Spliced

“Are you alright?” Nolan’s gruff voice asked, right next to her cheek.

Katrina gave a start. She pulled the phone away from where it was still pressed against her ear. “Huh?”

“I asked are you alright?” His brow was furrowed. He watched her suspiciously.

She was back in real world but what had happened while she had been gone?

She’d stayed standing obviously, even the phone had still been at her ear.

“Oh, no, no, I’m alright.” She fumbled to get the phone back to her ear. “Hi mum, yes, yes I’m here. Of course I was listening.” If she pretended to Perri’s dad like her mum’s imaginary droning on was what had made her space out then maybe she’d get away clean. “Yes, okay, I’ll wait here.”

Katrina hung up the phone then registered what she had just said. Shit! Why had she said that she’d wait here? She obviously wasn’t getting anything out of this guy’s head. She should have said something that would let her walk out the front door. She supposed she could just leave, it wasn’t like he was physically stopping her. But it would be rude. Katrina couldn’t quite bring herself to be rude.

He was still giving her a strange look. After a moment of awkward silence he asked, “Do you want a drink? We have water.”

“Actually, can I use your bathroom?” she asked. Somehow the idea of sneaking out a window felt less rude.

He grunted and pointed. “Second door on the left.”

“Thank you.” Katrina scurried a toward it, passing by what she now knew to be the kitchen door on the right and trying not to think about how familiar this section of a hallway she’d never physically walked down now looked to her.

She shut the bathroom door and leaned against it with a sigh. Then she looked down at herself, checking she was still all her. She was relieved to find all was as she remembered it. She turned her attention to her surroundings.

This was one of those bathrooms that contained everything in one room, toilet, shower tub, and sink. It was painted a nice olive green, a little chipped in places up near the ceiling but still vibrant in colour. Unfortunately, the window was one of those tiny little ones that only opened an inch, too small for anyone to climb out.

Katrina pulled the toilet seat lid down and sat on top of it. She leaned forward, her dark hair gracing the tops of her bare knees. Now what?

She could hear him out there, from the creaking of the hard wood floors. He was moving about nearby.

She took in a deep breath and considered things. So she hadn’t found the memory she had been looking for, but she had figured out how to get back out. It had been scary, a little traumatising even, but all in all she was fine. It hadn’t gone so badly and if she let something so small scare her off then she would never master this skill. Mindwalking was one of the most sought after magics. Well, maybe after psychic magic but that was rarer than finding a naked porcupine.

He was close enough to her here that maybe she could try again? If she was careful. She just needed something solid to tie her to this world. She looked around the bathroom, searching for something she could use to ground herself. The soap on the bathroom sink caught her eye. That was something with a distinctive texture.

She checked the time next. It appeared she hadn’t actually been gone that long. Somehow even less time had passed than she’d thought, only minutes since she’d entered the house. How long would it take before her aunt got worried? She figured one more try and then she’d think up an excuse and leave.

She picked up the soap and reached out for the nearest mind. She’d intended to sit down again before she got fully into it but she’d barely even registered the feel of someone’s thoughts before she found herself pulled in and completely submerged in another world.

She curled her fingers into her hands over and over but she could no longer feel the soap. A quick glance around showed her that she was still in the bathroom, but was it just her or did the mirror seem a little taller?

She looked up. A new face stared back at her, brown eyes and a smattering of freckles, not her own, nor the one she’d shapeshifted it into, but a child’s face. Not Perri but her sister, the middle one, the one who’d started the frosting fight. Katrina hadn’t known her name, but she did now. It was Amy.

Katrina, in Amy’s body, looked down at herself. She was in what looked like pyjamas, pink ones, long sleeved but slightly too small so the ends of her arms stuck out just enough for Katrina to get a glimpse of some strange marks. She pulled the sleeves up. They were circular and looked like tiny little burns.

Katrina frowned and looked at herself in the mirror once more. Weird, it seemed like she had more control in this mind than she had in the other, or had Amy done those things too? Perhaps Amy’s own memory was influencing Katrina’s thoughts?

She glanced toward the bathroom door, wary but curious. She bit her lip. The door was bigger, intimidatingly so. How old was she? Perri was about 10, this girl must be younger by a year or two. Without really consciously thinking about it she left the bathroom and made her way into the living room.

He sat there, her stepfather, in a chair watching television. It was up loud, too loud for sleeping. It was why she’d awoken.

He glanced up as she entered.

“Briana?” Hope in his voice, followed by disappointment. “Oh, it’s you, Amy?” A moment later he spoke again in a different voice, a tone she couldn’t quite figure out. “Why don’t you come over here and sit on my lap?”

She went to him, slowly, hesitantly. He’d asked this before. Usually he just stroked her back and her hair. Sometimes he patted her legs but when he did that she’d always bare her teeth and growl at him and pretend to be a bear. It always seemed to make him stop, except for a couple times when he’d suddenly grabbed her wrist and pressed his cigarette into her arm, like he sometimes did when she’d been naughty. Mum had told him to stop that but she never said it very fiercely. Her mum wasn’t a very good bear. That was probably why he kept doing it.

But he didn’t have his smokes out tonight. She hadn’t seen him with them in a whole week now. He’d been wearing that funny looking patch on his arm instead. It wasn’t good to refuse his request so she did as he said and hopped up onto his lap. Usually he’d get bored after a bit and push her off.

He smiled and continued watching the television as his fingers tickled her back. For awhile they sat there like that in silence. Then his hand dropped to her knee. She squirmed and considered getting down but he didn’t like it if she got off before he told her to.

But as his hand started to move up higher she pulled her hands up like little paws and growled at him.

“Grrr.”

He turned his eyes form the television with a frown. The hand he had on her back slid up until it clutched the back of her neck. He held her there as his other one reached up and gripped her jaw from the front. It wasn’t a hard grip but she didn’t like it. His fingers traced their way across her lips.

On a sudden impulse she leaned forward and bit him, right on his thumb.

He growled. He was an angry bear. Then he smacked her in the face.

For a moment the world spun and then she was on the floor, her wrists hurting from the way she’d landed.

“You’re nothing like your sister,” he growled.

She could hear the chair creak as he started to get up.

Without looking back she sprang to her feet and ran toward her room. She dove under the covers and there she stayed, safe in her cave. He might come in later, but he never went to her bed. He always went to Briana’s.

The room outside the covers seemed to suddenly grow brighter and then dim again. It did that several times before she risked a peek. It was night still but something was different. She was still in her pyjamas, the blue ones with the little bear on the front. She looked around the rest of the room. Her stuffed family of teddies was sitting where they usually were. This was her room, hers and Briana’s.

She looked over to where her sister slept but the bed was empty.

The next thing she knew she was standing in their living room wearing her day clothes, although she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten there, and wasn’t there something else she was forgetting? Somewhere she was supposed to be?

Her older sister, Perri was sitting in an armchair in the corner, tucked up reading a book, keeping out of trouble as usual. Amy was the troublemaker, she knew that.

Her mum was folding laundry not far away. Her step father was sitting in his chair watching TV. Briana was at his feet making something with paint and glue on the glass coffee table.

Amy just stood in the doorway feeling like she wasn’t supposed to be there. But where was she supposed to be? Why hadn’t they noticed her yet?

She watched as her sister stood up holding something.

“Look mum...” she started to step across their stepfather, who sat between Briana and their mum.

He scowled as she covered his view of the TV.

“For goodness sakes, child, get out of the way!” He shifted his leg, just slightly but intentionally. Amy could see that from where she stood. As Briana put her foot down, her stepfather’s leg knocked into hers. It upset her balance. Their legs somehow all caught together. She fell backwards and right through the glass coffee table.

Amy was certain she would never forget that horrible sound her mum made, not quite a scream but a cry. Or her stepfather’s words.

“Get up, you lazy girl! Stop just lying there.”

But Briana couldn’t get up.

“It was an accident,” her mother said later.

Time seemed to fly by and Amy just stood there. When she next looked down she found her clothes were bloody and she held in her hand a sponge and a bar of soap.

Soap. Wasn’t there something she was forgetting? She tried to remember.

Then she was back staring into the bathroom mirror, brown eyes looking back at her. Standing in her pink pajamas. She studied her arms, the marks burned into her skin. Then she turned toward the door. The TV was on too loud so she went to the lounge. He was there.

“Briana?” Hope in his voice, followed by disappointment. “Oh, it’s you, Amy? Why don’t you come over here and sit on my lap?”