Page 193 of Crew
"Hey, Kenz," he whispered a minute later.
"Yeah?"
"Happy birthday."
It was dark when I woke again, and Robbie was gone. The door was open, and I could hear the sound of silverware scraping against plates. The smell of food must've woken me, and for a moment, I was cross.
They could've closed the door. But then the fog left my brain, and I realized it was probably Robbie who'd left it open. He had a habit of doing that, and it always annoyed Willow.
Willow . . .
The small grin that had tugged at the corner of my mouth fell away.
God.
I drew in a rasping breath, and this time, I knew I couldn't keep the thoughts at bay.
It had been a weird smell. A rich, rusty smell, like wet metal. It made my stomach cramp, and I'd been biting my lip even before I opened the bathroom door. Willow's arm had gotten scraped earlier when we were moving boxes around the house. If she'd opened her bandage and dumped it onto the counter, I was going to be pissed. She was always yelling at me for leaving my toothbrush and paste on the counter. Everything had a place in her world, and for the life of her, she couldn't understand why I didn't remember that.
My answer was always the same: because I wasn't an anal, obsessive control freak. That usually angered her, but this time, I was going to be the one to explode. Willow wouldn't know what was coming her way. I was going to wave my arms in the air, stomp my feet, and yell like I just didn't care.
She knew how much I hated blood.
But then I was there, pushing the door open.
I don't remember when I realized what I was seeing. I suppose I felt something, because they told me later that I went into shock. My body shut down, and I left it. They said this could happen when a person experienced a traumatic event, but all I knew was that I watched from the doorway as my body fell to its knees.
My hand covered my mouth, and my shoulders jerked like I was throwing up. I learned later I'd been screaming.
Then I was shaking her, sliding on the blood on the floor, because it was everywhere. Thinking about it, I could feel it on my hands again. Warm. Liquids were supposed to be refreshing and cool. This was heavy. It felt no different from my own body temperature. I didn't like that. It should've felt different. Because it was Willow's, it should've felt perfect.
I stood in the doorway as I watched myself. And I kept screaming, until suddenly, I stopped. I choked on a sob, and like that, I was back in my body.
My face: dark eyes, golden blonde hair, heart-shaped chin.
My body: slender arms, long legs, and petite frame.
My heart: beautiful, broken, bleeding.
All of it on the bathroom floor in a bloodied pile.
Feeling a weird serenity, I gasped on a breath and moved next to Willow. I sat on the tile the blood hadn't touched yet. But it would. It was seeping out of her.
I knew she was already gone. Her eyes were vacant, but I wanted one more moment. My sister and me.
I lay down, just like her.
On my stomach.
My face turned toward hers.
My hand on the floor, palm up, mirroring her.
I watched over my sister one last time before we were discovered.
There was a flash of light. Someone was coming in through my bedroom--Mom. I didn't look up at her. I couldn't hear much. A dense cloud came over me, dulling my senses, but I heard her screaming, as if she were far away.
She was shaking Willow.
