Sister Dearest

Chapter 3 - A Smack of Jellyfish

Lisa swore under her breath in triumph as she turned the street corner to see Elody on her signature green bike.

Elody noticed the headlights of Lisa's car turn on, and she briefly looked back, scowling. Lisa pulled up to Elody and drove at the pace she was biking, which was not very fast.

"Go away!" Elody yelled. She pedaled faster despite not yielding much of a result.

Lisa rolled down the car window. "Afraid I can't do that. Wouldn't want to find you dead in a ditch somewhere."

"I need time to process this," Elody said angrily. "Go away!"

"Well, I can't, because you're a minor on the streets at night."

"There are street lights," Elody said.

Lisa exhaled, reminding herself that Elody was reacting normally for the bomb of news that had just exploded at her feet.

"Can you just slow down so we can maybe have a chat?" Lisa asked.

Elody ignored her, turning left into the park. She absentmindedly slowed down and got off her bike, letting it fall down in the tall grass, and walked over to sit on a swing. As she parked the car in the small parking lot, Lisa watched her and decided to go sit on the swings as well, hesitantly picking the furthest one away from Elody.

Neither of them spoke for a while. Lisa checked her phone a few times, not wanting to stay out too late, but not wanting to push Elody either.

"Aren't you absolutely freezing?" Lisa eventually asked, quietly.

Elody snapped her head up. "How are you being so cavalier about this?"

"I-" Lisa sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not the best at handling things."

"We are way past that," Elody said. "This is ridiculous. There's nothing to 'chat' about, just things for you to explain."

"You're right. I really am sorry, Elody." Lisa looked down at her hands, rubbing them together to warm them up from the chilly night air.

There's another prolonged silence. Lisa looked to Elody then back at the ground a fair amount of times. She went to say something else, but didn't get the chance before Elody jumped up from her seat on the swing and ran to her bike, taking off again.

"Dammit," Lisa said as Elody disappeared down the street again.

Lisa caught up to her shortly and decided to follow her from a slight distance. This time, Elody stopped in a seemingly random house and gently propped her bike up against the fence. Lisa called her mom as Elody walked up to the front door and knocked.

The call connected right away. "Hello? Is everything okay? Are you on your way back?"

"Um, not exactly," Lisa said nervously. "Does anyone you know live on-" she squinted to read the house number from the street. "-Seven-twenty Dalton Way?"

"I think that's Jennifer's house." Her mom said. When Lisa didn't reply, she continued. "One of Elody's friends."

Lisa squinted to make out what was happening. A girl with dark brown skin and long black braids had answered the door, already wearing pajamas and leaning on a- Is that a bedazzled crutch? Lisa thought.

Elody said something, and then the girl hugged her and invited her inside. Yep, probably the Jennifer that her mom was talking about. Elody wasn't nearly that friendly with people she didn't know.

"Why?" her mom asked.

"She sort of took off on the bike to this address," Lisa explained wearily. "I don't think she's coming out."