Sisterly Love
by Rb
I used to have an older sister.
I still do. But I don't. Not really.
She's mean, now. She used to be nice.
She snaps at me now. She yells at me.
She's never home, and she always stays by herself.
She used to like to go places with me, go to movies, the mall.
Now she just blows me off.
There's a dark look in her eyes that didn't use to be there.
She repels compliments and complaints as if they were bugs and she was bugspray.
Where did my sister go? What monster has snapped her up?
And will it ever let go, so I can have my sister back?
What kind of sisterly love is this?
---
Jordan tentatively knocked on Rachel's locked door. "Rachel?"
There was noise, the slamming of a window, furniture being moved. Then the door opened. "Yeah, what do you want?" Rachel asked. Her face, which had once looked as lovely as a model's, was older and lined. There were dark circles under her eyes.
"I need some help with math," Jordan whimpered.
"Ask Mom." The door was shut.
"But she's busy!"
"Whatever. Later, okay?"
There never was a later.
---
Jordan looked at her math test. "A 43?" she whispered, shocked. "I'm dead."
---
"Jordan, this grade is awful!" her mother yelled.
"I know...but no one would help..." Jordan whispered. "Rachel wouldn't..."
"Rachel is busy with her own projects."
"Yeah. I am. I don't need little sisters bugging me, either," Rachel said. She stomped up the stairs and locked her door.
---
Jordan walked into the after-school tutoring session. She'd signed up for some help in math, after realizing no one would give it to her at her house. Another girl with red hair was there. She's in Rachel's grade, Jordan thought. Jordan slowly approached her.
"Hi. I'm Tori," the red-headed girl said. She looked around. Jordan noticed a badge on her green blouse saying "I'm a member of 'The Sharing'. How about you?" "I'm here to help someone named...Jordan? Is he here yet."
Jordan flushed. "I'm Jordan," she sighed. People always thought she was a guy from her name.
"Oh," Tori said. "So. Let's get down to business. I have a Sharing meeting in half an hour." She cocked her head at Jordan. "Why don't you come along if we're finished by then? We could always use new members."
Jordan nodded. "Okay." It sounded pretty cool. A lot of her friends had joined. And her cousin, Tom was a high-ranking member. He was always after her, Sara, and Rachel to join it, but Rachel had always coldly refused. Well, Rachel's not here, she thought fiercely, and I don't have to do to what she does.
---
The meeting was held in the school gym. It was great, just as Jordan had expected. Some of the full members seemed a bit on edge around her, but Jordan assumed it was just because they were worried about making a good impression on her. They didn't have to worry. This place was great!
That was, until wild animals somehow broke in. "Did they escape from a zoo or something? Why are they here?" she asked Tori, who eyed her coldly.
"Andalites!" she yelled.
"What do you want with lights? Are you trying to blind them?"
"Shut up, human," she said and disappeared into the mob.
Jordan cowered under the bleachers, along with a few other kids. All hiding from those wild beasts!
Suddenly, their shelter was torn away. They were revealed. Helpless in front of a huge grizzly bear.
"I'm gonna dieeeee!" Jordan screamed.
< Jordan? > a strange voice asked. < Jordan's here! > There was no sound. It was just in her head.
< Is she... > another voice asked. Cautious. No. No. I'm just imagining it.
< No! >
The grizzly bear gave her a light swing with one paw, claws retracted. Jordan fell like she'd been hit with a load of bricks.
---
When Jordan awoke, she was in a dark purple mist.
Through the darkness, a scream resounded. "Where am I?" It was her own voice.
Two bladed monsters grabbed her thin arms and forced her into dark, sludgy water.
She screamed and spluttered and hacked and coughed...and then she could no longer move or scream.
Because a slug had slithered into her ear and taken over her brain.
And Jordan ceased to exist, except for in a corner of her own mind.
---
A blonde girl emerged from a bathroom and walked to where the twisted remains of the bleachers were.
"Jordan? Are you here? Jordan? Jordan?"
She saw that Jordan wasn't there. There was only one place where Jordan could be.
Rachel curled up and cried.
---
Oblivious to the drama that had played in a school she did not yet go to, Sara sat at the kitchen table and slurped up the vegetable soup she'd cooked all by herself.
It was the first of many nights that she would have to suffer, all by her lonesome self.
---
I used to have an younger sister.
I still do. But I don't. Not really.
She's mean, now. She used to be nice.
She snaps at me now. She yells at me.
She's never home, and she always stays by herself.
She used to like to go places with me, go to movies, the mall.
Now she just blows me off.
There's a dark look in her eyes that didn't use to be there.
She repels compliments and complaints as if they were bugs and she was bugspray.
I know where my sister went. I know what monster has snapped her up.
I put it there myself. I wish I could have my sister back.
What kind of sisterly love is this?
THE END