2006
“Try it, it tastes like chicken!”
Ada wrinkled her nose at the skewered piece of tofu her twin held out in front of her. She wasn’t sure what was up with Alice these days. First, her sister had cut her blonde hair short and transformed it into a shade of yellow that didn’t exist in the natural world, and now she wouldn’t eat any meat.
“That’s disgusting, and I’ve already eaten. Real food.” Ada pulled her calculus book out of her backpack and opened it up on the kitchen table. She hated the subject, but she had to study if she wanted to live up to the expectation that she would become that year’s valedictorian.
She tried to block out the sounds of her sister chewing, but Alice circled around behind the chair and rested her chin on Ada’s shoulder. It was no use trying to shrug her sister off when she was in a mood like this, so Ada sighed and pushed the book away.
“What do you want, Alice?”
Her sister grinned.
“Come to a party. It’s Saturday, and Mom and Dad are out on their little date. They won’t even notice if we stay out all night.”
“No.”
Alice rolled her eyes, barely visible behind the thick rings of smudged black eyeliner and three coats of mascara. She stood up straight, scratching her fingers against her scalp hard enough to make her damaged hair stand on edge like the crest of a radioactive cockatoo before placing her hands on her hips. In that position, she looked like she could be the photographic negative image of their mother.
“Suit yourself. You know, you’re wasting the best years of your life.”
Ada laughed. Is that what Alice thought? Sometimes, she didn’t understand how she could be genetically identical to this person. The derision in her voice was clear when she spoke.
“I’m investing my time. You’re wasting yours. Now stop distracting me or I’ll call Mom and tell her you’re drunk again. She’ll come home for that, I bet.”
Alice narrowed her eyes into slits behind the veil of black makeup. She turned and left without a word.
Four hours and sixteen notebook pages later, Ada closed her book for the night. She wasn’t sure how long she slept before the door of her bedroom opened and slammed shut.
“Shit. Sorry.”
Her sister’s whisper carried across the still air and brought with it the scent of cheap body spray and illicit smoke. Ada kept her eyes closed as Alice stumbled into bed, pretending she heard nothing at all.
2016
“I’m not asking you for money.”
Alice pushed her fork around the leafy greens on her plate, the only person at their family’s table to order a salad from the best steakhouse in town. Ada cut into her own medium-rare filet and watched in silence as their parents exchanged glances.
“Then what do you want from us, Alice?” Their mother’s voice dropped an octave. That’s how Ada could tell she was serious. “You dropped out of school to go live on this god-forsaken farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, and now you come to us crying that you have no running water. It’s time for you to grow up.”
Their father nodded, and his face looked as tired as he sounded when he voiced his agreement.
“Your mother’s right. You can come stay with us if you need to get back on your feet. Maybe you can ask your sister to help find you a job at the bank.”
Ada clenched her teeth. Of course, they would want to bring her into this. It really wasn’t fair. She’d done everything right, her career and her amazing condo were proof enough of that. Now her parents wanted her to risk her professional reputation on vouching for this girl who could have been her mirror image if she’d bothered to fix her hair and make sure her lipstick wasn’t smudged. Didn’t they realize she was an adult too? She had her own life to worry about.
She breathed a sigh of relief as her sister’s face took on a look of horror. Alice was having none of it anyway.
“You want me to go work at a bank? Do you even know how you sound right now? These people Ada works for are the ones destroying the world. I’ll be fine on my own, better off than if I sold my soul to get a bonus at the end of the year based on how many people’s houses I took from them.” She narrowed her eyes at the piece of meat resting on Ada’s fork. “Look at you. Blood dripping from your hands. I still love you, sis, but you’ve turned into a predator.”
Ada matched her sister’s look and put the sliver of steak into her mouth with defiance, smiling as she savored every last bit. She set her fork down and tucked a wisp of her neatly styled blonde hair behind her ear, smoothing it into place before picking her phone up from the table.
“I wouldn’t want to hire you anyway. There are people who actually deserve those jobs.” She swiped a pattern to unlock her phone and opened her banking app, her perfectly manicured fingernails tapping against the screen as she transferred ten thousand dollars to Alice’s account. “But I just sent you enough to take care of all your little problems. Because I can, and you can’t.”
Ada laughed at the sound of her sister’s fork dropping to the floor as Alice stared at her, speechless for only a moment before her jaw set in place.
“Thank you,” Alice said in a voice so flat it left no room for gratitude. “I appreciate that.” She reached down to pick up her fork as Ada set her phone back down with a grin.
“Of course. We’re still family.”
2026
Ada’s back ached under the weight of her shoulder bag as she journeyed the six miles across town to the closest train station that the trains would still stop at. She had already waited too long. Three days in her condo spent listening to announcements that things would get back to normal soon had gone by. The only change was the increase in broken windows, gunfire, and militia patrolling the streets.
She pulled her hood up over her hair and kept her head low as she boarded, trying to remain undetected. She didn’t bother trying to get a seat. That would make her more of a target. Three hours wasn’t that long of a time to stand, not when something so simple could mean the difference between a peaceful train ride and an assault or robbery.
The doors opened at her destination and a few breaths of fresh air helped purify her nose from the stench of crowded bodies that had taken up residence there. She sighed. Alice didn’t know she was coming, and there was no way for her to call. The nationwide blackout cut all communication after the terrorist attack that had taken out the Capitol and everything else of note in the District of Columbia.
Ada unwrapped one of the protein bars she’d taken with her and devoured it, forcing her blistered feet forward as she tried to remember which twists and turns she needed to take in order to cross the distance between herself and her sister’s farmhouse.
The sun was low in the sky and the crickets were chirping when she arrived at her destination, a silent house with blackened windows. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.
Nothing.
She looked around. The barn in the back might be open, she could sleep there if she had to. But everything was so quiet and peaceful here, there would be no reason for her sister to be gone. Unless she was off partying while the world burned around her.
Ada couldn’t help herself, she laughed. With the silence broken, she called out through the door.
“Hello? Alice? Are you even home?”
A shuffling behind the door turned into a crash and a string of profanities. The door creaked open, and her sister stared at her in astonishment before reaching out and pulling her by the hand.
“Get inside, you crazy woman,” Alice hissed as she dragged Ada across the threshold and bolted the door three times behind them. The house glowed with candlelight that the taped up windows hid from the outside world, and the effect on her sister's hair made it shine with the warmth of the sun.
Ada dropped her bag to the floor as she wrapped her arms around Alice in a hug that was tighter than any they’d shared since they were children.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I’m just so glad you’re here.” Safely inside, she could finally release all of the tension that she’d had to keep within herself. Tears broke, soaking the shoulder of Alice’s shirt as her sister stroked her hair.
When they pulled away from each other, Alice’s lips parted into a radiant smile. She took Ada’s bag and motioned for her to follow.
“I’m glad you’re here too. Look, I even have a spare bedroom. The guy who was staying with me left months ago to try to become an actor or something.” Alice laughed. “I bet he regrets that now!”
Ada accepted Alice’s offer to unpack her bag for her as she soaked in her sister’s bathtub, letting the cool water soothe every aching muscle in her body.
When she returned to the living room in sweatpants and a tank top, Alice greeted her with a plate full of sun-dried tomatoes and crackers. She scooped the fruits up with the crackers by the mouthful as her sister took one of three rabbits from the pen in the corner, sitting cross-legged on the floor and stroking its head.
“This is Cocoa.” Alice leaned forward to kiss the rabbit’s head as it closed its eyes beneath her. “The black one is Charcoal, and the white one is Onyx. I named her that to see if she knew the difference.”
Ada snorted back a laugh as she shook her head.
“I really don’t think she’d know the difference. You know, you can probably eat them if things get bad enough.”
Alice glared at her sister and leaned forward to press her chest against Cocoa. “I won’t. I have enough food here to last at least a year, even with you eating it. And people know me. I have friends. We’ll be fine.” She glared. “As long as you don’t try to eat my pets.”
Ada’s cheeks flushed, and she looked away. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just--”
A pounding at the door interrupted her train of thought. Alice’s eyes opened wide, and she quickly stood and dropped the rabbit back in its pen. She crossed the floor and reached under the sofa, pulling out a shotgun and a box full of ammunition.
A rock shattered the front window, causing Alice to gasp. Her hands shook, and the cartridge dropped to the floor. She fell to her knees to retrieve it.
Adrenaline flowed through Ada’s veins as she stood and took the weapon from her sister’s hands. Quickly she finished loading, and pumped before taking aim through the window.
She fired, and a man’s scream pierced the night air.
“Don’t shoot, don’t fucking shoot, I’m leaving!”
Ada sent another round through the window.
“Fuck!”
The voice trailed off as footsteps broke into running. Ada narrowed her eyes as she looked out, unwilling to relax until she knew he was gone.
She turned back to see Alice, already on her feet again. They spoke in unison.
“We need to--”
Ada laughed, letting Alice finish the sentence.
“Board up the window. And--” Her sister bit her lip and looked away. “Thanks. You handled that better than I always thought I would when I imagined it happening.”
Ada shrugged, handing the shotgun back to its owner with a smile.
“I never lost my predator’s instinct.”
This is definitely not a #freewrite, since it took longer than five minutes and had quite a bit of editing, but it was inspired by the 5 Minute Freewrite Prompt - The Taste of Chicken created by the lovely @mariannewest!
