Mirrorball

3

May 24th 2023

Erin enters Kelley's apartment, using the key Ali gave her, not having seen her sister since the funeral.

"I know it's only been a week since....but you need to get up and out of bed before your grief turns into depression." She says opening the curtains.

"Go away, Er."

"Absolutely not, but I will go sit on your couch, I want you to get up and shower and meet me out there in 30 minutes, you stink."

Kelley doesn't care enough to snap back at her sister's comment, but bites the bullet and eventually gets up to shower. Having not been shopping in months, she ends up having to use shampoo as body wash.

Putting fresh sweats on, she goes out into her apartment living room, not seeing Erin anywhere.

Kelley sits on the couch, staring at the wall for what feels like years, until her phone rings.

"Where the hell are you sis?"

"I need a little help, I'm half way up the stairs with all these bags. Give me a little help, will you?"

After the pair, have hustled all Kelley's groceries into her kitchen, they collapse exhausted onto the couch.

Erin opens up her phone, heads to notes and hands her phone to the right-back. "I know Gotham didn't give you a timeline to be back, blah blah blah. But I told them you'll be back June 1st."

Hearing that, Kelley sits up straight, "What the fuck, Er? I never said I wanted to go back to playing."

"Okay."

"Definitely not on my own." Kelley mumbles sadly.

"What did you say? Doesn't matter, you're still going back to training, your body needs it."

"Why am I holding your phone anyway?" Kelley grumbles.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, you're writing a list of all the stuff you want to do, in the week before you go back to Gotham. I'll organise it all for you, like the good sister I am."

Kelley sits there for a minute, before writing, sleep and stay in my bed.

"Kel, you know you can't avoid it forever, you need to choose where her grave's gonna be, Mom and Dad want to see you and I'm sure you could do a few things for yourself."

Hiding her face into her sister's shoulder she mumbles, "I'm so not ready Erin, it still doesn't feel real."

They sit in silence before Kelley starts to speak again, "When I close my eyes, all I see is her smile. When I sleep, she comes back in my dreams and it feels so real, I don't want to come to terms with the fact that's no longer her."

Erin can feel Kelley's lip tremble on her body, strengthening her grip around her. "Let it out."

"When I can't sleep, I try to decide what I would of said to her before she died, to convince her to stay." She cries.

Erin decides theres nothing she can say or do, and continues to hold her sister as she sobs.

After a while, Kelley's breathing evens out and Erin knows shes asleep. She slips out from underneath, replacing herself with a pillow.

Heading to the spare bedroom, she rings Ali.

"Hey Ali."

"How is she?"

"Didn't want to follow my idea at all, she cried in my arms for about thirty minutes. She's asleep now though."

"I know it's not what you want to here, but I think she's having nightmares, so keep a close eye on her."