The Microfiction Project: Chapter Two

THE TWINS

They were born on an island. The boy they called Aurum, the glowing dawn, and the girl Nash, the tip of the arrow. They slept together, head to foot, yin and yang, in a crib near an open window. Ocean waves taught them to sing. They learned to walk together, grubby fingers holding table edges, grabbing onto the backs of dresses, riding along on the strong legs of giant men, one child on the right foot, the other on the left. They grew older. He, drawn to the light and the water’s edge, swam in the sun, danced in the sun, and wrote in the sun, on thin stacks of paper tied together with twine. She, a charmer, striking, mysterious, spoke less but saw more, and found her solace in the woods, the laboratory, and, when no one was looking, the old clock tower, the highest lookout point in their tiny town. They were safe. They knew love.

The day their ocean turned on them the water swelled and raged and grew legs to walk on land, wild, inescapable, a wall you could not climb. When it was over her clock tower lay in shambles, an angry pile of bricks. They wept. They left.

Together they found a dusty apartment in a noisy building in Brooklyn. He found work as a courier, waking up early in the morning to write. She spent her days in an urban flower farm, a supplier for local florists. Everywhere they went, together and apart, they were greeted with stares— some less discreet than others, but most friendly. Those that knew Aurum leaned into the pleasant sound of his voice, his easy laugh, the way a whole room seemed to sigh in relief the moment he entered it. The neighbors noticed how small children flocked to Nash, adored her, the depth with which she spoke, how quietly she climbed the stairs, and her particular fondness for water lilies.

They settled in. They had each other, and they had their tiny pleasures, their books and plants and songs. And overall, they were okay.

Until they weren’t.

The Microfiction Project is a multi-part series of filmed short stories by Kristin Yancy.

CHAPTER TWO:

Filmed and Edited by Chelsea Robin Lee and Kristin Yancy
Performed by: Lee Hubilla, Marissa Horton, Ricardo A. Zayas
With Original Score by The Hogstad Brothers
Special Thanks To: Eric Chaves, Nina Yancy, and Matthew Varvar
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