MidReal Story
Whispers of Winterberk
Scenario: April Crane stood in her room; the walls stripped bare of the memories that once adorned them. Today marked the beginning of a new chapter in her life, a fresh start in Winterberk, far from the familiar streets of Augusta. The decision to relocate had been driven by the desire for renewal, a chance to escape the shadows cast by the disappearance of her twin sister, Nora.
As April packed her belongings, her mind drifted back to the events that had led them to this moment. The ache of Nora’s absence still lingered; a constant reminder of the void left behind. But amidst the chaos of packing, April stumbled upon a forgotten relic—the diary that had once belonged to her sister. Its lock was broken, but its secrets remained intact, waiting to be uncovered.
With a mixture of curiosity and trepidation, April added the diary to her belongings, unaware of the journey it would soon take her on. As she joined her family at the car, ready to embark on their new adventure, a photograph slipped from the pages of the diary, catching her eye. It was a snapshot of her and Nora, a reminder of the bond they shared and the love that still endured, despite the passage of time.
With a smile tugging at her lips, April buckled her seatbelt, ready to embrace whatever lay ahead. Little did she know, the discovery of Nora’s diary would set her on a path of discovery and transformation, unraveling the mysteries hidden within its pages and leading her closer to the truth she had been seeking all along.
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I stood in my room, the walls stripped of all that once made it mine.
The memories that had adorned them were boxed up tight, ready to make the move with me to Winterberk, the small town where I would be starting over.
A fresh start is what I needed.
For too long I had been living in the shadows of the past, avoiding its darkness and the questions it left unanswered.
It was time for a change.
A larger one than I'd ever experienced before.
Moving to Winterberk was more than just a change of scenery; it was a chance to begin anew.
The past came with too many memories that hurt to remember, and moving away seemed like the best way to leave them there, along with the pain and confusion they brought.
I was determined to do whatever it took to find myself, to be happy again.
Even if that meant leaving everything I had ever known behind me.
It was going to be hard, but I had to believe that it would be worth it in the end.
Life without Nora would never be the same, but that didn't mean it couldn't be good.
I sat on my bed and looked around for a moment.
The room was empty, nothing more than four white walls staring back at me.
It didn't feel like mine anymore.
That's what moving away did, I guessed.
It made it feel like you were leaving parts of yourself behind, too.
But maybe that wasn't so bad.
Maybe I needed to leave those parts behind.
I leaned back on my elbows, glancing out the window at the world beyond the walls of my bedroom.
I thought about Nora and all the time we spent within these walls together, sharing so many laughs and secrets that only sisters could understand.
I wished she was here right now.
I wished she was here to talk to me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
But she wasn't.
She hadn't been here for years, and I knew she never would be again.
My heart constricted at the thought of her—my sister, my best friend—no longer being a part of my life.
It hurt so much to think about, but I couldn't ignore it no matter how hard I tried.
Nora was gone, and I would do anything to get her back.
I sighed and pushed myself off the bed, the old mattress creaking beneath my weight as I stood up, heading over to the last of the boxes that needed to be packed up before tomorrow's big move.
I bent down and started stacking the last of my things inside, closing the flaps tight before moving it over beside the others that were already sorted and ready to go.
The corner of an old book poked out from one of the boxes I had already filled, and I reached over, pulling it out from the top of the pile and turning it over in my hands as I examined it more closely, trying to remember whether or not I had packed it on purpose or if it had somehow fallen in by accident with the rest of my things.
Nora's diary… I thought as I read the title on the front cover, feeling a lump form in my throat as I stared down at her most prized possession.
Nora had written in her diary every day for as long as I could remember.
She was a private girl, and she never showed me what she wrote whenever she jotted down her thoughts and feelings into the pages of that old leather bound book of hers, but I knew just how much it meant to her all the same.
She was never without it; always keeping it stashed away in a secret hiding place where no one else would find it—no one else except me, that is, when she wasn't around to stop me from snooping through her things, at least.
I don't know what came over me in that moment, but for some reason I suddenly felt the urge to flip through the pages and see what exactly Nora had written inside of that diary of hers over the years… and so that's exactly what I did.
I sat down on the floor next to the box and opened the cover, flicking through the pages until I got to the most recent entry—the last thing she had ever written before… before she left for good—and started reading.
I'm moving tomorrow.
April is so excited about our new house and starting at my new school soon after we arrive, but I just can't bring myself to feel the same way…
It's not that I don't want to go; I do… but I just wish we could be happy here instead, where everyone knows us and everything is familiar… but things can never be that way again… And that's what hurts the most about it all…
Nora had so much to say, and yet she always kept it locked up inside of that little book of hers, never sharing any of it with anyone else except its pages… and now me, too, I guess, as she didn't seem to mind me reading them anymore now that she was gone.
It was so strange to read what she had written, to see the world through her eyes for a change.
Everything seemed so normal—so everyday—on the outside, and yet there was this whole other side to her that I'd never even had the slightest clue about before…
I read on, flipping through the pages one after the other as her neat handwriting filled them up, and found myself falling into her world more and more with each turn of the page.
It all started when we moved to Winterberk three months ago, she wrote, and I knew that that could only mean one thing: that this diary had been hers—her first one—before our family left and went off to Augusta when we were kids, and that she'd started this one after we had moved back there again a few years ago now.
She'd told me about it before—we'd spoken about it a few times when we were young—but it still felt so strange to actually be reading it now that she no longer could explain it to me herself…
I was worried about starting at a new school again—especially since it's been a while since I've been in one—but April promised me that everything would be fine as long as she was there with me… and she was right!
I finally found someone who gets me—the real me—and not just someone who's friends with me because she's my sister… I can't believe how much I've missed being treated like an individual… like my own person… instead of just being a part of someone else all the time…
She went on for a while about how much she liked it there—about the people she'd met and the friends she'd made—and how good it felt to have some freedom at last after all those years acting like the perfect daughter our parents wanted us both to be… before she started going on about this guy she was seeing, this J or whatever it was… He really is just perfect for me—better than I ever could have hoped for… The only problem is that he's practically off-limits… but that's not going to stop either of us…
All of a sudden, it hit me: Nora was talking about a boy—as in a boyfriend—and she'd been seeing him in secret because for some reason she wasn't allowed to be with him… because he was off-limits to her for whatever reason…
And at first I didn't really understand what that was supposed to mean—I mean, what were our parents expecting her to do?—but then the more I read on, the more I realized what she was talking about—and I couldn't believe what I was reading!
I know they think they're doing what's best for us but don't they see how closed-minded they're being? Can't they see that he makes me happy and nothing else matters as long as that is true?
I can't believe they're going through with this!
But maybe it was true—I mean, we'd always known our parents were kind of old-fashioned and conservative when it came to certain things—but this was something else entirely!
