All Roses Have Thorns

Sierra IV

Are you okay?? The purple message had remained unanswered for the past ten minutes. She had been so immersed with her soulmate that she hadn't realized Safiya and Maggie's friend, Erin, had left.

The girls had decided to play video games to distract Sierra. Maggie let out a yell of surprise as Safiya kicked her out of the screen. She gasped, "Rude, Saf!"

Safiya laughed maniacally, "Suck it, Mags!"

The voices and laughter passed through Sierra's head, but she ignored them. What was going on with Ri? Were they okay? The match ended and the others all let out small gasps. "Sierra!" Dema looked at the screen, "You... You lost?"

"Hm?" She turned to Dema at the sound of her name.

Safiya put down her wii remote. "Are you okay, Erra? You have no kills and you died nine times, so something is definitely up. Super Smash Bros is your game!"

"Oh, i-it's nothing. I'm just worried about my soulmate." Sierra glanced at her thigh, hoping for a response.

Dema put her remote back in the charger, "We can do something else."

"N-no, it's okay." The others didn't believe her statement, but there was nothing else to be done, for Safiya's house provided little when it came to other forms of entertainment. They went easy on her, but nothing seemed to make her feel better.

At six o'clock, they all went home. Sierra had a quick dinner of leftovers and went to bed early. Two of her brothers, the twins, were older and they tended to stay out a little later. She said goodnight to them as they came in. Her parents and oldest brother were upstate for a basketball competition, but they said she had to stay behind and focus on her studies.

She thought about her soulmate instead. Maybe there would be a reply in the morning. When she woke up, her question was still left unanswered.