Disconnected

It's hard for me to think straight when I'm fixing Yumi's hair. I get fixated on the way it curls down her back, and how I can run my fingers through that liquid silkiness without catching on hidden tangles. It's so black, like the night sky, and and the brush stands out against the mass of waves like a beacon. Yumi's new synthetic hair is nothing like the cheap, dull wigs I must don to hide my bald scalp and my identity. It is so much more advanced than anything I could dream to own, and I almost hate my sister for not appreciating its costly splendor the way I do.

Yumi perches on the rickety stool in front of me, her gorgeous hair flying under my fingers as I twist it into intricate patterns and then unravel it again, unsatisfied with my work. Her new red dress curves around her, hugging her hips and arms and swirling around her slim legs; her silver earrings glisten under the fluorescents. When she catches my gaze in the mirror's reflection, she smiles nervously and tugs at her dress, smoothing away imaginary wrinkles.

She's flawless, but when I tell her so, she looks away from the mirror, quickly.

"The song is all that matters."

Of course it is, but not for the reasons Yumi believes. The famously complicated Sleeping Song is my way inside The Circuit, a popular nightclub. Yumi's been practicing the song for years, preparing for her debut night as a Songstress. My fingers pause their work on Yumi's hair and I press my lips shut for the hundredth time to keep from blurting out that I've lied to her ever since I learned what she was performing.

I lead her to the transport that will take her away from me, with a carefully blank expression, although  my stomach stirs in nauseating circles. She will leave, and this web of deception I've been spinning for months will finally be played out to perfection. And...I'll miss her.

Yumi turns and glances anxiously at me. A faint frown creases her perfect brow.

"Will you be alright all alone, Jane? Kendra should be back soon."

I wince as her name passes Yumi's lips. A hot sting fills my vision, but I refuse to cry.

My passionate surrogate mother was the only one who knew exactly what I was and didn't care. I loved her for that. She took me in when I was nothing, and built me into a sassy, quick-thinking bad-avatar. When she vanished, I hacked into her records, and learned the horrible truth behind her disappearance. She'd been executed for treason against the High Council.

She is dead, but for some reason Yumi's chip is still programmed to think she's alive- almost as if it's in denial that she's gone. Yumi believes the lies I feed her about Kendra's whereabouts, and now, unknowingly, she has given me a way to escape.

"I'll be fine," I say and it's the truth. I'm always fine. She's in the transporter tube now, looking like a rose flowering against the stark whiteness of her surroundings. She smiles, and squeezes my hand once, even though she cannot feel the sensation of touch the way I can, and then glass slides around the tube, and she is gone.

The flat is enormous without her. Everything seems too still, as if the slightest motion on my part will set off an alarm. I won't miss it when I'm gone.

I pad over to my walk-in closet and lock myself in, barricading myself from the rest of the world. It's painted pale green, unlike the white of the rest of the flat, and the tart scent of lemon spray hits my nostrils as I step inside. Light from a long florescent directly above me, illuminates the room.

Wigs of all lengths, styles, and colors, hang on hooks, awaiting me. The rows of drawers that line the walls are filled with uniforms- disguises for me to don. Kendra used to steal them for me so that I could roam around the city without being discovered.