Saturday Snippet #4

And without further ado, my final Saturday Snippet. I’m really excited about this one and hope you love it as much as I loved writing it.

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The too-bright fluorescent lighting of the hallway briefly illuminated Callie’s otherwise pitch black apartment as she rushed in with her two grocery bags digging into her arms. She used her foot to shut the door behind her and then smiled at the tinkling of her cat’s collar coming toward her.

“Hey, Bobo,” she said softly, opening the fridge door. “I’ll get your breakfast in a second.”

The calico rubbed against her legs and then jumped onto the counter, waiting patiently as she always did.

Callie took a deep breath and started loading the fridge with her newly purchased collection of fresh fruits and veggies.

“What do you want?” she asked flatly as she placed three apples into the produce drawer before chomping into the fourth.

“Damn, you’re so good at that.” She heard Fan sit up on the couch and could only imagine the shit-eating grin that was plastered on her face. “I wasn’t even moving.”

The lamp on the side table switched on, and sure enough, Fan’s toothy smile was the first thing anyone would have been able to see. It had been over twenty years since the twins had first met each other, but it was just as unsettling seeing her own face staring back at her. The only real differences now were that Fan had a septum piercing and had bleached her hair again.

“You breathe loud,” Callie said with as little emotion as she could manage and closed the fridge door before glaring at Fan. “I’m going to ask again: what do you want?”

Fan rolled her eyes and stood up in one fluid motion. She looked as if she might have been at one of her raves all night, although the all-black outfit was definitely more conservative than usual: sleeveless top, long gloves, tight leather pants, combat boots.

“You promised Bobo you’d feed her.”

Callie remained silent as she poured kibble into her cat’s bowl but then leaned back on the counter with her arms crossed. She was going to get an answer, by god. Fan threw her hands up in the air.

“You know, some people are happy when they get to see their sisters after … how long has it been?”

“Eleven months, and you’re right, some people are.” Callie walked past a pouting Fan as she pulled her scrub top over her head and tossed it into the hamper next to the bathroom. “Other people just get annoyed when they break into their homes overnight.”

“Hey, I didn’t break in,” Fan protested, petting Bobo on the head. “You gave me a key last time.”

It was true; she had given her a key, although there had been a clear stipulation that Fan would at least call first. But it would do no good to remind her sister of that. Callie held the apple in her mouth as she let her scrub pants drop to the ground and then slid into her favorite oversized t-shirt.

“It’s fucking dark in here.” Fan ambled over to the only window and pulled the blackout curtains that Callie had installed when she had first transitioned to night shift, and the daylight nearly blinded both of them.

Before Callie could demand that the curtains be closed, Fan let go and then rubbed her eyes.

“You live like a damn vampire,” she scoffed.

It had taken Callie months to adjust to night shift; sleep deprivation and borderline depression set in pretty quickly, and she had regretted her decision at first. But now, she could not imagine her life any other way. She could take care of her patients without the risk of upper management interfering, and the bond she had created with the other nurses was beyond that of which she had with her day shift counterparts. Unlike a lot of people she knew, she looked forward to going to work … usually. Her enthusiasm depended upon how many days in a row she had worked. This had been her third of three nights.

“You still haven’t told me what you want,” Callie said, sitting down on her couch and tugging her thick wool socks.

Fan plopped down on the couch next to her, batting her lashes innocently. “I can’t just be here to see you?”

Callie fought the urge to roll her eyes and instead simply sighed. Fan slumped backward in defeat and propped her feet up on the coffee table.

“I just … I needed to make sure you were okay. Okay?”

She sounded sincere, although there was something she was not telling Callie. Like always. Part of her appreciated Fan’s discretion, as Callie was not sure she wanted to know what her sister did when she was not in her direct line of sight.

“I’m fine, Fan,” Callie said just as Bobo jumped onto her lap. “My life is boring in comparison to yours.”

Fan just stared at her and nibbled on her black-painted fingernails.

“You were at work last night, right?”

Callie blinked at her. “You saw the scrubs? That’s not really something you wear to anything other than work.”

“And you don’t go into fugue states or anything. That you know of.”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

Callie turned to look directly into Fan’s eyes.

“Oh, no, you don’t get to ask questions like that and just wave them off as if you didn’t ask them.”

Fan pursed her lips and stayed quiet for a few seconds, thinking. A contemplative version of her was odd to witness.

“I met another one of us last night.”

Callie laughed.

“So? It’s not like that hasn’t happened before.”

“No. Callie. She was … different. I fought her.”