Vanishing Acts

The girl ran her hands over her dress; plush, white and flowing around her knees in delicate whisps. It was perfect. Her white platforms, although they blistered her feet in the most painful places, added to her height, making her stand tall and proud in front of the mirror. The smile on her face was teeming with truth, but drenched in debauchery; the hieroglyph of her criminality. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but this small fact made her want to do it more.

She had dealt with these childish moulds for 19 years. She was a woman now. She only needed to prove it.

“Bianca.”

She spun around - she knew the distinct, girly voice of her older sister. She’d grown up with that voice.

“Bianca you look gorgeous,” Steph said, smiling down at her younger sister.

The younger woman blushed slightly, nodded at the compliment and turned back towards the mirror, fingering the loose curls in her long auburn hair; she admired the way it draped across her shoulders, danced gracefully down her back, folded into small twists of deep red at the ends.

She knew she wasn’t particularly pretty; she was plain, bare, but the one thing she was proud of was her hair. She’d inherited the colour from her mother, as had Steph. It was her favourite quality, she wasn’t going to deny.

Her and Steph were alike in many ways. Whereas they shared the special bond that all sisters had, they also shared the same hair and eye colour. They weren’t twins - far from it - but they looked similar enough that many people believed they were.

“I can’t believe I’m letting you do this. I must be crazy.”

Bianca laughed cheerily, sounding wonderfully pleasant in the almost deserted house.

“You are crazy,” She smiled at the disgusted look her sister’s face, “But, Steph, I love you for it. How many older sisters would lend their younger sisters their fake ID’s for an illegal night out?”

Steph didn’t answer. Instead, she clicked her tongue on the inside of her mouth, a sure sign to Bianca that she was irritated at this question. She softened, and turned back towards her sister, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll be careful. I just…I want to do something spontaneous for a change. I’ve always lived by rules. It’d be nice to break them occasionally. I’ll be alright. Trust me.” She smiled warmly at her older sibling; after all, Steph didn’t have to do this for her. But she and Steph had always been friends.

“I do trust you, B. It’s everyone else I don’t.”

Steph was panicking. It wasn’t a big deal; Bianca had broken the rules on several occasions before in the past. Why was this time any different? She sighed and turned back towards the mirror. The reflection wasn’t as beautiful as it was moments before.

“I’m an adult, Steph. I can take care of myself.”

Steph sniffed disapprovingly, but didn’t say anything more. She walked away from the mirror selfishly, clearly disagreeing with her sister’s statement.

“Besides, it’s not like you’ll worry anyway. You’ll be with Kenneth tonight.” Bianca muttered quietly, finally drawing her eyes away from her reflection to fetch her purse from the bedside cabinet.

“You’re my little sister, B! Of course I’ll be shitting myself!” Steph looked insulted at the mere mention of her not worrying. Bianca raised her eyebrows in disbelief, but didn’t retaliate; instead, she grabbed Steph’s make-up bag from her dressing table and unzipped it, lingering long enough to find the desired brand of mascara, before applying it to her eyelashes.

“Who are you going with anyway?” Steph asked curiously.

“Joey. You know what he’s like. Always loves a good party. So I told him what I was doing and he offered to come with me.”

Steph scoffed again, obviously not pleased with her choice of party guest. She greatly disliked Joey Rivers; he was a bad influence, in many ways. In reality, she wondered how on earth he and Bianca became best friends when they were so different. He was bisexual, rebellious, talkative, sociable and known by everyone. Bianca, on the other hand, was shy, socially awkward and known as Steph’s nerdy little sister.

Somehow, though, they had been best friends since 8th grade.

Bianca laughed bitterly, “You really piss me off sometimes, Steph. You’re so hypocritical! Do you think Dad approved of all the boyfriends you had during High School? You think he didn’t disapprove when you were out all night?”

Steph blushed at this, suddenly becoming very interested in the plush, purple carpet of her bedroom.

“Yeah, Steph. You may have been dating Kenneth now for 8 months or whatever, but that doesn’t erase that you were exactly like Joey in High School. Stop acting like Amanda and grow up. I’m 19. I can do what I want, and there’s no way for you to stop me.”

And with that, Bianca screwed the lid back on the mascara, pushed it back inside the tiny silver bag, and walked out the room.

Steph sighed irritably, and followed her; Bianca hurried up when she saw that her sister was trailing along behind her.

“It’s not that I want to stop you. I want you to do this. You’ve gotta see my point of view, though, B! I think I’d prefer it if you spent the night here, with Danny. Then I’ll know you’re safe!”

Bianca stopped walking and turned around.

“Danny is old enough to stay here by himself; besides, you know Danny. He doesn’t talk to anyone, sits in his room and cries over his guitar. You think I want to spend my New Years Eve with our totally anti-social step-brother?”

Steph said nothing.

“Didn’t think so.”

She continued to walk until she reached the front door. She paused for a moment, pulled out her purse and opened it, checking for something. Not finding what she was looking for, she looked up expectantly at her older sibling.

“Where’s your ID?” Bianca asked, looking almost cruel with the scowl on her face. Steph, defeated, pointed to her purse on the kitchen counter. The youngest of the two smiled happily, picked it out of her sister’s purse and placed it in her own. Opening the door wide, she waved spitefully in Steph’s direction.

“Don’t wait up for me. Have fun with Kenneth. Happy New Year. Don’t forget to feed the cat.”

She grinned, and closed the door behind her. She didn’t even stay in the house long enough to see Steph lightly hitting her head against the wall, an annoyed and worried look etched on her face.