Further Than Stars

She was almost certain that it was her.

That was what she thought for the umpteenth time as she chased a tuft of starbright hair down a city street, or trailed the end of a sky blue scarf up a highway bridge, and even stumbled after cloud white sneakers into dusty alleyways.

Her sister was nowhere and everywhere in the crowds. Any face in the corner of her vision could’ve been her - flickers of smiles, bursts of laughter, shoulders jostling against hers.

It was all too much.

Back at her farmyard, all the faces she found were familiar ones. Here, the sea of strangers seemed to be teasing her, tricking her into seeing hints of the sister that she lost.

And if she were completely truthful to herself, she wasn’t just searching for her out here in the city. She had allowed the constant ache in her heart to become a fickle guide, she sought and dug deep within herself for the answers, and still she could not find them.

Her sister, her spiritual twin, her soulmate had torn out a piece of her with her departure. Now the pain called out to her once in a while, ebbing and flowing but never ceasing.

Where is she? The question she would forever be asking, the part of her that didn’t seem whole if she never found her again.

“...Find me there.” Another incomplete thing, the end of a broken off sentence, but-

That tone, that voice! It sounded like her.

Heart hurting yet pounding fast, she twisted around in the mass of bodies, desperate for a glance of her skin and blister, but only succeeded in losing herself as well.