Age Recommendation: 18+
His sister died in a car accident. She's also on his doorstep.
He stared at the two women standing on his doorstep in confusion, a half slice of pizza in one of his hands. The tumble of thoughts was bordering on panic, as his brain just completely failed to process the scene in front of him.
Firstly, the one of the pair that he didn't know was... Weird. Her hair was long and white, except for the tips that were red. Despite the impossible colour combination, his brain kept trying to tell him it wasn't dyed. Her dress was black, short and flared - matching the peaked black hat sitting on her head that wasn't exactly a Halloween decoration.
The weird witch was holding onto the back of the other woman's neck tightly, and looked incredibly pissed at her. However, the one being held didn't look like they were up for a fight. They were staring at the ground, shoulders slumped, and looked all the world like they'd just endured a parent giving them a three hour lecture.
He recognised her.
She might be mud-soaked. Her blonde hair hidden beneath the stuff, caked on. However, he recognised those little sky-blue eyes. He knew that tiny button nose. Lord knew he'd been to blame for that trembling lip enough times.
"Chris." The witch snapped, voice almost snarling, "We need to come in and have a bit of a talk. And Raquel needs to borrow your shower. You mind?"
"What... The fuck?"
The witch rolled her eyes, "I'll explain, idiot, but I'd rather do it not on your doorstep in the cold! It's the fucking witching hour. So, can we please shove this thing in your bloody bathroom and get a decent cup of coffee? Not what I was planning for my weekend, either!"
He went to move backwards to make room for them, but just sort of stumbled and fell over. He landed in the middle of a turn, hitting the wall and just barely managing to stay upright.
The messy one limped by him, turning her head so that she didn't have to face him. He still saw her tears dripping onto his carpet, among the clumps of mud and dirt she was dropping.
The witch stepped in, sniffing cautiously, and then snapped her fingers and the door swung shut behind her. She took him by the shirt front, and seemed to effortlessly drag him into the kitchen, where his electric kettle was already switched on - which he didn't remember doing.
The woman sat him down roughly at the bench, on a stool, and then she shook out a garbage bag and started going through his fridge. Chris tried to shake off the confused shock as she dumped his fresh bag of deli bacon, "Oi! What do you think you're doing!?"
"Saving your life." She said casually, "I'm Lily, by the way. Sorry about interrupting your... Private time. I really wasn't expecting this. Normally, when I get an alarm from a graveyard, it's a vampire or elder god. Just another bitch trying to get at my brother. There's... Actually no precedent for this, so I'm kinda making it up as I go along."
He looked down the hall with a pained expression, "I'd tell you that you were crazy, and to fuck off... But that was her. Wasn't it?"
"I can actually hear your thoughts. For someone whose sister just came back to life after four years, you're coping fairly well." Lily said sympathetically, as she sorted through his planned meals for tomorrow, tossing a couple of the frozen meals. "Anyways... I won't be the one in charge of keeping an eye on her. That'll be Ginger. She's a sweet girl. So... Questions? Go for it."
Chris winced, "How... Do you know who I am?"
"I can read minds. Read hers." Lily shrugged, "She's all about you. I found her sitting beside her tombstone, balling her eyes out. She... Can't speak, yet. Dunno if it'll come to her. Mostly she was crying about missing you. Remembering... Reaching for you. The accident."
He closed his eyes briefly in pain, "She remembers the accident?"
"It's going to suck." Lily said quietly, "But it's about all she remembers. Doesn't really remember anything from before. Not your parents. Not growing up together. She just remembers her Chris, how much she loved him, and... The accident."
He winced, "Fuck... Just... Fuck."
"Yeah." The woman said sympathetically, before disappearing the garbage bag with half his food. She leaned onto the bench, looking at him, "So... She's your sister, then? Why don't you tell me about her? I'm still looking into why this happened. And you need to decompress, at least a bit."
Chris swallowed, "It was my fault..."
"No, no. We're not going down that path, right now." Lily gently chided him, "Remembering the girl, not the accident."
He shrugged helplessly, "I... Raquel had just had her birthday. It was her twentieth. I'd been giving her a lift to her boyfriend's house. Th-they were going away. Didn't want to leave her car there. How am I not meant to remember all that? She died, because of me!"
"Huh. She didn't remember a boyfriend." Lily said in surprise, and Chris felt something cold crawling inside his head, before the witch nodded, "Sammy. Ta, for that. I'll just have a looksey in on... Oh. Yeah, don't tell him about this. He moved on. Married, kids."
Chris took a deep breath, "So... She's... Alive? Just memories missing?"
"No, she's still dead. Sorry." The witch said brutally, "Raquel can't heal or anything. She cuts her hand, that cut will stick around forever. Probably festering and being a danger to making you sick. So you're going to need to keep her out of the kitchen, no bike riding, basically... Uh... Girl in the Bubble, her. Huge responsibility, and unfair, so I kinda told the Council to put you on a Carer's Payment. No more work, you've retired to take care of her. It's unfair... But..."
"I'll do it." Chris said, "I get that you feel uncomfortable forcing it on me, but I don't care. Wait, if she can't heal... Is she going to uh... Rot? If she soaks in a bath or something?"
Lily shrugged, "Maybe? It's been a couple hundred years since the last zombie popped up. Uncharted waters, Chris. I need to do some research. I think she can get by a bit if she gets a steady diet, so Ginger will try some foods with her, when she pops round, tomorrow."
"Holy shit. Zombie." He shivered.
The woman smiled, and then produced one of his mugs with some steaming tea in it, from somewhere. She pressed it into his hands, "Things to remember. She doesn't remember being alive. Human. She might seem like the woman you knew, at times, but she isn't. Not entirely. Never will be, again."
He winced, "Yeah, that's going to be hard."
"Secondly, pig and person taste the same. Same-ish. You're going kosher, unless you want to wake up to her gnawing on you, because the smell gave her cravings." Lily waved at his fridge, and then looked pointedly at the piece of pizza he was still awkwardly holding onto.
"Oh." He looked for the bin, but the pizza, and its box, vanished.
The witch smiled warmly, "Now, um... Witches can tell when someone knows about magic. So a few strangers might talk to you differently. Maybe a few people you know, too. I want to assure you that the magic community has nothing against Raquel. Most want to study her, which is a bit insensitive, but relatively harmless. A few vampires might think she owes them loyalty or whatever. But you don't have to worry that anyone would come hunting her. And if someone really is that nuts... Call Ging. She'll fuck 'em up."
Chris felt a chill, "Supernatural hunters. Awesome."
"Nah. Probably won't happen. I'm the world's most powerful hunter, and this is my city, so people tend to stay clear. I'm the White Witch, and you two are under my protection." Lily said casually, like she said it a lot.
A loud groan made Chris jump out of his skin, and he looked over to see his younger sister shuffling into the kitchen. Without a single scrap of clothing on.
He could see the stitches to her chest. Where the medical examiner had attempted to undo their crimes, and repair the bigger bits of damage from the accident. Her skin was mottled. Not old and dry, but like she was covered in bruises, head to toe.
Lily tsk'd and stepped over, "Don't you dare tell me you're not flexible enough! I bought you a dress that you could slip on with one arm. Even a klutz like you would find it easy. You did it on purpose. Go get dressed, now. We're not done talking."
Raquel made Chris' heart break by emitting a timid sort of moan. However, the witch was unmoved. His sister's eyes and shoulders dropped, and she turned and shuffled away, again.
"As bad as Fan." Lily muttered.
Chris winced, "She sounds like she's in pain."
© Copyright 2024, James Milne