twins - page 1 of 8

I am Soumyah.

People call me

Samy. She is my

sister Sophie .

We are twins, but for a long while we

did not have twin souls: we had

different faiths. I had become a

Muslim after intensive research on religion. She worshipped the world and what it

contains, not God.

Until one day…

That day, we walked one of our daily trips towards the huge windows at the

entrance of the recreational center. At the front, there was a large alley covering a few

yards. This place looked like a garden. Once more, I remarked how different the plants

looked to me. I particularly liked to stare at two trees that had a lighter shade of green.

I always thought they were different species among those of the alley, but actually they

were the same variety, maybe just older or maybe they were more exposed to the light

reflected by the dark windows. The panes had somewhat whitewashed the leaves as

the sun reflected on them. It was as if this alley was like Sophie and I, very similar,

but very different at heart. We have never been identical twins, but someone meeting

us for the first time could get confused. Or at least, that's what I thought.

So that day I was in a deep thinking mood. It seemed that I was noticing things

for the first time. I was straining to remember this place. I liked to keep the memory of

places in my head to enjoy them later. This way, I could carry the world within me,

everywhere; the world was where I stood. I was observing how these trees had so

quickly changed, becoming new kinds of plants almost overnight. Two weeks before,

at the end of April, they had been all white as if frosted, their young flowers growing

like pinkish-white crystals along the branches. Then they had fallen, very quickly, like

snow, making the path to the center all muddy with white crimsons.