Estranged [Completed]

Sisterly Love

"Where is Jenna?" Kalei stood up and waited for Mar to answer.

"Last I heard, she was in her room on the fifth floor." Kalei started toward the stairwell. Mar called out, "I think it's room 520!"

Kalei raced down several flights of steps, down the hallway, past a half dozen doors, and stopped outside door 520. Kalei raised her hand to knock, but she hesitated, unsure of what she was going to say. She let her eyes linger on the bronze numbers tacked to the door. They still held a dull gleam, but the 2 hung upside down, making it look more like 550. Kalei took a deep breath. She decided to wing it. She knocked.

Jenna's voice called out from the other side, "Yeah?"

Kalei placed her hand on the cold doorknob and opened the door.

The room was a bit smaller than their old rooms, but the furniture was much nicer. There were far fewer scratches in the wood of the nightstands, and the upholstery on the chair in the corner was almost entirely intact, aside from a minor rip on the side. If someone bothered to give the room a good dusting, it could have passed for a real hotel room.

Jenna sat on the bed, legs crossed beneath her as she looked out the window. It wasn't a scenic view of the mountains or the ocean, but Kalei could see most of Downtown, and even the fence and parts of the grey zone. It wasn't necessarily a bad view, so long as one didn't mind the fact that most of the buildings in sight looked like something out of the apocalypse.

Jenna glanced over her shoulder to see who it was, but when her eyes alighted on Kalei, they turned grim. Jenna snapped, "Fuck off!" Then she looked away to the window again.

Kalei took a deep breath, knowing full well she had deserved that, and also knowing full well that she couldn't leave until she made amends. She shook off the not-so-warm welcome and said, "I just wan—"

Jenna turned her head, just far enough that her ear faced Kalei. "Didn' your foster mother teach you manners? I know Mom did. Get da fuck out of here!"

"Hey! I'm here to apologize!"

Jenna spun around on the bed. "Oh really? For what? Shooting me in the back of the head or leaving my body in the street?"

"I left you with—"

"Who? Who would my dear sister entrust with watching over my fucking corpse? Please, tell me. 'Cuz there sure as hell weren't no one there when I woke up."

Kalei hesitated. "He must've... I'm sorry, I—"

"No! Don't lie to me! You ain't sorry for shit. As far as you're concerned, I killed that man. As far as you're concerned—"

"You didn't kill him."

Jenna froze. "What?"

"I know you didn't kill him. I saw Samantha's memory. You—"

Surprise turned to confusion. "Samantha's memory?"

"Her memory. I—" Kalei sighed. "I just know, alright? And I'm sorry I blamed you."

Jenna stood up and took a step closer to Kalei. "No. You know what? It doesn' even matter that you blamed me. You know what pisses me off? That you write me off as some junkie. That you think it's okay to ditch me in the gutter the second I stop playing by your rules. I'm your sister, Kalei!"

"You're trying to turn this all on me? You were a junkie! You should have seen yourself: the way you were stumbling, pawing on Samantha to hook you up. You were nothing but a blubbering, desperate bitch trying getting her hands on another high!"

"Oh really? If that's the case, then why didn't I kill all those people in the street! Huh? Why didn't I just jump you and take what I wanted! We both know I'm stronger than you, Kalei."

Kalei scoffed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You are nowhere near as strong as me! You can't even handle your own darkness, and you think you're stronger than me? I hate to break it to you, big sis, but I passed you by a long time ago."

"Is that what you think?" Jenna stepped back and spread her arms wide. "Look at me, Kalei. Do I look desperate? Do I look like a junkie? Or do I look like I'm in control?"

Jenna's eyes were abnormally bright, but clear. Her arms were rock steady as she held them out. Jenna dropped her arms and showed Kalei her nails, which sported five wheels, spinning out of control, but still perfectly maintained.

"You think you're all high and mighty following Terin's puritanical rules. Yeah, I know Gramps has his reasons for bein' that way, but I'll tell you what. I'm not sober! And I'm not high as a fucking kite either! I have this under control. And you know what? I'm not the one suffering. Physically, emotionally—the darkness can't touch this."

Kalei crossed her arms, glaring at her sister. "And what happens when it wears off? What happens when you need more?"

"Look around you! We're in fucking Downtown! If you haven't noticed, they've got Estranged on every fucking block of this neighborhood!"

"So what? You just stay in the area, taking and taking until nothing will satisfy you. What happens then? You take some more? You're forgetting, I was a fucking cop! I've seen this game before, Jenna. You've seen it too. You may be all fine and dandy right now, but it will catch up with you and then you will be in more pain than I ever was!"

"This isn't just some drug, Kalei. This is the darkness! It's better! We get higher, we get stronger, we don't ever fade away! We're fucking young forever! And you know what? So long as I don't touch an Untouched, I'm harmless! The darkness is harmless! It's not hurting us, Kalei; it's helping us. You just can't see it."

Kalei clenched her jaw and unfolded her arms. "Do you want to be like Samantha? Killing fucking civilians because a regular day in the park just won't satisfy you?"

"I will NEVER be like that! You just can't see it."

"Really? I think I'm seeing things quite clearly, sis. Remember that little Untouched kid from the Call? Do you remember what happened to him? He sure as hell ain't going off to college, I can tell you that much. You need to take a long look in the mirror, sister: you don't have jack shit under control."

Jenna's face turned a new shade of red, her mouth forming a furious rebuttal. But Kalei wasn't interested in hearing her response. She turned and left.