The Curses of Penny and Phaedra

Part 2: To See And Be Sighted; 13 years later

Penny ran her fingers through her hair and kept her shoulders hunched, head bowed, hoping she was low enough to be out of sight. She was crouched beneath the windowsill of the kitchen, trying to listen to the argument that was taking place between Phaedra and their mother. "What do you expect from me? No one can see me! You've always pretended that I don't exist! To everyone in this wretched town Penny's your only daughter!" "I have never pretended that you don't exist!" Parisa said to her daughter. Penny could hear them pacing about the kitchen. "To everyone else besides us you do." Phaedra insisted. "That's because there's no way to explain an invisible child! No one would ever believe it." "You've never tried to explain it to them! I could show them. I am the proof!" Phaedra said. "No!" Parisa said. "You have no idea the consequences that could bring.  They may regard you as a freak, an oddity-" "I already am a freak and an oddity!" Phaedra shouted. "Phaedra-" "No! You won't even try! You never do." Penny heard Phaedra's footsteps thumping away as she ran from the room. "Phaedra?!" Parisa stumbled forward but she couldn't follow; she couldn't see Phaedra and wouldn't know where she had gone. This was a phenomenon that Penny was very much familiar with, because she was blind. She couldn't follow anyone at the speed they chose if they wanted to get away from her. But the fact that no one could actually see Phaedra, that she was inexplicably out of everyone's sight was a strange concept to her. Of course none of that mattered to Penny; Phaedra was just same as everyone else in her eyes, since she saw nothing anyway. She heard the front door open and Phaedra's footsteps nearing her position. She crouched down further, panicking, but Phaedra was closer than she'd estimated and next thing Penny knew she was settling down next to her. "Scoot over." Phaedra said, tapping Penny's shoulder. Penny moved and Phaedra nestled in beside her, taking her hand. Touch was a big thing between the sisters; it allowed Penny to have reassurance that she wasn't there alone, and it helped Phaedra to feel that someone saw her, even if it was a different way than normal. She always had a hand on her sister's arm, one way or another. "Did you listen the whole time?" Phaedra asked. Penny nodded, feeling her cheeks flush with the embarrassment of being caught. "What did you think?" Penny shrugged, waiting for her sister to say how she felt. "It's true though, what I said." Phaedra said, bitterly. "No one thinks I exist. She never talks about me. She doesn't think about me outside of this house-" "She does try. There's hardly a way to explain you." Penny spoke up at last. "It's absurd!" Phaedra exclaimed. "Phae..." Penny reached out to take her other hand. Phaedra wriggled her hand away for a moment in irritation, but relented, giving it back to Penny. "It just..." "I know." Penny sighed. "But you can't blame her for what Viler did. She's trying the best that she can with us." "So you agree with her?" Phaedra demanded. "I'm agreeing with you." Penny said. "But I understand what she feels. And it's hard to deal with both of us all the time, and our circumstances." There was a pause. Phaedra leaned her head on Penny's shoulder and they sat that way for a while.