The Missing Half

by Ashley Flowers

My fingers tighten around my bike handles. Most people’s reaction when they’re confronted is fight or flight. I freeze. And I hate myself for it.

This is why I didn’t want to talk about the past. My emotions get too heavy to hold. I

There was a look of fear in Kasey’s eyes when she told me to be careful that night. For some reason, late that summer, my sister was scared.

Patience, as people have told me throughout my entire life, is not my strong suit.

“Famous Jake’s is called Mesquite Barbecue now. Mesquite and Rosie’s Records—Jenna, they share a wall.”

“Does the name Steve McLean mean anything to you?” For a moment, he’s so still, I’m not sure he’s heard me.

Two branches of the same tree, two pieces of a soul. Where one sister goes, the other will be, for she is but half of the whole.