a fond memory of my sister

during the summer of 2020, my twin sister had been begging me for a few weeks to give her a tattoo. i kept putting it off because i knew she’d complain about it hurting and it would be a whole ordeal, but she eventually talked me into it one afternoon. i agreed under the circumstances that she would keep the complaints to a minimum and would absolutely not say anything to our parents. we locked ourselves inside the upstairs bathroom of our mom’s house, sweating in the 90° room because we weren’t allowed to turn the AC on and it was august in california. i shuffled a playlist on my phone with wallows and clairo on it- naturally, as it was the summer of 2020. i used an extremely poorly fashioned tattoo needle i had made out of a sewing needle, thread, and a pencil to poke a sun onto her ankle. as expected, there were many yelps and complaints, but i just laughed at her and we continued- her giggling in between screams that were far too dramatic. i had completely forgotten about that afternoon until a few minutes ago, we haven’t lived together in over a year now and i found myself missing those versions of us. i wonder if the sun has faded, or if she still sees it every day and is reminded of how we used to be.