A Rational Magic || ONC2022

Five || Infuriating

"I assume nobody got kidnapped?" Aunt Jessica says when we walk in.

"Oh, you're never letting us forget that, are you?" Lani answers, dodging past me and practically running out of the kitchen. Nobody bothers to stop her.

"Well, that answers that. You're getting along alright, aren't you?"

"Brilliant," Soren lies, because Lani almost entirely ignored him and he didn't try talking to either of us until she was further ahead.

I'm not sure why she's acting like this.

"Yeah, we're fine," I say. "Getting along like a house on fire."

Which is a stupid simile. A house on fire is hardly what a fast friendship should be compared to. I suppose they might burn quickly, but it still doesn't make sense. Fires are bad, aren't they?

I can't tell if she knows that we're lying, but she doesn't stop us from going upstairs. And I can tell Soren is insanely grateful for that.

I am as well.

Lani isn't in the attic when I get up there. Which is alright, because she could just be in a different room.

Except the only other rooms up here are Aunt Jessica's and Sara's bedroom, Soren's bedroom, a room no bigger than a cupboard stuffed so full of things that opening the door to try and find anything cause an object-slide across the landing, and the bathroom.

Even with one of Aunt Jessica's few rules being 'do not go into my room', I check it anyway, seeing it empty. Thankfully.

There's no way that she's in Soren's room, but I don't need to check anyway. He's sitting with his back to the wide-open door, head buried in... something. So, presumably, he's alone.

I don't open the cupboard. That's a stupid idea, because I'd have to shove everything that comes out back inside, and that's just way too time-consuming. Plus, there is no space whatsoever. It'd be a doubly-pointless waste of time.

I knock on the bathroom door, and there's no answer. There's no sound of running water, so I leave it there.

Where could Lani be, then?

Downstairs?

She left the kitchen, so maybe the living room?

I hate not knowing where she is. A true, honest not-knowing is difficult to achieve, though — we both know where our favourite hiding spots are at home. It makes hide-and-seek impossible, but it's nice, knowing exactly where you can find someone when you need them.

I'm not sure where else she could be, if she isn't downstairs.

I go to check, though, because everything is telling me that something is seriously wrong here.

I don't think you can have separation anxiety for your twin sister. And anyway, I'm twelve. By this time, I'd know if I had a separation anxiety disorder.

I'm worried to a healthy extent about possibly getting kidnapped, I'd say. Maybe a bit more nervous now... but it's not causing problems. I don't think.

We're not even always together. We share basically no classes now, except for Maths and PE, and I never bothered to learn her timetable.

Lani knew mine just as well as her own — by heart.

It can't be that. I'm worried because we're in a mostly unfamiliar place, and I have looked almost everywhere that comes to mind, and I haven't found her.

That is all.

Nobody is in the living room either.

So... where is she?

I don't bother saying anything to Aunt Jessica. Making her worry is probably not the best idea when we've only been here a day.

Upstairs again, I consider sitting with Soren — something inside me is begging for company — but I decide not to. It's his room, his space, and he's gonna need it to be his.

When I walk past his door, it's closed. Which decides it anyway.

It's far too quiet, I decide. That's the issue. I can't hear... anything, really.

In a town, there's always traffic and such, and sometimes it's difficult to sleep. Or to concentrate.

Here... there's none of that. It's silent, pretty much. A few clangs coming from downstairs, which is presumably Aunt Jessica moving pans about in the kitchen, but little else.

And yeah. Okay. I do not like it.

Something falls past the window, and the sound of said something shattering on the path is almost enough to make me scream.

Almost.

But I think, instead. This is the highest room in the house, so if something's falling, it's coming off the roof.

So it was a tile, then. That would smash on the path, right?

It's not windy, that's the thing. Either too quiet or too loud, that's the dichotomy of this place. That's what Aunt Jessica said the first time I asked how that could be possible.

Apparently it's like a contrast, a division between two things that are opposed. And that makes sense.

Also, the definition — when I looked it up — brought up science and mysticism, which I generally take to mean Lani's interests.

So that word pretty much sums up everything about us, doesn't it?

But yeah, the wind is pretty good at getting on people's nerves in this house. And since I can't hear it, and there's no sign of anything from the window... why did it fall?

Well.

There's one answer.

It's just... I don't like it. It's stupid and dangerous and Lani is nothing if not self-preserving.

But I go to the window anyway, wrenching it open and leaning out to see if I can see anything. Funnily enough, the answer is no.

"Lani?"

"Found me, I take it." She laughs, as though this was funny. As if it was the greatest trick she'd ever played.

"Oh, shut up!" This isn't just a game of hide-and-seek. "And get down!"

"Watch out, then!"

Like a complete maniac, she practically swings herself back inside, rolling over the chest and landing on the floor in a strange sort of heap.

"Ow."

"Idiot."

"Well, you did tell me to get down."

I don't bother to give her a response. She doesn't deserve it after that display.

Except Lani doesn't exactly have an issue with my silent treatment these days. She just stands up and goes to sit on my bed — the audacity — before saying the exact words I wasn't really eager to hear.

"I want to go to the woods," she says. "Like, an adventure! Wouldn't that be fun?"