Just Hold Hands

Chapter 10

Theo awoke to her sister banging on the door.

"Theo," she called. "Theo come downstairs!"

"Fuck off," she groaned. Theo rolled over to grab her phone. '4:15,' it read. "Catherine, what the fuck?" she shouted.

"It's Mom," Catherine said, and as she quieted, Theo heard the clanging from downstairs.

"Okay, give me a second."

She pulled a sweatshirt over her pajamas and slipped on sweatpants. She combed her fingers through her hair, where they immediately got stuck.

Theo followed her sister downstairs to where their mother was furiously stacking most of their pots and pans over the stove. "Mom, what are you doing?"

"Oh, good morning sweetie!"

Theo blinked. "What's going on, Mom?"

Her mom smiled kindly, like she had when Theo was little, coaxing her to smile for a camera or try on new clothes. "It's not safe anymore, here, so I was thinking we should go."

She kept grinning and looking at her daughters. Theo didn't even know what to think.

"What?"

Her mom smiled wider, worryingly so. "I thought further out into the country, maybe Wyoming."

"Mom, we'll be fine here for a long time. We have more food than we can ever eat, and the Reyes' can help if we need."

Her mom shook her head, her knotted hair shifting. "Sweetie, it's okay, it's safer."

Theo huffed. "Mom, we already live in the country. We live in the middle of nowhere, and it's still irrelevant. Half of the emptiest part of Eastern Europe is covered in rubble." Behind her, Catherine sniffled.

Her mom brushed through Catherine's hair. "Why don't I make you some breakfast?"

Theo and Catherine sat in silence as their mom began to cook, serenely humming. They shot each other the same wide-eyed look.

'What the fuck,' Catherine mouthed.

Theo shrugged helplessly. It was too fast a shift from what Theo thought her life was. She thought she was normal, just a person in the world. She wasn't supposed to be on the run from aliens. She didn't know what she was meant to do. Eventually their mother served them undercooked scrambled eggs, and they ate in silence. They tasted like cooking spray. When she finished, Theo dizzily stood to make some coffee for her and Catherine.

"You girls should really get more sleep," their mom said. Theo didn't say anything, but she felt Catherine's eyes bearing into the back of her head.

She sighed as she waited for the coffee, not daring to turn around to face her family.

"I'd like you both to come with me," she heard her mom say, and clenched her teeth.

"Mama," Catherine said, her voice small, "please."

"I care about you girls, I want you to be safe."

Theo spun. Her mother was staring at her, tears welling up in her eyes. It was genuine, Theo knew that, and it only made her resent her more. Behind her, Catherine stood stiff, her hands at her sides. She was still in her pajamas, printed with faded flowers, and her hair was still braided the way she wore it to bed. Theo shook her head and turned back around to stare at the coffee-maker.

She would not be picking up and moving just to placate her irrational mother. She would not be uprooting her life for no purpose, she would not be uprooting Catherine's. If her mother couldn't recognize that she couldn't think clearly, if she couldn't make good decisions, then Theo would. She'd do that much for her family.