Hearts of Fire

Chapter 1

“Deirdre, please. Calm down,” I said, trying to stop my twin’s crying. When she didn’t respond, I put my hand on her shoulder and asked, “What’s wrong, sis?”

                “I…” she managed in between sobs. “ I had that dream again last night. I have it every night, really… I’m just usually calmed down before you wake up.”

                The dream… The one I hadn’t had in weeks. The dream we had shared the night our mother died, nine years ago, and almost every night since. For the past three weeks, I thought I had finally stopped having it, that my subconscious was finally letting me forget. And I, wrongfully, thought Deirdre had, too.

                My sister was very… sensitive, to say the least. In the nine years since mom had died, she’d only been happy for the past two months or so, ever since she met Andrew, a boy who also lived at the orphanage. Even though they’d been going out for a month and a half already, they still refused to officially declare themselves a couple.

                “Deirdre…” I didn’t really have anything helpful to say, so I resorted to plan B. “Why don’t we watch some TV, take your mind off of it, and whatnot.” Thank God we finally convinced the staff here that we should have a TV. Immediately, I grabbed for the remote and clicked on Comedy Central.

                “Wha…” I realized too late that the TV was on too loud, and woke up Tess, the snob who happened to share a room with us in this over-crowded orphanage. “Sorry for interrupting your ever important viewing of…” she glanced at the TV. “ South Park, but I’m trying to get some sleep here. So if you don’t mind, turn it down a few clicks, k?” she scowled.

                “Tess, it’s already eight. Don’t you think you should be up by now?” I sighed.

                “Leave it to freaks like you to think waking up before nine is normal.” Her nasally, high-pitched voice was like nails on a chalkboard, and it was all I could do not to go over there and break her perfect, surgically refined nose. “Don’t you idiots know that not getting enough sleep leads to dark circles under your eyes?” she shuddered at the thought, obviously too shallow to realize there were more important things in life than a flawless appearance. “Ugh, why can’t I share a room with Vanessa and Jessica, instead of these two losers?” she muttered, obviously not meaning for us to hear. On any other day, I would’ve gotten in her face about it, but I just wasn’t in the mood for a fight.

                “Go to hell, Tess,” Deirdre growled. Apparently, she was in the mood for a fight.

                “Sis, don’t…” I started, but she cut me off.

                “No, Rylee. Hate to say it, but this is long overdue. I am sick and tired of dealing with this crap. We’ve put up with this bitch for over eight years, and it’s time someone stepped up and taught her a lesson already.” Before I had a chance to stop her, she was already across the room standing next to Tess’s bed, her fists clenched. Already starting to fall back asleep, Tess didn’t see it coming when Deirdre swung, and hit her square in the nose. Tess screamed and sat up. Before long, blood came rushing down.

                I was stunned. I’d never seen my sister do anything like that; she was the most passive person I’d ever known. I ran up to them, but not before Tess stood, facing Deirdre. “Look, Dorkdre. I don’t know who you think you are, but I know that nobody punches me in the face and gets away with it.”

                Tess tried to throw a punch, but Deirdre caught her wrist. She jerked it backwards, and I heard a loud snap. I cringed. Before Deirdre had a chance to let go of Tess’s arm, Tess swung with her other arm, and her fist hit my twin’s collarbone. Deirdre didn’t hesitate; before I had time to blink, she’d kicked Tess in the stomach, knocking her to the ground. She grabbed hold of Tess’ hair and flung her against the wall with a thud. Tess stood up and stumbled over to Deirdre, but my twin was too fast. It only took a weak, poorly aimed punch to knock her down, and this time she didn’t get back up, or even open her eyes.

                Deirdre sighed and looked up, with a mixed emotion on her face that seemed to be a combination of anger, guilt, and fear. “I… I don’t know what came over me. I just… I guess I just snapped. I couldn’t take it anymore, and all of a sudden, all I could think to do was to break her perfect, snobby, bitchy face.”

                 “Well… we’ll deal with that later. Come on, you need medical help. So does Tess.”

                “No, really. I’ll be fine, sis.”

                “No. You need to see a doctor. Help me carry Tess, with your arm that’s not broken?”

                When we got to the lobby, the secretary Margaret gasped when she saw us.

                “Oh my goodness! What happened?” She looked from Deirdre to Tess and back again.

                Before they had a chance to say anything, I said, “I think they need to get to a hospital. Like, now. Could you drive us?” I purposely made my voice sound urgent.

                “Well, I guess I could take my lunch break fifteen minutes early. One minute, dears. I’ll have Janet take over for me.” She scurried off, returning about a minute later with her car keys in hand.

                We drove to the hospital in silence. I sat in the back with Deirdre, while Tess sat shotgun. After we’d arrived, the wait wasn’t long. After about fifteen minutes, we were told Dr. Williams was ready to see them both. Margaret and I were told to stay in the waiting room for a little while, so we did. After another hour and a half, Dr. Williams came back out to meet us.

                “Well, neither one of them appears to have any injuries that are too serious,” he told us. “Deirdre has a sprained wrist and a broken collarbone. She’ll have her arm in a splint for a few weeks, but other than that, she should be just fine,” he concluded. “As for Tess, well, her injuries are a bit worse. She has a broken nose, a broken arm, two broken toes, a broken finger, a broken blood vessel behind her right eye, a minor flesh wound just over her stomach, and several nasty looking bruises. It also appears someone ripped out her earring; there’s a tear straight through the bottom of her left earlobe. I can fix it, but it might not be perfect.” Margaret looked horrified.

                “Can I see Deirdre, please?” I asked.

                “Of course, she’s just this way.” Dr. Williams guided me down a long hallway, stopping at a spot where there was a doorway on either side. “Your sister is in there,” he said, pointing to the door on the left. “Tess is in the other door.”

                “Thanks, Dr. Williams,” I said. He nodded politely and went into Tess’s room. I clicked open the door to Deirdre’s room, and I saw her laying there, watching a rerun of Jackass. I sat down next to her.

                “Hey, sis. You feel okay?” I asked.

                “Considering the circumstances, yeah, I feel fine. How’s Tess?”

                “Do want to know because you care about how she’s doing, or because you just want to know how much she’s suffering right now?” I joked.

                “Well, both.” I gave her a look. “Okay, okay. The second one,” she giggled.

                “Well, okay, because you were honest.” I listed all of Tess’s injuries, which only made my sister smile. “Okay, why is that something to smile about?” I asked.

                “Like I said, it was time someone taught that girl a lesson. I doubt she’ll mess with us anymore. Hopefully, Margaret will finally approve her request for a new roommate.” Now, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling along with her. We looked at each other and both laughed out loud. For just one moment, it was like the old days, back when we lived in our old six-bedroom house, and we would laugh and play all day long. Like we were the rich kids in town again. Like before we woke up from a nightmare so many years ago, only to discover our mother’s heart had stopped.