cooked a bit more than we should, but I was happy to help.

"You slept quite early yesterday. Were you feeling all right?" Guess my sister was concerned about me from yesterday. Ugh, like the guilt just can't end.

"Yeah, I actually did a detour with Saya and ate at a cafe. Didn't quite have an appetite for dinner so slept early."

Just as I said this, I heard the doorbell. Pretty rare to hear in the morning.

"I'll go and check!" My sister ran for it, as she had always been a quick eater. While I enjoyed the scrumptious omurice, I could hear the footsteps back as well. She was definitely growing if she could bolt that fast.

"Nee-san, it's Saya nee-chan!" My eyes were wide open now. Did not expect a wild Saya to appear so early in the morning, but she was always welcome. At least with her, it never quite felt like I was facing a wall. I had unconsiously built this wall with my family, which became unnecessarily huge as days go past by. I just couldn't jump across it, neither could I ever have the strength and courage to break it.

Well speaking of walls: Even if one day, one just shows up between us, you just know that Saya will break that damned wall in pieces. At least, I hope she does.