I could feel the flame burning in my heart as I walked to the bed where my sister lay. I hadn't seen her for eight years. The last time I saw her, I was just five. I went up to her and saw that she had red hair the exact same shade as mine. Her eyes were a slightly darker shade of green than mine, and when I looked into them, it felt as if I was falling through a million rings of green fire.
"Ivilene," she whispered.
"Y-You can just call me Ives," I told her. I tried hard not to let the tears fall out of my eyes.
"You're just like the girl you were eight years back," she said. "Except now you're sad. But why?"
"You were -" I sniffed. "You were engulfed in water for more than a minute." It seemed silly, but to the people who had flames in their hearts? No way. Being in water for more than a minute could cause the flame to go out, which would kill you completely. It was very rare to survive that.
"I'll survive," she said softly, but she looked extremely weak. I started crying, and I couldn't stop myself.
"Don't die, please," I sat next to her on the bed. My mother and father nodded, then walked into the room next door. I wanted to talk to my twin sister alone.
"Ives, how has it been? Since I've been taken by the guards?" she asked.
"Terrible," I replied. "Ave, I missed you."
"I know, I missed you too. But the guards said that the flame in me was... bigger than the other people's flames,"
"What?"
"Yes. I'm abnormal. But turns out I wasn't the one they wanted. I'm not as abnormal as the person they did want,"
"Who was it?"
"You," a tear rolled down Ave's cheek. "They confused us. We're identical, so..." she trailed off.
"What do they want with me?" I asked.
"They want to study the flame in you using X-rays. The bigger the flame, the longer life you will have. And your personality definitely shows you have a huge flame."
"So... do I go with the guards?"
"No," Ave said in a fierce voice. She sat up, and suddenly, she looked much stronger. "You run."