Before the disappearances began, my sisters and I were such a beautiful mess. We played together, laughed, cried and even teased each other. We had a world of our own with and within each other. All six of us. Our father’s passing six years ago made our bond grow even stronger.
The disappearances began to look like a pattern. We were six and now just two of us left. First it was Mercury, then Venus. We woke up one morning and couldn't find Mercury in her bed. Two weeks later, Venus was making dinner, I went to grab a glass of water when I found the stove on and a pot of stew bubbling. Venus had vanished too into nowhere. We searched the neighborhood and called the police. They told us that at eighteen and nineteen, they were both adults and responsible for themselves.
Soon after, Eartha and Mars went missing in a similar fashion. At this point, Jupiter and I were terrified. “Jupiter, do not leave me too”. My throat felt dry as I swallowed hard. My voice came as small echoes filling up the room. I felt so cold and alone. Our massive bedroom of six beds which used to be all jokes and teases before bedtime now felt so big, silent and hollow. The silence was deafeningg. Chills ran from my fingers to my spine as I clutched my blanket to my chest.
“What are you talking about Saturn? I'm here and I would never leave you. We are the A team remember?” Jupiter got out of her bed and came to comfort me. Ju and I were much closer than our other siblings. We would team up together for every game we played. Our sisters nicknamed us the A team because we won most of the games.
Jupiter rested my head on her body. She held my hand and began to pat me with her other hand. It was almost midnight and the clock was ticking. When the minute hand of the clock struck 12, I looked at Jupiter. “Happy Birthday” I whispered. Jupiter smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. I could see worry in them. Then her hands began to tremble.Like dust through the wind, she began to fade away before my eyes until there was nothing. Where once sat Jupiter was just space.
I felt tremors in my heart. Fear gripped me. I stood up to run but my legs were wobbly. I didn't know how I managed to escape the room. I wanted to run, hide and become invisible or swallowed into the ground. I ran into our fathers study. Quickly, I shut the door and windows. Then I hid under my father's study table. Ten minutes later I looked around me and realized exactly where I was. The forbidden room. I winced from a pain in my foot.
Peeking through like a candy thief, I slowly emerged from beneath the table. The room was cold and smelled rusty. I starting to choke from the dust around and on the furniture. Heaps of book, papers and journals pouring over. Opened books filled the table and shelves. In a corner was another heap of books. Six books all bearing planet names. Those were our names. My father said he named us after planets because each of us were a world unexplored with unwritten possibilities.
One of the books, Jupiter had a pen in it. I opened it and dust particles traveled through the air making me sneeze a couple of times. I found my father's favorite pen in the middle of the book. He always called it his pen of creation while he was still alive. “It's magical” he'd say. He would not let us near his study let alone hold a pen or book from inside it. He was a writer that didn't want any of his children writing. And unlike my other siblings, I wanted to be a great writer just like him.
He was a strange man but we loved him with every fibre in our bodies. He was the greatest writer of his time and won a lot of awards for his pieces. They called him the pensmith because he had a way with his words. When you read his work, they carve imprints in your heart that keeps you coming for more. I would always ask dad about our mother and how he was able to cope with us at such tender ages without her. “She left” was all he ever said. We didn't have pictures of our mother and even our childhood. Dad said they burnt in a fire when we were kids. Sadly, I don't remember the fire. None of us did.
I began to read the content of book Jupiter. Amazingly, it was an account of all the events in Jupiters life. Every milestone and every year was a chapter with it's story. Strangely, it stopped at chapter fourteen and there was nothing left to be read. The same age Jupiter turned minutes ago before she vanished. I opened the other books and all of them were the lives my sisters lived. The stories all stopped exactly the times they disappeared. “It's not a coincidence”. I whispered.
I began to imagine the kind of life Jupiter would have lived at fourteen. I picked up my father's pen and began to write. I continued Jupiter's story by writing all the things I wished she'd be. At that moment, I heard footsteps and my heart skipped a bit. The door opened wide. Behold Jupiter stood staring back at me. I knew I had unraveled the entire mystery.
My sisters and I were my father's creations. We were characters spilled in ink. I was too stunned to speak for moments unending. Together with Jupiter, we began writing our sisters back to life. Indeed, we were a world unexplored with unwritten possibilities. Only this time, we would write ourselves to greatness.