Sister Cities

Part 77: Jinx

It's not easy to know I'm not anything like I used to be

Sometimes life just slips in through a back door

And carves out a person

And makes you believe it's all true

I would give it all back for a chance to start over

And rewrite an ending or two

For the girl that I knew

She is gone, but she used to be mine

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 When I wake up, I'm snuggled against Vi like we used to do when we were kids. I was doing the same thing yesterday. I don't think she'd put me there, so I must've done it myself. I'm not sure how to feel about that, except that I liked it and want to do it again.

The sun's up behind the ugly Piltie curtains, so I squat above her like a frog and poke her on the tip of her nose. Her eyes open wide and she swings a fist at me. I flip out of the way and land back on my side of the bed, cackling.

"Are you okay?" Her eyes are still round; she looks like her skull is full of a bunch of confused birds flying around and bumping into stuff. "I'm sorry. Shit. I'm sorry."

"Chill out, sis. I know it ain't personal." I stick my hands and feet up to make the sheets into a tent over me. "Remember when you used to push me down the stairs in that drawer we pulled out?"

She exhales slowly and flops back onto her pillow. "Yeah. And Vander said I had to stop, but we had that whole philosophy about your happiness outweighing your safety, so we just did it when he was gone. Until the drawer broke. Remember that?"

I kick my legs in delight, making my tent flutter. I was ten when that happened and getting too big for the drawer, so I got clumsy with braking and crashed into the wall and two sides broke off. Vi was at the top of the stairs and looked at it for a second, then at me and the giant gash on my head, and said, "Guess we're not doing that anymore."

"Remember when you used to pick up me and Ekko by our collars and swing us in a circle?" I ask.

"Until it was storming out and we thought we could do it inside and I almost broke your feet off on the side of the bunk bed." She snorts. "Remember when I used to have you stand on my shoulders?"

"Until I hit my head on the door frame and fell off backwards. Remember when you used to put me in a trash bag and drag me down the street?"

"Until I ran you over a nail. Remember when me and Mylo and Claggor used to hold up that blanket and toss you up and down on it?"

"Until I went off course and landed on Mylo."

She laughs and turns onto her side to face me. "And he ran to tattle to Vander: 'Powder jumped on my head!' And me and Claggor explained what we'd been doing and Vander just said, 'It sounds like you were asking for it,' and walked away."

"Mylo was so mad."

I don't remember when the last time was that I giggled this hard about something that was actually funny. But I mostly missed hearing Vi giggle this hard.

"What're you doing today?" I ask when we finally get our heads on straight. I'm bouncing on the mattress and she's smiling at the ceiling with her eyes shut and her arms crossed under her head.

"Volunteering. I'm gonna stick with excavation now that I have that gauntlet."

I remember the impact when we hit the ground the other night and lose my bouncing rhythm for a second. "Do you want me to fix the broken one?"