Chapter 9
Ophelia. Then.
I woke up with a throbbing headache. It felt like my head had been split open, Zeus-birthing-Athena style. I groaned and touched the back of my head. A line tugged on my arm, and I followed the line all the way up to an IV-drip.
“You’re awake.” My sister, Aleena, sat up in the chair across from me. “Just when I was enjoying the silence.” She cradled her infant, dubbed “Squeaky,” who slept soundly in her lap.
Kira, her three-year-old, jumped out of the chair and hopped like a kangaroo over to the edge of my bed. “Auntie Ruby! You’re alive!”
“I’m alive. I think.” I touched a rough patch of gauze on the back of my head. “What happened?”
“You fainted at rehearsal,” Aleena recounted. “Hit your head on the stage. The doctors have been pumping you full of fluids to rehydrate you.”
Bits of pieces of memories came to me, but it all felt hazy and strange, like trying to remember a dream.
“I think I proposed to the paramedic,” I told her.
Aleena snorted on a laugh. “Well, you must’ve made some kind of impression. They came back to check on you. They left a card and said to call if you need anything.”
“They did?”
She handed a card to Kira, who skipped over and handed it to me.
I stared down at a black card with two keys crossed in an X pattern.
At the bottom, an address and the words: Seekers Welcome.
Friday. 7 pm. I flipped it over. No number.
No name. “Is this the right card?” I held it up.
She squinted at it, then nodded. “It doesn’t even have a number to call. It looks like a club card.”
Aleena shrugged. “I didn’t examine it too hard, honestly.
” She bounced the baby, but I could tell something was off.
Despite being only three years apart, Aleena and I were opposites in many ways.
Her features were round and soft where I had a sharp nose, strong eyebrows, and I’d been accused of “resting bitch face.” Even though she was the younger sister, she was the responsible one, the serious one, whereas I was the black sheep, the rebel.
I wore my heart on my sleeve and it was never hard to guess at what I was feeling.
She kept her emotions locked up—only someone who knew her well could identify the way she tugged the corner of her mouth inward when she wanted to say something, but was holding back.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I talked to Mom and Dad. They said the renovations on the second-floor apartment are almost done. They’re done enough, anyway. It’s livable.”
“Okay…?”
She hesitated. “I’m going to move in.”
My heart squeezed, and I felt that old sensation: like someone was hunting me down, watching me from afar, slowly but surely closing in…
Aleena and her two kids had been living in my two-bedroom apartment since January.
It was an emergency move at the time—she’d split with her husband and the split had been sudden and (somewhat) my fault.
And sure, it was cramped in my apartment, and, sure, taking care of an infant and a three-year-old on top of managing nightly shows was a lot of work, but I was happy to do the work.
I was happy to be squeezed in like sardines with three people I loved.
Now, she wanted to leave.
“Aleena. No. Why? Because of this?” I lifted my arm and shook the IV line. “This has nothing to do with you. It’s just the stupid, hot theatre. Look, this is all, ridiculous…I don’t even know why they have me here. Excuse me! Nurse! I’m ready to be discharged!”
“Ruby.” My shouting had gotten Squeaky riled up, and she rocked him in her arms as he started to squirm. “I just think there’s a lot right now. You’ve got a performance coming up. The kids are…a handful. I know Squeaky keeps you up all night. It’ll be better this way.”
“No, I’m serious. I know you think I can’t handle it, but I can. I love having you in my apartment. You and the kids. We can do this. We can do anything together. You don’t need Mom and Dad or anyone. I’ve got you.”
Her lips made a thin line. “If I say yes, will you stop trying to take your IV out?”
I lifted both my palms to prove I’d stopped fiddling with the IV line.
We lapsed into tense silence. Squeaky made a gurgling sound, settling down, and Kira started going through her mom’s purse, taking items out one by one and lining them up on the floor.
“Was he cute?” Aleena asked. “Your future husband?”
I grinned. “I’m pretty sure I hit on someone’s dad.”
The tension broke, and we both started laughing so hard that the nurse finally did actually come by to check in on me.