Sisters

The image that inspired this piece. My professor gave it to us as a challenge to write a short piece of fiction inspired by this piece, using as little narrative as possible. Relying wholly on dialogue to tell the story. I chose the three women to the left.

“We’re going to die aren’t we, Corrine?”

“...I don’t know”.

“Can’t we just make a run for it?”

“We would drown before reaching anywhere of high enough ground.” Tabitha, the middle child and most realistic of the three, quipped in with a clipped tone.

“So, then we–we will fetch the boats from the barn”.

“The water is too high; the doors of the farmhouse are practically barricaded. The only way out is that window”.

“So…What? We just wait here to drown?!”

“Well unless you can fly, or breathe underwater…”

“Tabitha. Enough.” Corrine, the eldest and most solemn of the three, had remained quiet until now. But could not resist the urge to scold Tabitha at the sound of Shelley’s wailing.

“You will not die, neither of you will die. Not while I live and breathe.”

“I knew it! You have an idea, right Corrine? You always come up with something!” Shelley, the youngest and most naive of the three, marveled at her eldest sister.

“There, the shutters beside the windows. They’re not perfect but a shoddy raft will be better than the alternative.” The shutters were clinging on by rusted nails and withered wood, so were easily parted from their original positions by the only escape route. The siblings began to nervously shuffle onto the rickety, makeshift raft. First was Shelley who took up one half of the raft, followed by Tabitha who took up the other.

“...There’s only room enough for two”.

“Budge up Tabbie, make some room”.

Corrine smiled. “Shelley, Tabitha, Listen to me. Ever since mother and father passed, all we had left was each other–”

“--I said BUDGE UP, TABITHA!”

“Shelley, Listen to me. You both filled my life with so much joy, so much brightness–”

“We can make room; we have to be able to make room…”

“Being your sister has been my life’s greatest honour and pleasure.”

“Stop it. Just stop it, Corrine! I don’t know what to do, there is not enough room”.

“Of course there is, you’re both fitting on there just fine, aren’t you?”

“But there is not enough room for ALL of us. Please…Please, just tell me what to do”.

“Well, there is a simple solution to that.”

“What?”

“You will go without me.”

“We can’t!”

“You must.”

“I won’t leave you.”

“Yes, you will. Because I am your eldest sister. It is my job to nag you, encourage you, motivate you, lecture you, and most importantly–protect you.  So, for one last time, listen to the final instruction from your sister. And Live.”

Pushing the raft carrying her youngest sisters, Corrine remained silent. Absent-mindedly gazing out the window into the horizon, screams and wails filled the chilly autumn air as the water began to pour in.