We waited until our father fell asleep. We survived his beatings, with Frostbite earning a black eye.
(Are you awake?)
(No.)
(You dirty liar.) She giggled.
I smiled softly. (Alright. Our plan is in motion.)
We were jittery as we snuck into the kitchen, trying so hard not to make any noise. If we did, we would never have another chance. We would be caught, and possibly locked up.
(The cabinet.) I muttered.
My twin reared up in her hind legs and reached for the lock. I heard a couple clicks as she turned the keys and then a small click when it popped off.
(My hearts are beating so fast.) She commented.
(Hurry up!) I hissed.
She rummaged around.
(I don't see anything fatal here!)
(Get painkillers and melatonin.) I thought for a moment. (Is there morphine in there?) I heard her shuffle around more.
(No.)
(Be sure to place them all back where they were.)
(Alright, alright.) She shuffled around for a while.
Frostbite fumbled one of the bottles, and it clattered to the ground with a loud glass-like noise.
My sister gasped and held perfectly still while I stiffened.
We waited for any sign that our father would come out and catch us red handed.
No noise came from our father's room.
I picked it up gingerly, attempting not to shake its contents. I handed it to Frostbite.
(That sounded like embodied fear and failure.) She whispered in her oddly dark poeticness.
(My sister, the ray of sunshine.) I muttered.
(Here.) She dumped some of each of the pills into my hands, then closed them, placing them all back in their proper place.
(Let's go!)
We snuck back to our room, hiding the pills under our blankets craftily.
(Melatonin and painkillers?) I asked. She shook her eyestalks.
(Good.)
/ / / / / / /
It was a couple weeks before we were able to put the second part of our plan into motion. Our father had just turned on the television, paying no attention to us. We even managed to escape with minimal beatings. I came out of it with a cut on my shoulder, and Frostbite injured her knees again. I wrapped them again, then told her not to bend her knees.
(Hey! Bring a pan of water in here!) Our father hollered.
I took action immediately, taking out eight melatonin pills that I had hidden behind the tap. I dropped them in the pan, then filled it with water. By the time it was full, they had completely dissolved.
I brought him the water and placed it down.
(How is your nose healing?) He asked, pointing to my newly applied bandages.
(Fine. I believe it will scar.)
(Ah, scars are the mark of a warrior.)
(Or the mark of an abusive bastard. That too.)
He glared at me. (Shoo.)
I walked away, into my room.
(Did you do it?) My twin asked with wide blue eyes.
(Yes. He should be out cold or dead within the hour. It depends how strong his system is. Eight may kill him, or simply turn him comatose for a day. I hope it's the former.)
(I can't wait.)
/ / / /
When I thought the pills were done taking effect, I crept out.
Our father was splayed out, facedown in the middle of the kitchen.
(He's down!) I cheered.
I rushed over, feeling for a pulse.
I was quickly disappointed when I felt it.
(He's just unconscious. I do believe he will be like that for a while. Let's go get our things!) I ushered.
We shoved all things of importance into a bag that would fit on our backs, but look enough like light travel so no one would be suspicious.
As we prepared to leave, I noticed our fathers Dracon Beam charging.
I snatched that and the strap for it.
I met my sister at the door. (Good choice.) She said. (Let's go.)
My hearts raced. We were finally doing it. Finally!
Frostbite hobbled as I helped support her weight.
(It's so strange, being unable to bend my legs.) She commented.
When we made it to the shipyard, I nodded to a Hork Bajir. He let us in.
(What was that?) Frostbite hissed to me after we went past.
(It's what our father does. It means that we're just going in to restock fuel, etcetera.)
(But it's a lie.)
(Of course.) My sister, captain obvious.
We picked a bug fighter. Small, not enough to be missed.
(Alright. Before we start it up, we need to destroy the dex chip. That's how they track ships.) Frostbite coached.
(And where is that, teacher?)
(Why are you so sarcastic? It's here, next to the comm chip.)
I carved it out with my tail blade. (There.)
(Alright.)
We were silent.
(Do you know how to pilot a ship?)
(Frostbite!)
(Ha ha ha. Can you?)
(Oh my goodness. Oh, I'll try.)
/ / / / /
When I had gotten ahold of the controls, I attempted lift off. Now, it wasn't graceful, but I got us off the ground. Getting off of the Homeworld would be another matter.
I rose in the atmosphere, ignoring the warnings from air control.
I hit maximum burn once we got high enough, shooting past intercepting ships. One, however, came after us.
We made it into atmosphere with them hot on our tail.
(Agh! Hold on sister, I'm going to do something decidedly crazy.)
I stopped, forcing the other ship to slow down. They were unable to in time, as I predicted. I waited. They became increasingly closer.
(Spark?)
They were about to collide with us!
(SPARK!)
I pulled hard to the left with a grunt, rolling the ship.
We spun through the air, the other ship still moving, but turning as well.
(To space!) I hollered and once again hit maximum burn. We shot upwards, and I lost hold of the controls, colliding with my sister as I flew backwards.
(You imbecile! You'll kill us!) She shrieked and rushed forward to grab the controls. The atmosphere was thinning. We needed our space engines on, not atmosphere.
(Hit that button!) Frostbite did so, and we went suddenly a good deal faster.
(Waaaaaah!)
(Eeeeeagh!)
We both let out our respective squeals as we tumbled backwards once again.
(Computer, set us on course D 45773!) My twin cried.
The ship leveled out and we regained our breath.
(We lose them?)
(I... I think so.)
(Alright. Now, what did you yell at the computer?)
Frostbite stared at me with her unsettlingly pale eyes.
(Stop staring!)
(Oh, sorry.) She looked down. (I did research, while you all were asleep. It's a path that is supposed to be dangerous because it leads to the Andalite Homeworld. No one had used it yet, though. They were waiting until they could conquer it.)
I grinned and hugged her. (Ah, my clever little sister!)
(We're twins.)
(I'm older by five minutes!)