The Luckiest Girl In The World

Sarah, being Sarah, didn't bother knocking. This was her sister's house, after all, and she hadn't ever bothered knocking on Kathy's door when she'd been alive. Why start now.

The barren state of the house had her raising her eyebrows, but she could hear humming coming from the kitchen, so that's where she headed. Fortunately, she waited until Kathy had put everything down before speaking, or there could have been a very unpleasant repeat of the day before, only with hot food instead.

"Hey, unni. Miss me?"

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For a moment, the only evidence that Kathy had heard her sister was the tightening of her shoulders.

Then, she set the spatula down onto the stove and slowly turned around, like she was giving the world a chance to take everything back and have her turn and face nothingness.

But that didn't happen. When Kathy finished pivoting, she was looking into the tiny, elfin face of her baby sister, looking just the same as she had the last time she'd seen her, the day before they'd both died.

"Sarah," Kathy whispered. "Oh, Sarah."

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Not far behind Sarah, she'd find a statuesque, beautiful redhead, her eyes full of a quiet compassion.

Eva said nothing, not willing to spoil the moment, but not willing to move either. She was too close to her son to back away now.

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Any other time, Eva would have been impossible to overlook. But right now, Kathy only had eyes for her sister. Ignoring the food on the stove, she stumbled forward on unsteady feet, moving faster and faster until she was sweeping her sister up into a hug so tight that neither of them could breathe.

Neither of them let go, either.

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But the hug meant that Eva could slip past them without disturbing them at all. She padded up the stairs quietly, her bare feet pressing against the carpet with each step.

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Dante was upstairs, alone with his thoughts. He'd been doing that more often than he'd like to admit this week, too.

It wasn't even like any of the worst had happened to him last weekend. It had just left him a lot of food for thought. Enough that he almost - almost - didn't feel her coming.

His head snapped up.

"...Mom?"

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"You are alive."

Eva's voice trembled.

The beatific expression on her face crumbled.

And then she brushed inside, gathering him into her arms and pulling him in tight.

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This son didn't resist. Not at all. His arms slid around her without a second's thought, his face pressed into her shoulder. "No, no, I'm fine, I'm right here," he whispered. "Mom, holy shit..."

Were you allowed to say that in front of an angel? He couldn't remember.

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Neither sister noticed.

"Don't look like that," Sarah was complaining. "You get the best sister ever for a whole extra weekend! Where are the balloons, the streamers, the rainbow cake, huh? You're not allowed to cry, not for this whole weekend. It's a rule."

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"Why are people constantly making up rules about what I get to do with my face?" Kathy demanded, struggling to hold back the tears that desperately wanted to fall. "It's my face!"

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"You still have your father's grasp of the language," Eva said, a little wry humor in her tone.

She didn't let go. He felt so solid in her arms, warm, both like and unlike the scrappy, stubborn little boy she had once held just like this.

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"Yeah, but it's super-good at making everybody feel bad," Sarah assured her, wiping away the tears that she couldn't really fight off, either. "If I had your puppy eyes, we probably could actually have gotten a puppy like you always wanted!"

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"You're such a brat," Kathy said with a watery laugh. "I can't believe you're here." She pulled Sarah in again, not that she'd ever really had a chance to go anywhere else. "I've missed you so much these past two years."

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"Uh, rude," Sarah said. "Cause, like, I've been dead for three."

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Kathy didn't laugh or sputter apologies, both reactions that Sarah had been expecting. Instead she shook her head. "I know," she murmured, looking at her with those Kathy-patented big, sad eyes. "I was dead for one."

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This time it was Sarah who did the sputtering. "What? How?! And, like, how again?! You're alive! You called me! So how...?!"

She shook her head, braids flying. "Man, I can't believe Dante's mom let me think you were gone for, like, five minute or something! Not a year!"

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"Wait," Kathy said. "Dante's mom is here?"

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"Tall beautiful lady with long red hair?" Sarah asked. "Yeah, we walked here together. I think she went to go find Dante."

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"I need to see her," Kathy gasped, grabbing Sarah's hand. "C'mon slowpoke!"

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Several minutes later, Kathy burst into the doorway, realizing only at the last second that Dante might want this time with his mother alone, to reconnect with her in a way he hadn't been able to since he was eight.

"Errr..." she said, awkward and confused. "Umm. Hello, Eva. Dante. Should we go? We can go."

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Dante drew back from the hug and looked at her. "No," he said. "C'mon in, it's fine."

Edited Date: 2018-10-06 11:18 am (UTC)

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Eva retreated as well, and she turned to look at the familiar figure, now so-alive, standing there in the doorway. "Kathy, please," she said quietly. "This is your home, too. And I'd like to see you."

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"I just don't want to interrupt," she said, holding onto Sarah's hand a little too tightly. "You haven't seen each other in a decade. I can wait a little while longer."

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Sarah gave her big sister a push, rolling her eyes. "I see some things never change," she muttered. "They're saying it's cool. Go say hi to Dante's mom you waste more time wringing your hands over it, god."

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