The Independents

July 13th, 1990

The day was young, and the house was cold, even though it was summer. Kristy woke up first, like always. Halley was fast asleep, like always. The time always weaved slowly, when she was asleep, like an hourglass doing acrobatics as it waits to fall through the endless void that is the bottom. The end was just the beginning of the end. At least, that is what Halley Jones liked to believe, but she was cursed with the horrid quality of being an optimist. Kristy folded Halley's clothes. She always did this. This was a sort of unspoken trade between them, Kristy got to borrow whatever clothing she folded. Kristy's lips were chapped, so they peeled as she picked at them. Finally, at eleven, Halley dared to get up, and her room, like always, had been cleaned magically thanks to Kristy's obsession with cleanliness. Despite the fact Halley was two years older, Kristy was far more mature. The illusion of privacy in Halley's life was little more than a pretense which she chose to believe. The whole family knew Kristy listened in on Halley's phone calls, pining for a social life of her own, Halley just chose to ignore it. They looked alike, everyone said they did, the same pale skin, raven hair, and azure eyes, but Halley had the cockiness and charisma of con artist which naturally drew people to her. Everyone has something others envy, and Kristy deeply envied Halley her charisma. Kristy was envied her intelligence by Halley, but kids at school didn't care about intelligence. Her parents did. Kristy had the better quality, but she didn't know it yet.

"Good morning, mummy, dad," Halley greeted. "Sister." Hi, they all replied in a monotone. Halley was one of those people who possessed the rare quality of being happy in the morning. Kristy and their parents did not have this quality. Their mother smoked a cigar, and their father looked with distaste as she exhaled. Kristy smiled, as she liked to see conflict. Their parents waited. They felt every second to be a grain of sand falling. When the time finally came for dinner, their parents went out to dinner, and Halley, being sixteen, was left in charge. And, oh boy, did she lord this over Kristy. But they gave this look, a look Kristy would remember forever, and it was look telling Kristy, however subtly, that she was in charge.

An excerpt from the diary of Kristy Jones:

"I don't know, maybe I try to be too perfect you know? The perfect grades, the taking care of everyone, I just feel like such a trope. I know I have flaws, I think the main one though, is arrogance. I know I'm smart, I just feel this overwhelming need to tell everyone about it. I think it comes from living the shadow of Halley my whole life. Now, I just want to lord it over her, because it's the one thing she isn't."

July 15th, 1992

"Get out of my diary!" Kristy screamed. She ripped the yellow leather diary out of Halley's hands. Halley scratched her forearm, leaving the marks of her long purple painted nails. Kristy howled. Sometimes people get their anger and fear out by the only way they can: impulse. Later that night, Kristy was comforted. Halley was punished, and for once, Kristy wasn't the bad guy. At least to her parents. She smiled smugly, completely happy. She was right, and Halley was wrong. It was an amazing experience.

Halley had her friends over, and Kristy just waited. She waited to be invited. That wasn't the only thing she was waiting for. Everyone thinks if they wait, they will be rewarded, but this isn't always true. Halley told Kristy to go away. She did. Kristy wrote a story, and it was pretty good. Everyone has talents, it doesn't matter how strange they are they are talents, and here, dear reader Kristy Jones found hers. This is a very special time in a person's life. To find something you are really, truly good at. She smiled.

July 20th, 1992

Halley always took so long to get ready, and this is also a time worth looking at. Halley was applying one of her talents, beauty. Kristy really didn't think it could be too hard. Halley had many beauty products, all expensive. This was like the one thing their parents expected of Halley. Her job was to be beautiful, and she was. But, if they looked so similar, surely Kristy could too, right? She intended to test this theory. Vanity was a stage of life, a prelude to self-actualization, Kristy wanted to be like her sister, so she tried her products. And they all waited.

Life is fleeting, and those who have it must cherish it, because one's life can be taking away. Come join us, in this place. Life is so short compared to how long the Earth had endured. She is so old; we must seem quite childish with all our fleeting vain fancies. She must laugh all day at our vanity. She knows we all end the same. Whoever was wealthiest, most beautiful, most intelligent, or most successful, none of it matters. Not in the end.

Kristy knew she had been vain and ridiculous, and this was the harshest form of punishment, having to live with yourself. She suspected Halley didn't, and wouldn't know that for a long time, but she was used to knowing things everybody else seems to miss. And this made her smile a sort of sick smile, but she composed herself when Halley entered the room.

"I just came here into," She pulled Kristy's hair. "Do that." She laughed and ran out of the room. Kristy bounded after her. She than began to cry, but not genuinely. Once you come with us, you know tears are special. You know they rarely come truly, so you repent the lies. When you come. They ran around the house. Those are what we call independents. The ones who hurt and run and laugh and cry and the whole messy, messy business. That all goes away in the end of it all. But they sat down, and they waited. They waited for me to take them. They waited, like all wait for all their lives here, in their evil, cruel state. They waited to die.