Vocab Story #4

He never realized how dry his life was until the person who'd given it light vanished.

After the funeral, it felt as though his still-beating heart had been torn from his chest by a demon with razor-sharp claws. With it went his breath and his purpose. His skies turned the coolest gray. He wasn't the kind of man to let the pain show on his face, but make no mistake, he suffered from the absence every day after the service. His life lacked an essence of happiness he hadn't noticed before. There was an entity of grief upon his shoulder now, poised like a gargoyle and gnawing like a gremlin. Like a shadow, he felt it, the loss and the longing for his twin brother's charisma. It was foreign to hurt, to miss, to regret; sadness was an emotion he scarcely knew.

As boys, they had lacked a fraternal bond. While other brothers treated one another like family, Abraham and Matthew acted like strangers. Their differences outnumbered their similarities; if it weren't for the identical bandannas around their necks, you would never have guessed they were related. Abraham had been quintessentially kind, adventurous and fearless in every sense. He loved swords and stories and mystery and heroism. He daydreamed and blushed in front of women. Matthew had been more like their pedantic father, and often patronized his twin for his puerility. He played the part of Abe's pedagogue; there wasn't a day where Matt didn't preach the absurdity of his sibling's behavior. He constantly told him to "Grow up already!" and Abraham always chuckled, "And be just like you?"

Thank god he never turned out like me, Matthew thought wistfully as he kneeled at the grave, absentmindedly stroking the orange and blue flowers. Sixteen years later, they were still just as bright, blossoming with the life of the man underneath them. They grew with no regard for their own mortality - just like the man buried underneath them. Abe's headstone was cold to the touch. It comforted Matt in the most unusual way. What a pity that the only connection the brothers exchanged was posthumous, between the banker's rigid heart and the frigid stone.