Orange Juice

Chapter Twenty-Four

  Lizzy felt weak. The more she walked, the weaker she felt. The more she replayed the recent events over in her head, the weaker she felt. The feeling of weakness consumed her, choking her up and buckling her knees, making it harder and harder to get home.

 It killed her more than a bullet in the head ever could.

 Then she came to the realization that the mere feeling of weakness was in fact her biggest weakness. The inability to change something, defy something, or do something of her own will was her weak spot. Having to adapt to what fate chose for her was her weakness.

 She remembered the night at the garage when she and Sunny sat on the orange couch beyond midnight just talking to one another. She remembered the conversation they had about fate back before she knew it would be this painful.

 The truth in Sunny's words angered her; that fate is written, and changing fate is a part of it and there is in fact no actual way to alter or defy fate.

 It did not satisfy Lizzy. If fate was really written in the stars, she wanted to become the sky so that she could rewrite it herself. She wanted a better destiny than what God had given her. She did not want to live by god's decision, she wanted to live by her own.

 But she couldn't. And she should have known so the moment her father had kicked her out to the streets. Yet for a moment, she hoped the stars had mercy. For a moment, she got lost in the hazel orbs and the dimpled smile.

 For a moment, life was more than a cycle waiting to end; it was a ride. A fast, energetic ride speeding seamlessly through the setting sun. Seatbelts unbuckled, yet there was no fear of falling off, even when the nearing end of the road was broken. And only when it reached a few meters away did she stop the ride to walk home, knowing well how fun it would have been to jump right back and throw her hands in the air for just a few seconds longer. But the further she rode the closer she would get to falling off the edge and the closer Sunny would get to falling off the end with her.

 The weather seemed colder, or maybe it was just Lizzy's own body temperature that had dropped. She was walking alone in the hungry streets of the night, not even bothering to grasp her red multi-tool in her hand like she always would in such a situation.

 She did not care, even if she were to be kidnapped right then and there, she simply would not care less. She just walked under the light of the stars that she cursed, her arms wrapped around her trembling torso.

 Finally reaching her home, Lizzy banged four consecutive times on the garage door with the last bit of energy she could muster from within her.

 After barely a few seconds, Sash lifted the metal door, ready to welcome Sunny and Lizzy back home from their little drive. His face, however, immediately dropped cold when he read his sister's tear-drenched face and trembling body. Without Sunny.

 "What's wrong?" He asked in grave concern, placing his hands on either of her slumped shoulders while he searched for an answer in her glossy eyes.

 Lizzy did not even know where to start, and so she said nothing at all. She just threw her arms around her brother and sobbed heavily into his shoulder, staining his red tank top with her salty tears.

 "Everything." She managed to say through a sob.

~

 Sunny did not usually cry, or at least never this heavily. Her head was leaned against the steering wheel while her body heaved up and down.

 She did not know where to go. She wanted to call her parents and cry to them, but none of them would be awake considering the difference in the time zone.