I have to tell mother and Jovi what happened, Chandra had thought to herself as she dozed off on her sister's shoulder. Her internal alarm managed to wake her up after only an hour of sleep and she fought through her exhaustion, leaving Liliana to continue sleeping among the clutter.
Filthy and greasy from adventures and sleep deprivation, Chandra got home with only a couple minutes to spare before her mother and Jovi appeared in the living room. She gave them what she considered the important details, and they seemed satisfied, particularly Jovi; she felt proud of the completion of her mission.
Holding in until the sun began to set, Chandra gave in to a erratic sleep that she fell in and out of.
It was unclear how many times she had woken up, or what time it was when she finally found herself wide awake. All that was clear was that it was still nighttime. She refused to look at her phone because she was afraid to find out that it was 3:00am and she was stuck awake.
Stubbornly refusing to open her eyes, she had no idea how long it was until she started hearing voices. Mother and Jovi are still awake. Maybe it's not that late. Chandra finally gave up and checked the time as she rolled out of bed. It's almost 4. What are they still- As she approached her door, the quiet conversation became a little clearer. It was definitely her mother, but the second voice was Liliana.
She's back! Chandra was excited as she was surprised. When she told someone she would do something in two days, she'd spend the first day coming up with an excuse for why she would need three of four. She certainly didn't do anything over a day early.
They were speaking quietly, likely to avoid waking anyone, but before she could go out and greet her sister, one word in the conversation reached her – Liliana saying her name. Chandra doubted they were discussing anything scandalous, but she decided to try and spy anyway. It seemed like a mostly wasted effort – only a few words were reaching through the closed door.
Through those words, she was able to at least piece together some context. Liliana seemed to be telling a story that involved both of them. I guess I was a little sparse on the details of last night. The conversation was growing increasingly one-sided and slower. Her sister was taking long pauses. Either her mother's voice had gotten even more silent, or Liliana was hesitating.
Junk? The word had such a pronounced sound to it that it was impossible not to hear. Chandra concluded they must have been talking about the quarters turned storage unit they had fallen asleep in. Is she going to tell her about what we did with the dragster? If that was the case, she knew it was too late to do anything about it. Barging out now probably wouldn't stop her and even if it did, mother would press her to finish. I guess we'll see where this goes.
There was an even longer pause now which Chandra took as confirmation that Liliana was confessing to something; when she spoke again, none of the words made it to her with one exception. Clear, thanks to it's pronounced beginning and end, it paralyzed her with a realization. That Liliana hadn't said 'junk.' When Chandra heard her sister say kiss, she knew, she said drunk.
Chandra had assumed Liliana remembered the details of the night they kissed and were just in silent agreement not to speak of it. Now that pact was broken and much, much worse, her mother knew. There was such a surge of emotions going through Chandra that she had no interest in identifying and even less in subsiding them.
She slammed the door hard enough to nearly off it's hinges and burst into their living room and screamed with an unprecedented ferocity...
What the fuck is wrong with you. I actually said that to her. When Chandra had fallen asleep earlier, she was in such a state of disarray that she had forgotten to take her shoes off, so there was no chance her mother or sister could have kept up with her when she bolted from her home, though given her adrenaline, she probably could have outpaced them with bare feet
She had every right to tell mother, or anyone for that matter about what I did to her. Chandra had run to the park where she had hidden herself last time she ran away from home. This time however, she sat at a bench just outside of the entrance closest to her home. She wasn't concerned for her own safety, but figured Liliana might come looking for her, and she didn't want to risk her following her in, so she waited, illuminated by street lights.
But still, she cares about mother. I get why she would need to talk to someone after getting taken advantage of like that but there must be a better choice for everyone's sake. Chandra could feel seething self loathing building up as she got to her feet to yell at herself more dramatically. How dare you? How can you stand here complaining about what SHE did? This is your fault you pathetic, disgusting monster.
Chandra's anger physically manifested itself in the knocking over of a nearby newspaper box that slowly crashed, most likely disturbing the people sleeping in their homes across the street. She sat back down, still ashamed, but calmer. Go ahead and call the cops, someone. What the fuck do I care at this point?
Over the course of her reckless life, Chandra had screwed herself more than a couple times, but this was the first in which she couldn't perceive a way out. There likely wasn't anything that would make her face her mother; in any other circumstance, she would reach out to Gideon or Nissa, but Chandra refused to ask for sanctuary given why she was running.
Silently stirring for a while, face to the ground, her wish was eventually granted by a tired, looming voice. "Miss, did you knock this over?"
She looked up and saw a fairly unimposing man in uniform with an unimpressed expression who clearly didn't want to be here. Chandra, with no tact at all responded curtly, "if I had, would I have stuck around?"
"Maybe." He leaned in a little to try to sniff out the smell of booze. "If it wasn't you, why would you sit down next to it?"
"Do you see any other benches around?"
He ignored her question. "Do you have somewhere to sleep tonight?"
"What answer will make you leave me alone?"
"Do you have any identification on you?"
"No."
Chandra's instincts told her the officer was getting impatient. "Can you tell me your name then?"
"No." Chandra wasn't sure why she said that. She knew if she gave an honest answer, the cop would probably have left her be.
"If that's how you're going to be," the officer muttered as he gripped Chandra's wrist. "I'm either taking you home or to the station."
Being touched by a stranger was not exactly Chandra's favourite thing, but having a cop do it was infuriating. He didn't need to pull her up from the bench for her to stand facing him and hiss, "arrest me or fuck off."
His grip tightened as he reached for his belt with his spare hand. "Have it your-"
"Chandra!" Oh, great. While the officer looked over to Liliana's calling, Chandra wondered if she'd rather just get arrested than be saved.
"So you do have a name." Chandra could tell he was much happier to see Liliana than she was.
"Is there a problem here?" Liliana was laboured in her speech. She had clearly been putting effort into her search.
"Do you know her?"
"Yes. This is my sister." The cop seemed suspicious of the response and rightfully so. The two looked nothing alike. "There was an incident at home, but that has been resolved. I can get her back safely."
Chandra felt the strain on her wrist loosen. "Right...I don't suppose you have some ID or at least a name you're willing to tell me."
"Karpani Nalaar and this is Chandra." It was lucky, Chandra thought, that the officers attention was not on her anymore to see the look of bewilderment on her face. "I apologize if she has given you a hard time. It has been a long day."
The hand around Chandra's wrist finally broke free. "Fine. Just don't do anything else that makes me have to come out and waste my time."
Once he was out of earshot, Chandra turned to her sister and asked, "Karpani? I wasn't expecting you to give a fake name to a cop. Honestly, I assumed once you told him your real name, he'd apologize and thank your family for a donation or something."
"Yes, he probably would have but I knew that would irritate you, so I decided against it." Chandra's comment had been in jest and she was fairly certain Liliana's response wasn't. "We should probably find somewhere else to talk...That is, if you can stand to be around me."
I can't, but that's just out of shame. "Lead the way."
They silently searched for somewhere more secluded but still outside of the large park they were circling and eventually found a garden that mostly cloaked in darkness, but they seemed to agree that the two of them together were likely safe anyway. They were sitting comfortably before either spoke. "Why did you come looking for me?"
"To apologize. I knew what I did might hurt you, but based on your reaction, I clearly underestimated how badly. I really was just trying to do the right thing."
"How could this possibly..." No. This isn't her fault. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one at fault here." Chandra was trying her best to stare off into the distance but she knew her sister was intently focused on her.
"That is absurd." Liliana said this with such desperation that Chandra was almost willing to believe it. "This is in no way your fault. Of the two of us, I am the only one that has done anything wrong."
"What the hell are you talking about? I'm the one that behaved recklessly; I'm the one that knew what she was doing and I'm the one that hurt you."
Chandra felt Liliana's hand gently slide over hers as she apprehensively asked, "Chandra... What do you think it was that I told mom?"
Finally turning to meet her sister's stare, it was tough through the darkness to pinpoint Liliana's expression, but it seemed to be some combination of despair, confusion and fear which didn't make sense to Chandra until she had an overwhelming realization.
When she overheard Liliana and her mother talking, she put together some of the words together to complete the puzzle of what they were discussing. It took the grief on her sister's face for Chandra to realize she had missed a couple very important pieces. Oh my god.
The two sat silent and still for the longest ten seconds of Chandra's life before she finally said with awe in her voice, "it was you."
