Worlds Collide Prologue

This is my very first attempt at this sort of writing, and also my first submission. Please go kindly on me.

Marphisa looked at her toes, so unfamiliar in these shiny, black, patent leather shoes. How could this happen? How could fate be so cruel as to make her live through this day, when she hadn't yet reached her eighth birthday?

As Marphisa looked out over the graveyard, past the freshly dug patch of ground that she knew held her father. Next to her, Marphisa's mother, Adèle, was weeping silently, a vast improvement over her hysterics during the funeral. Now that the family had said good-bye to most of the guests, just friendly acquaintances of the late Gauthier Boutin and his family, Marphisa found herself left with just her feelings.

She watched the burial of her father in silence, wondering how life was going to be from now on. She supposed that her mother would continue as normal, there was no reason for her get a job with the money that Gauthier's parents had left in their estate. Soon the entire family would have to split up and Marphisa and her brothers would have to go back to America with her mother.

Marphisa had been in France many times before, mostly with her father. Gauthier had owned a French château on the countryside, near Lyons. Now, Marphisa supposed, her brother Raoul probably owned it. Raoul was only ten years old, just a couple years older that herself, and Marphisa wondered if this meant that something would happen to the château. She sincerely hoped not, because that was the only memory of her father she had left.

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"Mari! Come on, we're going to be late!" Adèle turned back to her son Raoul and scowled, a very unbecoming look on the young mother. "You said your sister was ready. Where is she?" When Raoul just shrugged, his brother Michel poked his head out of the car.

"Maman, I saw her clock room. I'm sorry, I should have told you." Michel hung his head in shame.

"Mon cher, don't worry yourself over it. I'm sure Mari will be fast." At these words, Marphisa came dashing out of the house, panting as she slid to a halt in front of the car.

They had stayed in the château for the past week, setting things in order before the trustee came to take the key and look after the land until Raoul came of age. It was time for the children to leave to go back to America; however, Marphisa's mother was going to Italy. Marphisa had the strong suspicion that Adèle just couldn't deal with the children right now.

After Marphisa had climbed into the car, she rolled down the window and stuck her head out. "Au revoir, Maman, bon voyage! I'll miss you!" She shouted as her mother waved from the side of the road. Marphisa took one last look at the beautiful château and couldn't help feeling like she was leaving forever.

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"Maman, Maman!" Marphisa could hear her five-year-old brother's shouts from the other side of the house. Slowly, she got up from the sofa where she'd been reading. She wasn't sure if she was quite thrilled that her mother was home or not. The last few weeks had been a time for Marphisa to regroup and now that she was mostly adjusted to the idea of not having a father, her mother was bursting back into the family as if nothing had happened.

Marphisa could now hear the front door opening and the squeals of her brother Michel as he undoubtedly attacked his mother with hugs. She stopped and listened for another moment believing she had her the deeper tones of a man. That couldn't be possible though, she was probably just missing her papa. Moving a bit faster now, Marphisa made her was to the front, stopping in mid-leap towards her mother.

There was a man. He was a very tall, good-looking young man with Mediterranean olive skin. He had his arm around her mother who was looking very young and happy. "Maman..." Marphisa began, before backing up to get a better look of the picture.

"Oh, Mari. This is Piero Antonelli. I met him in Italy. Please be a nice girl and introduce yourself," her mother said, an almost pleading look in her eyes. Marphisa understood what she was being asked (to be nice to this man, no this intruder), but she didn't care.

"No, Maman. He is not part of our family. I guess you aren't anymore, either. You're not really a Boutin without Papa." Marphisa's mother reeled back, looking like she had been slapped. In a quavering voice, she ordered Marphisa to apologize, but it was clear she was shaken. With only one more curious glance shot at Piero, Marphisa turned and ran out of house, down the street, and out of sight.

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Ander turned to look at his twin, Mavis. Was she feeling the same way he was? Now that he thought about it, he wondered how he really was feeling. He had known his brother Sarlic for the better part of seven years, and yet he felt like he'd barely known him at all. Now that the entire Sinclair family had gathered for Sarlic's funeral, he began to think no one had really known him except perhaps their parents, Damian and Elena.

Of course, Colette, Sarlic's twin, probably understood him pretty well, but right now she wasn't responding very well to anyone. Granted, Colette was a pretty inarticulate seven-year-old, but lately it had gotten very bad. Not even their brother Gentza could get through to her and he was the most like her, quiet and soft-spoken, keeping his feelings to himself.

Ander could only imagine what it would feel like to lose a twin. He knew that he and Mavis, or, as he more affectionately called her, Mavi, shared a pretty deep connection, but it wasn't really because of their similarities, more because they had spent the last twelve years together, getting to be completely attuned to each other. The pain Colette must be experiencing after seven years of togetherness with Sarlic must have been extremely intense.

Looking over at his parents, Ander could see that his father, Damian, was showing his more stoic nature, which appeared to be extreme calm next to his mother who was drowning in a sea of tears. Ander understood that his mother was partly blaming herself, no matter how much Damian tried to consoler her, for the death of her son. Elena was rather superstitious and like to name her children based on good meanings for their names. Ander knew his own name was chosen because it meant "manly", and Elena had wished her first son to lead the rest with a manly sort of protection.

However, Elena had chosen to overlook meanings when it came to naming Sarlic. Sarlic meant "pain". Now, it seemed, the name choice had come back to haunt her. This was cruel trick for fate to play on his mother. Now, flanked by her husband and her brother, Aiden, Elena seemed to be regaining her composure as the rest of the procession filed out the doors.

Ander took his twin, Mavi,'s hand on one side, and his ten-year-old brother, Gentza,'s on the other. Together, they followed their parents and sister Colette out of the church and into the open air; ready to start a new life with just the memory of their brother to stay with them.