Can three little words irrevocably change your life? Her choices will change her path forever. She becomes one of the quiet, incredibly strong, yet somehow wrongly looked upon as damaged.
Eira grabbed the plastic bag, looking inside and she saw a couple of packaged sandwiches and bottles of water. She quickly grabbed it, tucking the thin picnic blanket under her arm and she took off down the sidewalk. She was used to the looks she got, the looks of disgust, and how parents would 'subtly' pull their children away from her or even cross the street - it was like they fully believed that homelessness was some kind of contagious disease. She refused to let herself cry anymore, not when she got to where she knew other homeless people lived, men who would take advantage of her if they saw she was vulnerable. That thought alone made her walk faster towards her sister, needing desperately to make sure that she was okay and nobody had harmed her.
It didn't take long for her to get to the alleyway and she looked around her quickly to check if anybody was watching before she rounded the corner and she climbed through the trash bags that she'd placed to hide the fact that it was in use and she threw the plastic bag and blanket over the dumpsters to free her hands so that she could climb over the old, unused dumpsters and she jumped down on the other side, seeing her little sister exactly where she left her.
"Mackenzie?" Eira choked out, crawling closer to her sister, who was leaning back against the wall and she did the same.
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Mackenzie slowly opened her eyes, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips at the sight of her big sister but it broke Eira's heart to see how much worse she seemed to have gotten in the space of an hour. Mackenzie's skin was pale, her petite frame shaking with cold even though she had every layer Eira could give her over her to keep her warm.
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me," Mackenzie said jokingly and Eira smiled.
"Shut up, loser." Eira breathed, ripping the packaging off the blanket. "Here, wrap yourself up." Eira urged, throwing the blanket around Mackenzie, tucking it in around her but Mackenzie pushed her arm weakly out of it, opening the blanket and pushing it towards Eira.
"You're cold," Mackenzie said simply and although Eira knew it was true, she ignored her sister entirely and just tucked her arm back into the blanket. It was thin, meant to be used just to sit on to protect clothing from the ground during a picnic but anything was better than nothing and she'd always be grateful to the stranger who bought the blanket, sandwiches, and water for her.
"Just keep yourself wrapped up, okay? You need to get better." Eira said sternly, before diving into the bag and pulling out a sandwich, opening the package with her teeth, and opening one of the bottles of water. "You need to keep your strength up."
"H-How did you afford all this?" Mackenzie asked, her eyes slightly wide with concern but Eira shook her head quickly, reassuringly.
"I didn't steal it," Eira promised, locking her eyes with Mackenzie's. "I didn't steal it, I didn't track anybody down... I swear on your life." Eira vowed and Mackenzie nodded her head once, believing her entirely at that moment. She could always tell when Eira was hiding something, all they had in life was each other - they had no choice but to know every little thing about each other. "I was trying to buy a blanket for you and the old man behind the counter wouldn't accept the money... basically threatened to call the police if I didn't leave, even when I told him how much you need this... some woman came out a few minutes later - she went to a different store and bought this for us. She was there when the old man was saying his bullshit." Eira said and Mackenzie cracked a small smile.
"That was nice of her," Mackenzie said tiredly and Eira nodded.
"Try and eat, okay?"
"I will if you have one." Mackenzie bargained.
"You're in no position to compromise with me right now. I'm your big sister, you do as I say - have I ever let anything happen to you before?" Eira asked and Mackenzie slowly shook her head. "Exactly and I'm not about to start now, so eat." Eira urged, relieved when Mackenzie did as she was told, bringing her hands out of the blanket so she could feed herself but Eira could see how weak she was getting.
"You'll get sick if you don't eat." Mackenzie breathed.
"I know, and I'll eat after you," Eira promised, leaning over and kissing her temple but she could feel just by that kiss alone how much Mackenzie was burning up.
"Good, because I don't know what I'd do without you," Mackenzie said and Eira pulled her sister into her side, Mackenzie laying her head against Eira's shoulder as she nibbled on her sandwich.
"I don't know what I'd do without you either." Eira breathed, blinking back tears as they sat together, hidden by the dumpsters and trash.
