The Forgotten Twin

It was a hot afternoon and my brother, Rafael and I got stuck with helping our aunt doing house chores. There was a lot to do since it was my cousin, Adelina's sixteenth birthday and she was planning to throw a party.

While dusting some furnitures, I suddenly heard soft cries coming from upstairs. Thinking it was one of my relative's children getting bullied by the others, I ignored it. It was very usual for the relative's kids to cry even at small matters.

The cries continued without stoping, it was getting disturbing by the minute. After tired of being patient, I told Rafael to check the cries upstairs. But he stared at me blankly and ignored me. I got so angry at that moment, how can he just ignore me?! But thank goodness the cries stop a few moments later.

Nothing else happened until later that evening, when everyone was singing a birthday song for Adelina. I saw a little girl in a pink dress that I've never seen before standing beside Adelina, assuming that she's the neighbours daughter, I didn't care much.

After Adelina sliced her cake, I heard the cries again. I recognized the cries, it was the same cries I heard earlier. Being a nuisance, I followed the sounds of the cries and it led me to the little girl. She was crying on the steps of the stairs.

No one else cared about her, they were all doing their own business. Being a nice person, I sat next the girl and asked her why she was crying. "Nobody wished me. It's my birthday too" She said as she looked up at me. "Well happy birthday" I smiled, she smiled back and ran into the crowd, searching for her mother I assumed.

At the end of the party, I was also one of the people who had to help clean the place. While cleaning, I spotted a picture of the girl before, it looked old so I figured it wasn't taken today. She was wearing the same pink dress while standing next to a similar looking girl.

Curious, I asked my mother about the girls in the picture. But I ended up getting yelled at. Still wondering about the girl's identity, I asked my brother about it. First he refused to tell me but after being begged at, Rafael finally open up.

"She is Adelita, Adelina's twin. She died because she fell from the stairs a few years ago on her birthday" Rafael said.

After I told him about Adelita's little visit to me, he calmly said that I wasn't the first family member that encounter the little girl. After the incident, I've never seen Adelita again and I hope I won't. But every year, in Adelina's birthday, I would pray for little Adelita's soul.