Fever Dreams

Deja Vu

Nick, her sister Kylie, and their best friend Jones walked down the stairs. It had been a long and eventful day and all Nick could think of was some spaghetti and a long nap. As usual, it was Jones and Kylie, with little Nick, though she was almost a head taller than Kylie, trailing behind. 

That was how it had always been. Jones was laughing his trademark laugh, head thrown back and silently shaking, while Kylie giggled and whispered about something. The saddest thing was, Nick couldn't imagine them any other way. Nick laughed along, clueless, and Kylie turned back to give her an odd stare while Jones laughed all the harder. Nick cleared her throat and mumbled something about math homework she didn't care about.

 Kylie shook her head slowly at her, then abruptly disappeared from Nick's view, about the same time a strangled sound was heard, presumably from Nick herself. Kylie went head over heels down the stairs, papers and stationery following her like flowers at a twisted wedding before finally coming to a stop, landing with a sickening thud at the foot of the stairs. Only then did Jones stop laughing and look around, with the most serious expression Nick had seen on him in his carefree life. Nick pushed past him, her pulse loud in her ears, and nearly toppled after her sister. She knelt by her, felt for signs of life. Nick half expected Ms. Mapely, the school nurse to come leisurely strolling around the corner. If she offered Kylie a couple of aspirin, her constant prescription for every ailment, Nick would personally end her life, right here, right now.

Don't you think there's been enough death for one day? a cold and cynical voice asked from the recesses of her mind. No, NO! Kylie wasn't  dead, that wasn't even, like, possible. Kylie was, is , she reminded herself, the sun around which so many planets revolved. For several years, Nick had survived solely off being Kylie's little sister. Popular. Pretty. Athletic. Wouldn't the order of the universe fall apart if Kylie died? Nick knew her world would. 

It was then that Nick noticed the crowd gathered around, and the adults elbowing their way through. Finally, she thought. People to dump my responsibilities and panic on. She arranged herself on the floor, damsel-in-distress like.

"Oh Mr. Peterman! Mrs. Holmes! You have to help me! I was soooo scared! My sister-"

Nick was rudely ignored, her sister lifted on to a stretcher and paraded through the school before finally reaching the nurses office. Nick was left alone on the floor. She huffed. Even in death her sister stole her spotlight. It just wasn't fair.

A stunned Jones stood beside her.

"Well...that happened."

Annoyed, Nick glanced at him. This was all his fault. If only he didn't laugh so obnoxiously.

"Yeah...I guess it did."

Jones looked at her as though noticing her for the first time, splayed on the floor like a midieval maiden.  His hands were full of Kylie's stuff, he had been getting it off the steps, but he put it down to give her a hand.

"Need a lift?"

He grinned his crooked grin, offering his hand, but it didn't reach his eyes. Nick scoffed. It was an inside joke but she wasn't in the mood.That grin brought hordes of girls running, but Jones was indifferent to every girl but one. And that girl was oblivious to his affections. 

Jones waited patiently until she grabbed his arm, then helped her up. 

"Could you take these home for Kylie? I want to wait with her here. You know. In case she needs a familiar face. Ms. Mapely says she'll be fine, she has a cracked rib and a broken arm and collarbone. "

Nick could hear the concern in his voice, though he tried to hide it, and it disgusted her. Sheeshers. He should keep  his emotions under control. Somewhere deep inside her, she had hoped her sister was dead. But she squelched that feeling, afraid of it, and accepted Kylie's things from Jones. 

"Yeah sure, I'll do that," she replied, suddenly remorseful.

"Do what?"asked Kylie. Nick blinked once, then again.

"The math homework? You better, or Mr. Gastringski will have your skin." she continued.

"Mr. Gas," chuckled Jones, gasping with laughter at his own joke. Jones said the driest things, but anything he uttered turned out funny. It was like a superpower. But that wasn't what Nick was concerned about.

"You're...you're not broken?" Nick exclaimed, outburst aimed at Kylie. Kylie shook her head slowly at her weird little sister. Kylie and Jones left her and continued walking down the stairs.

The stairs.

She was still at the top of the stairs.