BROKEN (Herophine Fanfic)

2

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After half an hour of running through flash cards, I give up on studying.

My head is pounding.

My heart is twisted.

My body is humming with nervous energy.

Josephine is back.

How the hell am I supposed to concentrate on anything else?

For a long time, I tried to make sense of why she left.

I drank too much. Fucked too many strangers. Read the note she left too many times.

Somewhere along the line, I gave up on clarity.

It was just like with Titan.

The more I tried to understand, the less sense everything made.

So I pushed her to the back of my thoughts.

Tabled the question eating at my guts.

Focused on acing med school. On pumping iron. On taking care of my siblings.

Now...

She's the only thing in my head

The surprise in her eyes.

The awkward smile.

The silver makeup.

So much like my Josephine.

But that girl...

No, she would walk around a store to avoid an awkward conversation.

She'd walk around the planet to get her way.

My thoughts scatter as I drive home.

I turn the radio to KROQ. Let an overplayed Red Hot Chili Peppers song fill the space.

Usually, the station is a pleasant distraction. It plays Josephine's favorite band too often, but it's rock-ish music and the DJs refrain from using that peppy radio voice.

Right now, the familiarity is more than I can take.

This isn't Under the Bridge filling my car.

It's memories of a hundred drives with Josephine in the passenger seat.

Her fingers intertwined with mine.

Her hair falling in front of her blue eyes.

Her soft pinks lip moving in time with a song she claimed she hated.

My mental image of her gets bigger.

Brighter.

By the time I pull into the driveway of my parents' place, she's more luminous than the sunset.

The orange glow is nothing compared to her laugh.

Nothing is.

Inside, my little sister Mercy is sitting on the couch in her usual outfit—

skinny jeans and a navy UCI hoodie with gold letters. She pushes her glasses up her nose. Twirls a long, dark strand as she stares at her Kindle.

She's eighteen now.

An actual adult.

But she'll always be my baby sister.

I moved back in a little after Josephine left. I didn't want to be there and Mercy needed me here. Our parents have always spent half their time on business trips, but after Titan... they're barely around.