Sister Dearest

Chapter 6 - A Colony of Bats

Elody and Lisa sat on the back porch, reading and trying to solve a Rubik's cube, respectively.

"Hah!" Lisa exclaimed, holding up the Rubik's cube. "I'm unstoppable."

Elody looked up and pointed to the one square out of place. "Pretty close."

Lisa inspected the cube. "Dammit." She said, setting it down in frustration. She moved from her seat to sit next to Elody on the porch swing.

"Whatcha reading?" Lisa asked.

Elody flipped the book over to show its cover. "'Little Women.'"

"Nice," Lisa said. "When we were younger, it was like 'Little Women' on steroids."

"Who was Amy?" Elody asked.

"What, the one who burned the book?" Lisa asked, chuckling. "My ego wants to say Claire, but probably me. I've got a temper."

Elody smiles. She didn't think Lisa had much of a temper, but she did make a lot of questionable decisions. Elody had made the conscious choice to not bring up the conversation she overheard. She wondered if she should, but decided against it, for her own sake.

What she needed was a distraction. It wasn't the healthiest coping mechanism, but it was the one she'd been relying on the most lately. Elody bookmarked and then shut her book.

"Can we go Halloweening?" She asked.

Lisa made a face. "Why?"

"I don't know," Elody shrugged. "I miss Halloween. We could just dress up and walk around WinFest for a couple of hours."

"I don't see why not," Lisa said.

It would be easy enough to buy some candy and galavant around town in costume. They'd done it before, albeit many years ago.

Elody lit up. "Seriously? Yay!"

"Of course," Lisa said. "I love spending time with you. Do you want to go now?"

Elody was hesitant, not big on spontaneous plans, but her excitement got the best of her.

"Yes!" She said.

The two of them went inside and down to the basement, pulling a big box out of storage, containing Elody's old Halloween costumes and even some of Lisa's and her sisters.

They dug into the box and tried on a few costumes each, holding an unofficial fashion show. They each decided on one and went upstairs to change.

"You're a purple bear?" Elody said.

Elody laughed when Lisa stepped out into the living room. She was wearing a purple t-shirt with a circle design on it, a matching tutu, and a purple headband with ears. She'd topped it off by slapping on some purple lipstick.

"Excuse me," Lisa said, mock offended. "This is no generic bear. I'm the purple care bear, thank you very much."

"Right," Elody said.

"What are you supposed to be, miss costume police?" Lisa asked.

Elody smiled. "I'm a vampire!" She hesitated. "Do the fangs and cape not make it obvious?"

Lisa laughed. "Yes, it's obvious. I'm messing with you."

"Nice," Elody said, rolling her eyes. "Just let me grab some fake blood and I'll be ready to go."

"You keep fake blood on hand?" Lisa muttered to herself. "Prepared. That's admirable."

Soon they were off to WinFest, fake blood in hand (and on face). WinFest was the clever name for the city's annual winter festival to help raise money for local businesses. It always took place on the first of March, so the weather was bearable but it was still technically winter.