"Hey, Dad. Why do we always fish on this lake when the pond is nearer to our house?"
"Well, obviously, to catch the big ones."
Clara tilted her head at her father's answer, seemingly deep in thought. Seeing this, her father smiled and ruffled Clara's hair. "Why do you look so deep in thought? It's not something that you have to think so hard about."
"But, Dad, walking to this lake from our house takes ten minutes… The pond only takes about two!"
"Hmmm, well, this lake holds a very special place in my heart, you see." A pause. Then, Clara's father looked at Luca who seemed to have caught a fish, but was struggling to reel it in.
"Clara, why don't you be more like your brother? He's very enthusiastic when it comes to fishing with me."
"Hmph…" Sylvia's and Clara's eldest brother, Luca, seemed to always be better at everything than his two sisters. Even the friends of his two sisters always want to meet with their brother. Overall, their brother was an amazing kid.
The only thing that held Luca back from many things was his fragile body, which he despised more than anything.
With a chuckle, their father went to Luca's side, steadily guiding and supporting Luca to successfully reel the fish in.
Luca groaned, and with a burst of sudden strength, he reeled the fish in. His father revealed a wide grin, and put the fish in the bucket.
Clara watched all of this with a slight frown, taking a seat by the edge of the pier, next to Sylvia, and cast the fishing line. Then, she saw her father take a seat next to her, also casting a fishing line.
"Fishing takes patience, dear. There's no trick to it. Just patience."
Hearing her father's words, Clara oddly felt at ease, and cast her gaze at the beautiful view of the sunset reflecting on the surface of the lake.
Three minutes passed, and her father already caught a fish before Clara. "Ugh…"
"I'll be right back, I'm just going to take these back to your mother," said the father of the three siblings.
"Can I come with you, Dad?" asked Sylvia. With a smile, her father said, "Alright."
Their father grabbed the two large buckets full of fish, and walked back to the direction of the house along with Sylvia in tow.
Amidst the growing silence, Luca caught another fish, and put it on the bucket.
Clara groaned, and asked, "Hey, Luca, how do you do it? How do you always manage to catch one, but I can't even catch a single one…"
Luca kept his gaze to the water, and said in a nonchalant voice, "Dad's lying. He said that there's no 'trick' to it, and he said that patience is all you need. He's lying."
"Huh? What do you mean…?"
"...Every time he casts his line, I always see his lips move. I already told you about my excellent hearing, which means I can hear what he's saying."
Clara tilted her head. "What is he saying?"
Upon hearing Clara's question, Luca closed his eyes and remembered the time that he heard his mother reciting a "Hail Mary" inside his parents' bedroom.
Luca opened his eyes, and said, "It's nothing."
"Hey…! That's not fair, I want to know what dad is saying too! I'm tired of being the only one who can't catch a fish! Even mom and sis can catch tons!"
"This isn't a competition, Clara."
Clara's eyes started to well up with tears, and she shouted, "I knew it! You're the one mom and dad likes the most! You guys don't care about me!"
Finally, Luca broke his gaze away from the water, and looked straight into Clara's eyes. "That's not what I'm trying to say!"
Clara interrupted Luca by throwing the fishing rod into the lake. She stood up, and spoke with tears flowing down her cheeks, "Why won't you just tell me—"
Suddenly, while Clara was walking towards his brother, she slipped and fell into the water!
"...Huh?"
Luca's heart started to beat faster, and faster. It was also getting harder to breathe. His grip on the fishing rod weakened, and he dropped it into the lake.
"Hey… Clara, this isn't funny," he said.
One second, two seconds, three seconds, four, five… The surface wasn't showing any signs of Clara going back up.
Luca immediately dived into the water, and was met with the dark abyss of the lake. Down below, Clara was slowly sinking deeper. He swam down, down, and down… and grabbed Clara's hand!
But the moment Luca tried to swim back up, he was unable to do so. Turns out, dragging someone underwater back into the surface was very difficult.
Dread gripped Luca's heart. Then, he hugged his sister as the two slowly sank deeper, and deeper…
Luca's life flashed before his eyes. He remembered all the times he accidentally made Clara cry while playing. Every time he did it, he'd always feel deep regret over it. He didn't mean to.
And now, as he and his dear sister slowly sank deeper into the abyss, he cried, his tears mixing with the water. He was not crying because of the fear of death, no… he was crying because he made his little sister cry, and she was now going to die because of him.
But suddenly, before Luca lost consciousness, he saw a figure from above swimming towards him, followed by said figure grabbing hold of him and Clara.
***
…Clara's eyes slowly opened. What followed next was an extreme headache. She caught faint sounds to her right. Lying flat on the ground, she moved her head, looking to her right.
Her eyes slowly widened. There, she saw his father attempting to resuscitate her brother, Luca.
And as her father was resuscitating Luca, he was reciting a prayer as he did it.
"Hail Mary… Full of grace…" For the first time in her life, Clara saw tears flowing down her father's cheeks.
"The Lord is with thee… Blessed art thou among women…"
Sylvia was standing next to her father, her face full of tears. Clara slowly stood up, and slowly walked towards them.
Then, she heard her father's voice, "God, please, I beg of you! Don't take my son! Please, bring him back!"
Clara froze. She was unable to move and say anything.
Half a minute passed, and their father stopped his resuscitation attempts.
…He held Luca's corpse, and for the first time in Sylvia's and Clara's lives, they heard their father weep.
Sylvia held Luca's cold, unresponsive hand, and also wept. Clara, however, just stood there, watching her father and sister weep for the death of Luca.
If… If I had not slipped… If…! If only…
Unable to contain it any longer, Clara fell to her knees, brought her hands to her face, and cried loudly.
***
Sylvia slowly opened her eyes, and was snapped out of her daze as she successfully reeled a fish in. She put the fish she caught in a bucket that was full of fish.
Every time she came to this planet to fish on this particular lake, those memories of that particular day always resurfaced from her mind. It was a painful thing to remember, but it was even more painful for her sister, Clara.
After that day, their father stopped going to the lake to fish. He quit fishing altogether. Instead, he found a job in the nearby village and made good money, enough to support his family.
I wonder if Clara still blames herself because of Luca… Sylvia sighed and stood up. She pressed a small button on the metal chair she sat on, and it shrank, now the size of a small rock. Putting it in her pocket, she grabbed the bucket of fish, the fishing rod, and her black umbrella.
After a ten-minute walk, she came across her family's previous house from a long time ago, now run-down and uninhabitable.
She entered, and found a chest. The same chest that her father would keep the fishing rods in. After putting the fishing rod inside the chest, she went outside, and looked around. Memories and scenes of her playing with Luca and Clara resurfaced from her mind once again.
Running around, climbing trees, catching bugs…
She sighed, and walked forward. She then came across the spot where her father buried Luca. It was marked by a tombstone that only had Luca's full name.
After thoroughly cleaning the tombstone, she then took out a small device, known as the Portable Storage Device, and took out a bouquet of white lilies. She placed it in front of the tombstone.
"...Clara's doing well. I am, too. Tell mom that Clara and I said hi, will you?"
Sylvia wanted to say more, but it was already getting dark. With a sigh, she walked back towards the run-down house, grabbed the bucket of fish, and activated the teleportation sequence of returning back to Umbrellas.
Back in Umbrellas, Sylvia entered the apartment that she and Clara shared. It was already 6:54 p.m. She gave the fish to the chef robot, and got it to start cooking.
Clara, noticing her sister's arrival, came out of her room. "What's for dinner?"
Sylvia smiled, and said, "Fish."