Beats and Breaths-Lifelines

Chapter 9

"OUCH!" Shan shook out her finger, biting her tongue. A drop of blood sept into the ragged brown shirt she was trying to mend. Grabbing her old, dirty towel, she attempted to clean her swollen finger that she had just poked with the slightly rusty needle. Her day had been fairly awful, and this was not making it much better. Seeing as this was one of her only shirts, she gritted her teeth and tied the last seam.

Holding it up, she noticed that she had accidentally sewn a piece of the back to the sleeve.

An amatuer mistake.

Huffing, she tossed it aside, jumping to her feet the very moment the door slammed open.

In the door stood Frederik, beaming. His mood seemed to accurately reflect the perfect opposite of hers.

"Shan, Shan! It's happened! It's true!"

He grasped her hurt hand, and twirled her around. She promptly tore it away and landed on her bottom with a painful humph!

Frederik seemed to finally notice her mood, and never did his smile fade. In fact, it widened.

"Shan! Oh, get up, Shan! We can go! We're free!"

"Free." Shan stood, dusting off her sleeves.

A small crease crinkled his brow.

"What's wrong-"

"Nothing!" She snapped, plopping back down on the hard couch. Some tiny part of her protested that she was being unreasonable. But she couldn't bring herself to care. Her day sucked. It was awful. Her stupid boss-

Frederik tilted his head, reaching toward her arm, which she yanked away.

A ghost of a smile still tainted his lips, and so she forced her shoulders to relax and to unclench her jaw.

"What's great?" She said quietly, trying to force some enthusiasm.

Sighing, he plopped down next to her.

Shan's nose wrinkled; he smelled strongly of dirt, gas, and blood.

"You've changed, you know that?"

Blinking, she looked up at her brother. Her first instinct was to protest-but he was right. It was true. Without her Lifeline...She felt a little hollow.

Like she couldn't control her own thoughts.

And if her mind was her only weapon, then what did that leave her to rely on?

Shan lowered her eyes. He was right.

But then again...So had he.

"It's this-this blasted Snuffer!" She kicked at an old pan laying haphazardly across the ground.

Oddly, Frederik's smile came back in full force.

He jumped up again, startling Shan.

"The Snuffer! The Snuffer, Shan!"

"What about him!" Her temper rose

again.

"He's gone!"

The blood drained from her face. In a small, hushed voice, she whispered,

"He's...He's gone?"

"He's gone!" Frederik cried, throwing his hands up in the air. Her mouth dropped open.

"Gone?" Shan's voice got stronger. "Gone! GONE!" She screamed.