Home Alone

First Written    Sun Mar 22 02:53:30 2020
File Modified    Wed Feb 14 18:32:26 2024
Latest Upload    Thu Sep 19 03:09:54 2024

Solar Yem knocked once on the steel door, then ordered it open without waiting for a response. The lack of her older sister's intervention in the act was an invitation enough.

"Anna? Are you sleeping? What are you doing?"

Anna sat on the floor, her legs crossed and her eyes shut yet still somehow exuding an air that said, I see you.

"I'm meditating," she responded, the first of her eyelids waking with a scowl, or at least the equivalent deviation from her placid norm, "Or, I was, at least."

"Meditating?" Solar repeated with surprise, "Shouldn't you be grokking a geopolitics book, or whatever it is you usually do?"

Anna stood up to greet her sister. She wondered whether Solar had grown another centimetre or just looked even taller with her hair up.

"Meditation isn't just spiritual. It's also about control over the mind."

"Right," Solar noted, "You like control."

"Sunny," Anna yawned, "Did you have something neat to show me or are you just here to push my buttons? I have very few so you must be uncomfortably deep in my dress to do so."

Solar failed to stifle a reaction, "I uh, was reading about brains again. About anchor memories and how to use them like lighthouses or something. It's been a boon for my knitting and I thought you'd find it useful."

"And what's wrong with geopolitics," Anna continued, seeming not to acknowledge the change in conversation, "You seem to be so interested in your own psyche. Why shouldn't you be interested in the world's?"

"You don't have to be so mean, Anna."

"I'm not mean. I'm honest. And it bugs me when my siblings aren't."

"Are you talking about Sal?" Solar asked.

Anna cocked an eyebrow. "Why are you sidestepping, sis?"

"Kuretes says it's the appropriate response to a low kick."

"Touché," Anna noted.

"I wanted to strengthen my memory," Solar confessed, "You know, to remember the good times before everything started changing. When Sal and Dad and everyone wasn't busy with the war and all of this inane, unnecessary bullshit. I know you miss them too, An."

Anna tiptoed to give her sister an awkward embrace. Her wrists found a decent spot in the small of Solar's back.

"Solar Yem, you don't need to live in memories. Especially not when those are fake memories. Things have always changed and if they suddenly stopped changing, only then is when nothing would ever be the same again."

Solar wiped her eyes on Anna's hair before realizing she was very close to hitting another button. "Even when everything's so different, you're fucking meditating now?"

"Did you know I do my best work when I'm uncomfortable, Sunny? And frankly, I find the idea of spirituality to be very disconcerting. Now, speaking of uncomfortable," she trailed.

"Yes," Solar acknowledged, "I know the drill. You've had enough physical contact for the week and no one will ever hear about this.""

Anna sat down to pick up where she left off. Solar remembered to shut the door all the way this time.