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.
"You don't have any shoes on!" Mackenzie urged, trying to turn around. "We don't have anything! Eira, please! We can't leave yet! Wendy left us supplies, we have to go back for them! You don't have fucking shoes!" Mackenzie exclaimed, trying to fight back against her sister but Eira continued to drag her down the street, tears streaming down her face.
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"Miguel is back there." Eira choked out and Mackenzie's eyes widened.
"He is? Then what are you doing?!"
"We had sex, okay?!" Eira snapped, stopping walking and turning back to look at her sister, and Mackenzie was stunned.
"Y-You had sex with him?" Mackenzie breathed.
"I panicked when it was over, it made me think of... him and what happened before and he's a fucking doctor, okay? He's better than me! He can have any girl in the world he wants and I fucking panicked and I screwed things up for us again." Eira let out a sob, locking her arms around Mackenzie as her sister hugged her first and they clung onto each other.
"We have to go somewhere, okay? W-We can't survive on the streets right now in the cold with nothing, you don't have shoes, we don't have a blanket... we can try and find Wendy's charity, pray to God she's not there and someone else is working..." Mackenzie said without pulling away from her and she felt Eira nod against her chest, Eira sobbing into her as they held onto each other tightly.
"I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry!" Eira sobbed and Mackenzie blinked back tears.
"Did you tell Miguel what happened before? W-What sex means to you?"
"No... I j-just left him there." Eira sobbed and Mackenzie sighed, rubbing her back slowly to try and comfort her."I g-got painkillers for you... they were in my pockets anyway because of when you woke up in pain last night..." Eira pulled away slowly, pulling out a box of painkillers from the pocket of her pants and Mackenzie couldn't help but laugh.
"You forget shoes, but remember painkillers for me?" Mackenzie breathed, sighing when she saw how broken her big sister was - it reminded her of the dark times when Eira was deep in her addiction. It only lasted a year, but it felt like a lifetime. Time didn't matter when they were on the streets, they didn't know what day of the week it was or what time of day it was, only going by whether it was light or dark outside.
"W-We need to find a blanket from somewhere... c-come on, we have to go." Eira urged, her fingers tangled with Mackenzie's as they walked together down the street, disappearing around the corner, blending in with the crowd of people that were busy doing some shopping.
=
Miguel slowly sat up on the camp bed."Eira?" He called, starting to pull on his clothes and he headed down the stairs quickly to see the woman who ran Elm Tree putting away groceries. "Hey! Have you seen Eira or Mackenzie? Eira said she went out with you?" Miguel questioned and the woman turned her head to look at him.
"Your guess is as good as mine! Eira comes running through her and I see her drag Mackenzie down the street." The woman said, shaking her head and Miguel's eyes widened.
"Wait, what?"
"Trust me, in my line of work, you learn a lot about people. Eira will be the death of her poor sister - dragging her away like that when she's barely recovered. She didn't even have shoes on her damn feet!" The woman exclaimed and Miguel had to remind himself how to breathe as he stumbled out of the building, looking up and down the street for any sign of Eira or Mackenzie but there was nothing there. He started to run, shouting their names, but he got no reply. He pushed his way through crowds of people, screaming for the sisters but he got nothing in response.
They were gone.
=
Eira slowly poked her head around the alleyway, relieved when she couldn't see Miguel anymore and Mackenzie sighed, seeing how much Eira was shaking, how much she was trying to hold back her emotion.
"You really like him, don't you?" Mackenzie guessed and Eira looked over at her, hesitating before nodding her head and Mackenzie locked her arms around her big sister again, letting her cry into her chest again. Mackenzie knew everything that Eira had been through, all she'd been forced to do. She understood completely why Eira panicked and wanted to leave, but her main concern was looking after her. "We have to get you some shoes... find a blanket to stay warm, okay? We have to go." Mackenzie said and Eira shakily nodded her head, letting Mackenzie support her as they started to walk, being careful to not go in the same direction they'd seen Miguel go in. Mackenzie started the long walk to Wendy's charity building, only knowing the address because it was printed on the duffel bag that she'd left behind.
All they could do was hope that it was open, and that Wendy wasn't the one working.
