There's a loud ringing in your ears as you stumble back from your reflection.
Perfect and pristine as she is, always had been.
She stumbles away from you while you need to take a moment to recuperate.
A gunshot, you think. A close call, barely missing you as you pulled your wonderful sister towards yourself for a hug. She was not ready, you gather.
You don't follow her all the way back home. You already know the way, and it'd be a drag to waste more time running when you could be skipping blocks with every lag.
You meet her there, simply waiting for her to return.
You take your usual seat by the tree from her window. The balcony's roof serves a great purpose for you to hide. You probably know everything about your sister at this point, like a big sister should.
Does she remember you? Is she how you remembered her? Do you think she still thinks you're out there on an Island with a family of your own?
For someone who had lost her own life, her family, her home. You'd think that you'd be bitter that your sister has everything you don't.
But you're not.
More or less, you're more obsessive about keeping it for her. Preserving the life she gets to have that you couldn't.
You fought hard that day. Maybe that's why the gunshot startled you that much, rendering you to choose freeze rather than fight, as your sister fleed.
You remember Dad yelling at you to stay back, you yelling back that he needed to find Mom and not that Mom was already dead. You knew. He knew. But you just wanted him away so he wouldn't be able to see you meet her after.
You're not sure if Dad lived anyway. You don't really care if he did or not, anymore. Schrödinger's dad. If he did, good for him. But that's it.
If he's with another family, sure. Mom would've wanted that. You're not really sure if you'd want it, but you'd rather stay distant for now than let yourself in.
After all, this is your family now.
Your sister and her parents. She's your sister, her parents can share her with you. You've known Juana since her hatching. You knew she was a girl first out of anybody, you knew she talked to you at night, not knowing that you were listening.
You want her to thrive and spend time with a family that's neglected her for so long and is only making up for it now. You wished you brought her along with you when you were whisked away to Mom and Dad. They loved you immediately. It wasn't all for show, and none of them left. Well, Dad just left for work but he mostly came home. But he still loved you. Mom still loved you.
You're not sure if her parents even love her at all. It was clear that they tried. But the task of comforting her felt too hard.
You're better though. You know how to take care of your sister. You know that you're better than any adult on the Island. It can just be you and her forever. But for now, all you can do is simply wait.
Click-click.
Click-buzz-click-click. Buzz-buzz-buzz. Click-click-click-buzz. Click.
Buzz-click-buzz-buzz. Buzz-buzz-buzz. Click-click-buzz.
