CHAPTER III

I stood with Yusha on the "carpet" in front of my mother, as upon returning home she immediately discovered the loss of the rings.

"Where did you put the rings?" she spoke as if the loss of these trinkets could lead to a galactic catastrophe.

"Well... it's..." Yusha didn't know what to say in her defense.

"We sent them to the children's support fund from the distant planet "Medusa", where there is a civil war," I said the first thing that came to my mind. "It was my idea, sister has nothing to do with it."

"The great synthesis!" my mother even dropped her hands. "How can the rings help these poor children? They need food, clothes, and medicines! And we don't have enough of these things ourselves…"

"I hadn't thought of that. But then why do they show us films about the oppression of people on other planets if we need help?"

"Maya," mom frowned. "Do you want people in red spacesuits to come after us?"

"No!" my sister and I were scared.

"The rings were very expensive, and they also protected you from a terrible disease. Therefore, to prevent the current situation from getting worse, you will stand in the corner until your dad gets new rings."

"But..." I wanted to object.

"Silence!" Mom raised her voice. "You will also be left without dinner. Feel for yourself what it's like to be a child from the planet "Medusa". Is the order understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" we saluted, putting our right hand to our head at an acute angle.

"One will stand on the first floor, the second on the second," mom pointed her finger at our "corners of temporary detention".

In my short life, I have been punished in this way several times and not only at home. The school had real punishment cells where bad students were placed. It was believed that if you never visited them, you could not become a trustworthy member of society. And I can admit, I definitely wouldn't want to be there again.

I don't know how much time has passed, but when I was allowed to leave my corner, my father was already standing in front of me. He was ready to strangle my sister and me for our deeds. However, he still limited himself to a couple of "affectionate" words and reminded us of the commandments of the great commander-in-chief. After the educational work, Dad handed over new rings made of green minerals.

"And don't let it happen again! Next time I'll send you to the mines," he threatened us with his fist. "You will work there until the end of time. Understand?!"

"Yes sir!" we saluted him.

"And now go do your homework. You don't have much time left."

Once in my room, the first thing I did was take off my overalls. If you stay in it for a long time, then the body began to sweat and become covered with itchy pimples, which then it was difficult to get rid of. Left in my underwear, I flopped down on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief:

" Wow, how scary it was…"

"Why did you take the blame on yourself?" Yusha said, taking notebooks out of her bag.

"What's the big deal here? It turned out very good."

"But it's my fault," the sister continued to blame herself. "Because of me, you had to get punished."

"Yusha. You think a lot," I couldn't find the strength to get out of bed. "There is nothing terrible in our punishment."

My sister's stomach rumbled, urging her to start dinner soon.

"I'm sorry," she stroked her stomach. "Today we are on a diet."

"Listen, why are you talking to yourself?"

"I'm talking to my stomach, which wants to eat," she frowned and turned away from me.

"Ha-ha. You always look funny when you're angry," I laughed.

"By the way, someone promised me that she wouldn't talk to me!" Yusha reminded me of our quarrel.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I bit my lip. "I'm turning on the silent mode."

The next week was different from the previous one in that my sister and I tried to talk to a minimum and went to school separately. At first, I didn't care, but at some point, I felt lonely. I wanted to share with someone my feelings about the exam in which I had to pass physical training. The competition for an engineer was big, so I really needed support, but none of my friends could replace my sister. Her kind words always inspired and helped me in difficult times. Now a real wall has grown up between us, and all because I didn't want to admit the fact that we are some kind of "soulmates".

One windy day, Yusha and I were assigned to be on duty at the library. We were ordered to clean the floors, wipe the shelves of red dust and help an elderly librarian with sorting. When we were safely done with the first part of the work, the librarian pointed out to us a whole mountain of books piled in the corner of the hall. I acted as a porter, as I was hardier than my sister, and she, in turn, climbed a high ladder and put books on shelves. And the happy librarian was drinking tea and reading the newspaper Galactic Truth, occasionally glancing at us.

According to the "law of meanness", an earthquake occurred during work. At this unfortunate time, Yusha was at the very top of the stairs and was trying to arrange the books following their numbering, and I was standing at the bottom and holding the ladder, as it creaked and trembled under the weight of my sister. As always, it all started with a slight tremor of the floor, which increased its strength with every second.

"Yusha! Get down immediately!" it burst out of me.

"Wait, I'll put the last book now," the sister was absorbed in her work and did not notice how the books began to fall down from the shelves.

"The earth is shaking!" I shouted and tried to pull Yusha down by myself.

One of the legs of the ladder could not withstand my additional weight and broke with a crunch. Yusha didn't even have time to squeak, as she began to fall down and landed right on my stomach.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized. "Are you okay?"

I hit the back of my head on something hard, but, fortunately, the skull withstood and did not split into pieces. "I think I'm okay. However, everything is ringing in my head now, like in the engine room."

Weighty literary volumes fell from all sides, ready to bury us under their weight. Without thinking twice, I knocked Yusha down on the cold tile floor and covered her with my back so that she would not be hurt by falling books. Two frightened red embers looked at me, who could not understand why I decided to take on the role of a shield. Perhaps in the depths of my soul, there were fragments of tender feelings that I felt for my sister. But fear of the law forced them to keep them under seven locks in the farthest corner. In times of danger, they manifested themselves and forced me to do heroic deeds for Yusha.

Soon the earthquake ended. Rescuers dug us out and we went to the hospital, where we received medical assistance. I got off with numerous bruises on my back and a couple of abrasions. My sister was lucky, as she did not receive any damage at all. In the late afternoon, we returned home, where we were met by an excited mother. She was thinking that we could have died during a natural cataclysm. Overjoyed at our miraculous salvation, she allowed us to eat as much food as our bellies could allow. What a pleasure it was to not feel hungry for at least one day.

"It's good to live when you have everything in place," I said with satisfaction. "I haven't eaten like this for a long time."

Yusha began to clean the room, as the earthquake caused trouble here too. Our living space was not much different from other premises. The walls and floor, made of metal partitions, were heated from a reactor located under the house and gave heat to the air. On the iron, beds lay synthetic bedding in gray tones with geometric shapes. We kept our clothes in a shared closet and sometimes confused our things, and for classes, we used one wide table, which was always littered with notebooks, textbooks, and writing materials. And the last interior items were bedside tables for storing personal belongings.

"Yusha, you'd better go to bed," I tried to stop her. "We'll clean up tomorrow."

"I don't like clutter," she snorted.

"You can make an exception today," I watched with interest my sister, who was crawling on the floor and collecting things scattered in the corners.

"None of your business…"

"What's wrong with you?!" I frowned. "Are you offended at me again?"

"No."

"Then explain yourself!"

"I am outraged by your rash actions!" Yusha explained. "Why are you always protecting me?"

"Well, I'm your older sister…"

"That's not true," she frowned at me. "We are twins and were born at about the same time."

"I got out earlier," my tongue popped out of my mouth.

"Okay," sighed Yusha, recognizing the victory for me. "But that doesn't give you the right to protect me!"

"You mean I should have let the books come crashing down on you. Did I get it right?" there was a hint of irony in my voice.

"Yes!" Yusha panicked. "No… It's all because of you. You've completely confused me."

"Then tell me, what do you want from me?"

"You won't like this idea," the sister lowered her head. "You'll think I'm crazy."

"I won't," I looked resolutely at Yusha. "I'm tired of being silent, so I'll do everything so that we make up again."

"Then close your eyes and don't peek," she said.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and did as she asked. My ears heard my sister's soft footsteps approaching me. I caught her warm, noisy breathing. She swallowed nervously. Then her hands grabbed my head from both sides and my lips felt the gentle touch of something soft and delicious. A slight tremor appeared inside me, which began to spread in waves throughout my body, filling every cell with particles of happiness. I've never felt anything like this, and I didn't want to end these feelings at all. But reason took over me and ordered me to open my eyes.

I saw my sister, who kissed me heartily. A moment and my hands pushed Yusha away from me, and thoughtless words flew out of my mouth:

"You're crazy! Have you read enough romance novels from Flora?!"

A slight fright appeared on the Yusha's face, which was replaced by disappointment and sadness. She lowered her head and whispered:

"See, I was right. You didn't like my idea and you thought I was crazy."

"Of course! Kissing my own sister on the lips, like some kind of..." and then it dawned on me. "Hey! It was my first kiss…"

"Yes, just like mine," sighed Yusha heavily. "And I gave it to a heartless girl who hides under the guise of my beloved sister."

"Hey, don't call me that!" anger appeared inside me.

"What are you going to do to me? Will you kick my ass?!" Yusha chuckled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I am!"

"That's all you can do," tears appeared on her face. "That's it. There's no point fighting anymore. My dream has been erased to the nines. I hope I'll be lucky another time."

"What kind of dream? Why do you always keep secrets from me?" I couldn't calm down.

"I have no secrets," Yusha said through tears. "It's just that someone doesn't listen to what others are saying. I once again made sure that you don't care about me!"

She stamped her foot and ran out of the room. And I was left alone in a completely empty and cold room. My heart felt very heavy as if I had been loaded with several bags of ore and forced to carry them to the nearest warehouse. What happened to us? Why did everything go wrong? It looks like I was right, too. The lost rings bound us together, and now we have completely become strangers to each other.

That night was the first time my sister didn't say good night to me. She pretended not to hear my words. I tossed and turned, curled into a ball, and hugged my pillow in different ways, but could not find a comfortable position to fall into the world of dreams. My lips still felt the taste of Yusha, so tender and sweet. Her touch left an invisible burn on my soul. It continued to hurt me and did not let me forget the malicious words I said to my sister.