Tied

Once Mom and Zhenia left, the house felt frighteningly empty. Dad had long since left for work without saying a word to any of us. He was always gone, always distant. I didn’t really understand it, and quite frankly it pissed me off a bit. And as far as his views on Zhenia’s sexuality went, well, sometimes I wanted to hit my father with a dictionary. He clearly didn’t understand the definition of love.

I didn’t understand what was happening to us. I certainly didn’t like it, not anymore. I knew what had happened to Artemisia Gentileschi, and if my dreams fashioned a movie out of it- this was so much worse than I could have imagined. My hands itched to do something, to physically attack the problem, to work a strategy or an equation or a chemical formula that what would get us out of this mess. But of course it couldn’t be that simple.

I huddled on my bed, laptop open to fifteen different tabs talking about reincarnation and dreams. My eyelids kept growing heavier, head growing fuzzier, but I couldn’t let myself fall back asleep. I couldn’t let my nightmares find me. The words on my stomach burned constantly, mocking me, and I forced myself into the bathroom and splashed my face with cold water. Every drop felt thick, like blood, and I gagged against their touch. I stumbled back into the bedroom, hiding under the covers with every light on as if I could keep the darkness away. It didn’t work for long, and sleep dragged me down gently.

When I awoke, the words were the same. My sleep had been strangely devoid of dreams. I chose to take that as a good sign, and let myself return to research. It was comforting, to feel like I had some handle on the situation. The articles were mostly useless, but there were some interesting theories on the stars connecting people across time. It was the best explanation we had at the moment. There had to be some reason, some pattern, to this madness.

It was going to be lunchtime at school in just a few minutes. Knowing Raven and Rhea, they would probably sneak off somewhere and call me. They were so close, so similar to each other without even realizing it. Raven was rougher, rawer in her beauty and passion, and Rhea balanced her with a quiet fierceness and deft words. I loved them for it. We were the triumvirate, three perfected in each other, forming one power. Zhenia had begun to drift into our circle lately, and I kind of liked it. We all worked better as a team.

The soft buzzing of my cell interrupted my contemplation. I smiled as Rhea’s contact picture lit up the screen, her laughing at the camera as rain soaked the three of us. I had taken it at a football game last year, sheltering my phone under my wet hoodie. It hurt to wonder if we could be that carefree again. It had only been two nights, and already it felt like nothing was ever going to be the same.

“Hey.” I answered, knowing my voice betrayed my less than happy thoughts. “What’s up?”

“Oh, you know,” Rhea’s voice is tight, tired. “the usual. Dead people visiting us in dreams and magical tattoos.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “Good to know. So, about tomorrow-”

The phone shrieked with a sudden burst of static, cutting off my words. It only took a second for the line to die, and the lights above me died with it. I sat in the dark, all alone, brain still trying to understand what had just happened.

And then the pain hit, consuming and unforgiving, forcing a silent scream past my lips. White enveloped everything, bleached my entire world. I fell into the colorless void and knew no more.

When I stirred, the front door to our house was opening, Mom’s voice sliding through, and the words marked on my body were completely numb.