Melted

Careful

-“Don’t begin to panic, Alice. Relax. PLEASE, don’t panic.”
-“YOU should stop being so…panicky.”
-“The word is paranoid, Zizi.”-I stopped for a moment and looked at her.-“I’m not panicking. You are the one panicking here! Just breathe in and out.”
She did as I said.-“Are you…”
-“Shush.”-I interrupted her.-“Do you have everything?”
She shrugged.-“I guess…”-She said a little nervous.
-“Violin?”
-“Yes.”
-“Notebooks?”
-“Yeah.”
-“You got the walkie-talkies? And the first aid kid?”
Alice grabbed her violin case and her backpack.-“I can fit us inside this backpack with no problem.”
-“Well good. The entrance it’s near.”
-“More like, ‘The end is near’.”-She said ironically. I smiled by the simplicity of the joke.
Madeline was silent, driving her blue compact car. Our new school was just around the corner I had to check everything. It's all fun and games at the play, but at backstage, I have to keep it all in order. My sister had to be chill (more than she usually is). We have to be prepare for any… um… emergencies. That bigger-problem-than-being-immortal can get quickly out of hand. Controlling us it’s not easy (at least for Alice is worst than math).  She once-
-“Axel, I said get the heck out of the car! Now!”- Alice interrupted my thoughts and almost gave me a heart attack… I even forgot what I was thinking about…
-“Ok, ok, ok! I’m getting out of the car.”- I picked up my backpack at the speed of lightning, (literally) jumped out of the car and closed the door, leaving Madeline alone to park it. She drove away, leaving us behind.-“Shesh, what a darling.”
Alice was rubbing her hands. I knew she felt uneasy. –“Hey!”- I popped Alice’s little bubble.
-“Huh?”
-“We’ll wait for Maddie here.”
-“Oh…”-She looked around.- “What can I do?”
-“I don’t know! Do something productive. Make a friend. Normal people have friends. Don’t hide inside that shell, Mrs. Crab.
-“You mean snail, or a crustaceous. Crabs cannot hide inside their shells.”
-“You get the point! Just make friends and don’t hold back like you do to everybody.”- I told her, dodging my error, so my sister doesn’t make fun of me. She gave me one of her stares.-“ I said TRY, not to do miracles.”- I looked at my left and saw a bench.-“Let’s sit there.”
-“I need to get out of this trauma. Calm yourself, Alice.”- She began to hum a familiar song that I couldn’t quite catch.
-“You know, if we get separated for a random reason, you can use the walkie-talkies.”- I said to her, trying to keep her up with my overly-protective brother features. She just ignored me, still humming that old song I could not recall…-“You never know when you’re going to end up in an alley in the middle of the night, needing my help.”
She said yes with her head, but not without interumping her song. I knew the next lines that were supposed to be there, so I said them in my regular voice (not wanting to depressed every person victim of hearing my singing)  out loud to her:

“The world forgets,
The jewel they get,
Only blood knows,
The truth not shown.”

-“You remember mom’s lullaby song?”- Alice said to me, impressed.- “And I thought you hated music.”
-“Of course I remember it. She used to sing it to us after she heard it somewhere, when we were kids… a long time ago.”- I traveled through memory lane for an instant, remembering our family, how it used to be before it was… broken.
Alice breathed deeply and exhaled loudly.-“Phew. I didn’t even got to the middle, but I already feel calm.”
-“Yeah. Hearing that song after years doesn’t make you remember better times?”
She smiled a little… a genuine smile.-“Yeah. I know I’m kind of jumpy today. I just feel this strange thing in my guts. Something that tells me this year is going to be different.”
-“And thank God you have that vision of changing your attitude.”
-“I didn’t mean my attit-”
-“Sorry I made you wait so much.”- Madeline came out of nowhere. Alice destroyed her smile and remained serious… so much for that moment of trueness.-“There are some jerks at this school that always get the parking you are watching.”- Maddie looked at us at a way it scared me… and my sister, if she still has common sense.-“Don’t mess with those guys if you love your butt…”-Her backpack slipped from her right shoulder. She pulled it back to where it belonged.-“…Don’t even look at them. Nobody has chance of surviving the year in peace.”
-“You know we can with more than a bunch of bullies.”-I told her.-“They are a group of idiots with nothing to do with their lives.”
-“I think what Maddie wants to say is…”-Alice changed her voice into a bossier one.-“‘Don’t embarrass yourselves… and me’.”
-“Exactly. You better not get into trouble, less get in a fight. I’m talking to you, Alice!”
-“Yeah, yeah.”
-“I’m not joking! If you want to fight someone, do it out here.”- Maddie wiggled her arms in the air.-“Not in there.”- She said, pointing to our new prison.-“You didn’t hear me last year and you nearly got expelled!
-“Hey! That guy was looking for that black eye when he began messing around with my violin. Do you know how much a Stradivarius cost?”-Alice said annoyed. I’m sincerely on Alice’s side.
-“Alice! I’m serious!”-She said with her hands on her waist.-“If you two crazy heads do some abracadabra trick or end up in deep trouble, three chairs are going to be waiting for us at Mr. Frederick’s office!”
-“Who’s Frederick?”- I asked.
-“Duh! The principal!”- Maddie looked for a space in our bench and sat down.-“I’m going to get all wrinkly with you two around at MY school… Why did dad had the amazing idea to assign you on MY last year at MY school?”
-“Don’t know, mom.”-I said to her.
-“What time is it? I need to get my mind on something else.”- Madeline said, looking exhausted.
I searched for my old pocket watch in my… well, pocket.-“It’s 8:23.”
-“8:23! We’re late!”-Madeline jumped and landed on her feet. She grabbed Alice’s hand, and then squeezed mine, to get up.-“We can’t be late for our first day!”
-“Maddie, relax. Don’t you see there are still people arriving?”- Alice checked her phone to prove she was right. She showed the screen, the white numbers shining in contrast of Alice’s black and green background.-“It’s 7:52.”
-“Oh…”-She sat down awkwardly.
-“That’s just Axel’s broken pocket watch.”- Alice looked at me.-“It froze years ago! Why do you even bring that darn thing to school anyway? And who wears pocket watches in this century?”
-“I’m kind of used to telling the hour by it… I forget it’s broken. I sometimes think that time can change. I have… faith.”
I looked at my golden pocket watch. It didn’t even work for a day, but I still keep it to remember why my dad gave it to me… It was a Christmas present… for THAT Christmas. It looked exactly like the day dad gave it to me.-“It’s like your violin.”
-“That’s different!”
-“No it isn’t.”
-“Yes it…”
-“Stop!”-Madeline interrupted Alice at mid-sentence.-“Can you quit it and get up?”
-“We’re not fighting.”/ “We’re not fighting.”-We both said.
Madeline got up (again), while she was cleaning her glasses with her shirt, a bad habit she developed since nine.-“Just be cool. That means no fighting, no weird things and, more importantly…”-She lowered her voice.-“…no magic of yours.”
-“But-”/ “But-”- We started to say.
-“No buts!”- Maddie said. “That’s final.”