"Hit by a car," George said, slowly. It felt really ... horrible to even talk about a world where Reggie died. Even if it was just making something up. It was wrong. Reggie wasn't supposed to die, ever.
But it was okay, because ... this wasn't supposed to be easy to talk about.
"Watch when you cross from now on," she added, irritably. This better not be something where she said it and now it happened. Because she would completely fuck up whoever was in charge of things if they did that to her little sister.
"I will," Reggie promised quickly. She was going to cross at crosswalks from now on, and not even on the orange numbers that were counting down. Because she had promised George, after George died, and those were the most important kind of promises. "Do you ... want to know how you died?"
That was the problem with lying. You had to build lies, and then more lies on top of them, and then remember everything else.
That was why she had kept it as simple as possible. George had decided that Reggie's death had taken place on the same day as her own. Everything could be substituted in cleanly; Mom's reaction, their divorce. The distance stayed the same.
"It wasn't the same thing, was it?" George asked. She really shouldn't guess 'toilet seat from outer space' right off the bat.
"It was a space station," Reggie said, letting herself settle back against her older sister. "Not the whole thing. It broke apart in the sky. They said you were on your lunch break and the debris fell down. It ... was a toilet seat."
It should have been something cooler, like a bear attack, or getting set on fire by an explosion. Although those would probably have hurt more, and she didn't want George to have been in pain.
Everybody said the toilet seat thing was fast. Maybe they were lying to make her feel better, though.
Comments 29
But it was okay, because ... this wasn't supposed to be easy to talk about.
"Watch when you cross from now on," she added, irritably. This better not be something where she said it and now it happened. Because she would completely fuck up whoever was in charge of things if they did that to her little sister.
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That was the problem with lying. You had to build lies, and then more lies on top of them, and then remember everything else.
That was why she had kept it as simple as possible. George had decided that Reggie's death had taken place on the same day as her own. Everything could be substituted in cleanly; Mom's reaction, their divorce. The distance stayed the same.
"It wasn't the same thing, was it?" George asked. She really shouldn't guess 'toilet seat from outer space' right off the bat.
Reply
It should have been something cooler, like a bear attack, or getting set on fire by an explosion. Although those would probably have hurt more, and she didn't want George to have been in pain.
Everybody said the toilet seat thing was fast. Maybe they were lying to make her feel better, though.
Reply
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