Sister, Sister

Anita Blake smiled to herself as she listened to her best friend Willow talk at the end of the line.

"So, it turned out that he liked her, but didn't want anyone to know...weird, eh?"

"Yeah." Anita twisted a strand of hair around her finger absent mindedly. She couldn't concentrate on what Willow was saying. She was too caught up in thought about the new green-eyed boy in her math class.

As if on cue, Willow spoke up, "So, I talked to Brian after school..."

Anita perked up, "Really? What's he like?"

"He's adorable. We're going to the movies tonight."

Anita's heart fell, "Oh."

There was a silence on the end of the line, then Anita heard her best friend laugh.

"I thought you'd be happy. I mean, you did seem to be sort of starry-eyed over him today. I promise you can sit beside him."

"You mean I'm coming?" Anita said blankly. "Why in the world would you want a third wheel?"

"It's not a date, silly! A bunch of us are going. Duh." Willow laughed, and Anita smiled. She could practically see her friend's eyes rolling dramatically as they always did.

"Well, that sounds great! What time?" Anita asked, grinning to herself.

All at once, her grin vanished.

"No!" she moaned in the middle of Willow's explanation.

"What?" Willow said, and Anita slapped her forehead loudly.

"I have to babysit tonight!"

"Oh no. You can't bring the brat?"

"Nope. Caprice is scared of crowds."

"And real sentences. Has she stopped speaking like Shakespeare yet?"

Anita sighed. Her little sister, of the difficult age of ten, had been going through many vast stages lately. The most recent one: speaking only in rhyme. At first it was cute, but after the first week, it had become very, very tiresome. Only yesterday Caprice had gotten a note home from school from her math teacher, saying that "one" didn't equal a "tonne" and that she'd better shape up unless she wanted a failing grade in arithmetic. Anita's mother didn't take this note very well.

"You'd better shape up or ship out! If you fail math because you refuse to talk normally then I'm taking you to a psychiatrist!"

Little Caprice had replied with, "I couldn't share a care, mother," and had run off to her room.

"She's still at it, and it's getting her in big trouble," Anita sort of smiled. In the past week her parents had yelled at Caprice more than they had ever yelled at her all her life. Of course, that wasn't much. Caprice had always been the favourite, with the big brown eyes and mop of curly blonde hair and the smile that could charm a fish out of its fish bowl. She had a long list of vocabulary and a very sophisticated look to her that many thought that she was a very short teenager.

Just then, Caprice raced inside the room and shouted, "Mom needs the phone, but I wish she wouldn't leave me alone!"

Anita rolled her hazel eyes and covered the mouthpiece of the phone.

"Mom! Do you need the phone?" she called.

"No, dear! I'm getting ready!"

Anita smirked at her little sister triumphantly, then continued to talk to Willow until her mother came up and announced that they were leaving.

Once Anita was off the phone, her mother smiled at her.

"You take care of her now, Anita. We know we can trust you." Her mother kissed her cheek lightly then knelt down to hug her younger daughter.

Just as Anita's father was about to shut the door behind them, he poked his head in and winked at Anita. "Don't kill each other?"

Anita nodded and formed a halo around her head with her hands. Caprice continued to sulk.

"Bye, Dad."

Immediately after the door had shut, Caprice turned to Anita.

"Take me for a walk, and don't forget to lock."

"Why do you want to go for a walk?"

"Just come, you bum."

Anita grabbed her jacket, and pushed Caprice out the door.

Once they had reached the beach that stood about one hundred metres away from their two storey house, Caprice clutched the ring that she had gotten for her grade five graduation and began to sing.

"As I wander down these streets,
My heart continues to beat, to beat,
As I wait along the sand
I think of my sweet golden band.
Looking round and feeling wise,
I cannot help but feel surprise
At your lovely skin so fair
And your hands, so tender with care.
The leaden skies are full of birds
They're waiting here to be heard.
Hark the Herald, Angel's sing.
To the glory of this golden ring."

Anita stared at her sister for a moment, then looked up at the sky, which indeed looked as black as lead.

Our parents are both business people, she thought miserably. Where in the world did she get the description gene from?

As they headed back towards the road, they heard a loud crunching sound.

Anita instinctively grabbed Caprice's hand, and whirled around, then covered her mouth in horror. A mere twenty feet away from them, a large chunk of metal ,which looked like it used to be a car, was wadded up like a discarded piece of paper. Caprice gasped beside her, and Anita covered her sister's eyes.

She ran over to the scene, still holding Caprice's hand, and screamed, "Help! Somebody, call the police!"

She covered her sister's eyes again, then turned her around and told her to sit on the curb. Caprice, for once, stayed silent and did what she was told as Anita ran up to the closest house. She rang the doorbell insistently until a boy with brown hair and emerald green eyes opened it, looking slightly alarmed.

"Brian! What are you doing home~" Anita gasped, then remembered why she had rang his doorbell in the first place. "Call the police, there's been an accident! Right outside~"

Brian looked behind her and his eyes widened. He rushed inside and grabbed his cordless phone.

Anita ran back over to her sister, who was sitting quietly, rocking herself on the curb.

"Caprice, are you ok?" she said, flopping down onto the pavement beside her silent sister.

Caprice merely nodded, but looked up at Anita.

"Is the lady going to be ok?" she said finally, as the paramedics arrived.

Anita didn't have time to answer, however, because it was then that a policeman was at her side.

"Excuse me Miss, but I'll have to ask you to leave~"

"I was a witness," Anita said firmly, pulling up Caprice with her as the policeman got a pained look.

"You two are the only witnesses?"

"Yeah, I think so."

" My name is Officer Welch. What happened?"

"I just heard the screech of the tires, then the loud, crunching noise. We were facing the other way," Caprice said quietly, and Anita studied her. Something seemed different about her sister, something more than the fact that she had said a sentence that wasn't in rhyme. She seemed somehow... subdued. She suddenly looked very young.

"Officer, if you don't mind, I'd like to bring my sister home," Anita said calmly, and he nodded.

"Where do you live?"

"Just a few houses away. If you'd like to question us, I'd prefer you'd do it there." she said, still holding her sister's hand.

Just then, there was another screech of tires, and there pulled up a sleek, black car nearly right beside the yellow tape that had already been put up around the car. A woman got out of the car quickly and ran over to the tape, screaming, "Wendy! Wendy, please live! Please, God, please!"

Anita couldn't pull her eyes away as the woman was restrained by officers. "That's my sister!" she was screaming. "Let me see Wendy! She's my sister! God, Wendy! I'm so sorry about Mark! He didn't do anything wrong! I love you! I love you!"

Anita felt tears spring to her eyes as Officer Welch started to pull them away.

"Nothing you need to see..." he said quietly, and Anita didn't resist.

Once they had entered the house, Caprice sat down next to Anita at the kitchen table.

"May I use your washroom?" Officer Welsh said, his face looking very tired. After Anita guided him to the first floor bathroom, she sat down beside her unusually silent sister.

"Anita?" Caprice finally said, and Anita looked at her. Something was definitely wrong.

"Yes, Cappy?" Anita hadn't used the nickname since Caprice was about seven years old.

"I...I love you."

Anita couldn't stop the flood now. She grabbed a tissue and sniffed, "I love you too, Cappy. I really do," and with that, she threw her arms around her sister, sobbing.

Once Officer Welch returned, they managed to stop their tears long enough to answer some of his questions. Just as he was about to leave, the front door opened with a bang.

"Anita! Caprice! Are you here!?" Anita could hear her mother's voice ringing down the hallway, and she called back, "In the kitchen, mom."

"Oh, honey, why is there a police car in the driveway?" her mother said, then entered the kitchen. After introducing herself to Officer Welch, she demanded for him to explain what happened. When it was over, she hugged Anita and Caprice tightly.

"I'm just so glad they're all right," she said to Officer Welch, wiping away a tear, and Anita caught her sister's eye.

She knew everything was more than all right. From now on, everything would be much, much better.

The next day, she received a call from Brian, explaining why he hadn't been able to go to the movies, that he hadn't wanted to go without "the whole group" She got another call from Willow telling her how bad the movie had been and asking about what had happened. And, finally, there was a call from Officer Welch, informing her that Wendy, the woman from the car accident, was in good condition at the local hospital and that she had made up with her sister right after she had come out of a very short coma.

Anita shared this with her family, overjoyed, and gave her sister a huge hug.

"Promise me that you'll never get in a car accident, Anita," whispered Caprice, and Anita nodded, holding back tears.

"I promise if you do, Cappy."

"I promise. Honest."