Kris smiled happily as she walked down the street in downtown Tampa. It was a ways away from home, walking, but it wasn�t that bad. The interview had gone great and they even said how beautiful her necklace was. The only thing that wasn�t looking up was the weather. The bright day had suddenly turned gray, much against her will. Kris quickened her pace and gripped to a manila folder in her hands. Downtown wasn�t exactly big, but when the weather was as gloomy as it was that day then it seemed huge.
The bit of sunlight left seemed to beam right onto Ginger's necklace, making it shimmer. Passing an alley in a gap between buildings, she shivered. The weather was hot, but something inside made her worry. Her hands shook and her heart beat to the clicking of her heels on the sidewalk. She certainly didn�t feel like this on the way there, why did she have to feel it while walking home?
The next alley was rather thin, so she slowed as passing it. A tight hand took her arm and pulled her into the alley. It was dark there, so she couldn�t see. A glint of metal appeared and settled coldly against her neck. Whoever had grabbed her was behind her now, a forceful arm around her with the knife against her neck, while the other held her waist. �Scream and the last color you will see is red.� The voice was raspy but firm. It sounded male.
Kristina closed her eyes, breathing heavy but trying to avoid the knife against her neck. �I�ll be taking your things. Don�t try to protest.� She felt a hand start to search her body, taking whatever from her pockets. The hand went to the back of her neck, and unclasped the necklace.
�Please not that��
�I told you not to protest!� the voice said, harshly now. The knife felt colder on her neck, threatening a slice now. �I�ll make sure I don�t forget it now.� With all her fear, she took the hand and forced it away from her neck, in the process slicing her in the cheek. Ignoring the pain, she kicked him and grabbed the necklace. Then she swatted his face with it, giving him a deep gash near his eye. While he was down, she ran.
He got up almost immediately and ran after her. The years of track in school helped her out as he ceased to gain. She tripped in the heels, and stumbled so she wouldn�t fall. He caught her and began to stab her. Keeping her arms in the air, trying to prevent the glistening knife from entering other parts of her body, she overpowered him and pushed him off her. Leaving the shoes on the ground, she started to run again. She didn�t stop until she was home and the door was locked.
�Ginger!�
Ginger heard the desperate cry from upstairs in Zac�s room, loud and clear. She looked at Zac. �There�s something wrong,� she told him, and raced out of the room until she got to front door. �Oh my God!�
Kris was panting, sweat and rain dripping from her soaked hair. She had a large cut going across her cheek, and blood stains in various places around the front of her body. Zac ran down, not as quickly as Ginger had, but once he saw Kris, he darted until he was by her side.
�Well, it�s the clan here to help me,� she said with a smile. Ginger shook her head.
�Only you would make jokes right after you�ve been stabbed a few times,� she said.
"Yeah, well�
�Get up, we have to leave,� Ginger said, helping her up and helped her start to walk. �I�m sorry but I can't do anything for you. Zac go start up the car, we�re bringing her to the hospital.� He saluted her and ran off. �He�s a dip, I swear. What happened?�
�I was just walking home from the interview, by the way went really well, and some guy pulls me into an alley and starts taking all my stuff!� Ginger nearly dropped her sister, remembering that she had lent her the necklace. �Don�t drop me! I kicked him and grabbed your necklace.�
�Where is it?� she asked, trying to make it sound like the necklace wasn�t more important than her. It wasn�t, of course, but that was very precious to her.
�It�s over there by the door.� Ginger bent over and picked it up, balancing her sister as she did so. �At least I know what�s more important to you.�
�I�m sorry Kris. You know how much it means to me. You�ve always been more important than anything.�
�I don�t think I�m more important than Zac,� she said. �You need someone else. I�m not going to be around forever.� They walked through the kitchen and to the door.
�Don�t say that. I want you always around, you�re the only one who understands. He�s starting but you�ve always been there, and you will.� They made their way outside and into the car.
Ginger leaned towards the front seat, keeping Kris in the corner of her eye. She was gazing out the window. �Zac,� Ginger whispered to get his attention. �Be careful. She�s hurt pretty bad.� Ginger saw him nod. Not just to simply comprehend, but to agree with her statements in a way that made her worry. Glancing at his eyes through the rearview mirror, she saw a sudden compassion in him. Guilt flashed for a few moments, then back to compassion.
�Ginger?� She turned to Kris. �Where�s Alex?�
�I don�t know, hun. I think he went home. He said he�d be back later today.�
�Did he know about my interview?� She nodded. �Okay. I think you should call him, he said he was coming over today.� She nodded again. Kris went back to looking out the window, a sullen look on her face. Ginger could tell she was in a lot of pain, but she tried to hide it. Ginger hated to see her sister like that. She had nothing to do with her but to sit and wait. The hospital was a good ten minutes away, and to have her suffer like that for ten minutes killed Ginger inside.
Suddenly she realized what Kris was going through. Kris was always so worried about her. Her eyes found their way back to the rearview mirror. Zac was concentrating on the road, so Ginger looked into her own eyes and saw the worry that she read in Kris's. But that worry never left Kris. Ginger looked to her sister and saw it in her then. She was worried about her even in her own moment of pain. Ginger looked at Kris's arms. Her hands were stained red and shaking. Her arms had numerous gashes, trying to protect the rest of her. It was stupid to bring her in a car instead of calling an ambulance, but she hadn't been thinking straight. She would of gotten attention so much quicker, but now she sat there in pain. Kris felt my gaze and turned her eyes to Ginger. She gave her a reassuring smile, but she still sat in pain.
�So, how is she? Will she be all right?� Ginger asked Dr. Andrews, her doctor at the hospital. The woman nodded.
�Your sister will be fine. She�s obviously going to have a few scars on her hands. They were, well, messed up pretty bad but they�ll be okay. She didn�t get any deep wounds or anything to any vital organs. We gave her some pain medication. We�d like to keep her overnight to check some things out, see if we missed anything. But Ginger, I need to talk to you.�
�That can�t be good,� Ginger said, taking a step over to Zac and gripping his hand.
�I would like to tell you alone.�
�Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of him,� Ginger said. She nodded, and sat down in a chair in front of them. �Now what�s happened with me?�
�I got the results from your last test yesterday. I actually called you a little while ago but I�m guessing you were taking your sister over here. It�s showing big signs that your cancer is back.� Ginger laughed.
�Well I could have told you that! I�ve been sick for a while and I don�t get sick like that unless there�s something wrong,� she said.
"And we've also found that you've been losing a lot of weight lately." Ginger lowered her eyes. "Ginger?" She looked away, not wanting to admit that she was slowly progressing to where she had once been. "I know that you lose weight when you're on your treatment, but you haven't been on your treatments in months and you're still losing weight. What's been going on lately?"
"A lot of things," Ginger said.
"Ginger, are we going to have to send you back to�"
"No!" Ginger yelled, snapping her head back to the doctor. "No, I'm not going back there!"
"But you're showing symptoms again."
"I know I'm showing symptoms again. I know what I'm doing. I know I don't eat when things get weird. Well things have been weird lately and I haven't had the time to think about food, okay? I'm better now. They're settling. Of course I'll still have a while because of this whole Kristina thing, that's really messing things up, but I'm okay. I know what I do and people around me can see it. They know what to look for. It's not like I'm going to get so sickly that I'm going to die�they'll catch me before I get to that point."
"Ginger, I think it would be best if we put you back into the clinic while you're in treatment for your relapse." Ginger shook her head, looking away again. She gripped Zac's hand as tightly as she could, releasing her anger through her grip. "It would only be a few weeks."
"That's what you said last time and I ended up staying there for a year!"
"Ginger, you know why you were there a year." Ginger stood up.
"I'm not listening to this. I am not going back there. Do you know what they did to me there? Do you know what kind of undermining bullshit they put through while I was there? Telling me I'm crazy and that the only reason I was eighty-four pounds was because I was mental and I deserved to be locked away in an institution for the rest of my life! They don't know what the hell they're doing!"
"We'll send you somewhere else."
"No." Ginger looked at Zac, who was confused. "I'm not going. You can't make me go back there. I'm eighteen now."
"Fine, Ginger. I'll give you time to improve, but if you don't, you're going. After you visit Kristina, come make an appointment to see me so we can talk about your cancer treatment." She walked away and Ginger ran into Kris's room. Upon the sudden burst of emotion in the room, Kris looked up. Ginger ran over to her, crying, and threw her arms around her.
"Geez, Ginger, I'm not dying or anything�"
"She just spoke with the doctor and she's got a few things wrong with her again," Zac said from the doorway. He shut the door behind him and leaned up against it. "Her cancer's back and the doctor is thinking about sending her away to a clinic of some sort because she hasn't been eating."
"Oh no they're not!" Kris said immediately, putting her bandaged arms around her little sister. "They're not going to send you back there. I'll make sure of that, honey. I'm never letting you go back there."
"What's going on?" Zac asked.
"When Ginger had her eating disorder, the doctors sent her away to this clinic to get better. She was only supposed to be there a few weeks but she wasn't cooperating or whatever so she ended up staying a year. The place was a hellhole. They didn't know what they were doing and they had a lot of iffy credentials. It turned out their psychiatrists, with whom Ginger had daily sessions, were phony and the place was shut down about a month or two after she left. If anything they made her worse and not better. She had indeed gained weight, but it was only because she wanted to get out of there."
"Oh," Zac said, looking at Ginger. She wasn't crying anymore.
"Zac, why don't you go away and leave us alone for a little bit?" Kris asked.
"You don't have to be rude about it," he said, crossing his arms. "I just might not leave now."
"Zac, will you please excuse us for a moment so we may kindly talk in private?" Kris asked. Zac smiled.
"Sure. I'll go find something to do. Hey, maybe I could go to the grocery store," he said, eyeing Ginger. She made a face.
"By yourself?" Zac smiled. "Ugh! You're so disgusting!" Zac laughed and walked out of the room. Kris gave her sister a confused look.
"Mind explaining what that's about?" she asked.
"It's a long story, I don't want to get into it right now," Ginger said. She had a smile on her face, so Zac must had accomplished what he set out to do. "How are you doing, sis?"
"I'm okay. It hurt earlier but they gave me something for it. I'm just fine now. I want to go home."
"They said they'd have to keep you overnight," Ginger told her. "Just to make sure. I don't know what could possibly happen between now and tomorrow but that's what they said." Kris nodded and shifted in her uncomfortable bed.
"So, it's back, huh?" Kris asked. Ginger nodded. "Well how does it feel to actually know?"
�Like shit,� Ginger said, putting her head down on the bed. �Why is it when my life gets good something�s gotta happen.� She pounded her left fist lightly on the bed. Her engagement ring reflected in the light, causing attraction. She didn�t notice because her head was still on the bed.
�Ginger,� Kris said, taking Ginger's hand and examining the ring, �What�s this?� Ginger's eyes opened but all she could see was the light blue sheets. Ginger realized what Kris was looking at and decided not to answer. �Ginger? I know you can hear me.�
Sighing, Ginger sat up and looked at her. �Well, Zac proposed a little early.�
�I know.�
�Then why the hell did you ask me if you knew already? And how did you know already?� Ginger said, yanking her hand away from her sister's grip.
�I wanted to hear you say it. I�m still trying to register that my little sister is engaged and I don�t even have a boyfriend. I knew because I helped him pick out the ring and I wouldn�t forget something like this.�
�It is rather beautiful, isn�t it?� she asked, admiring it for the first time. She sighed and sat back. "Today has been one of the worst days ever."
"You are so right."