NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

I was in bed another day or two, but I did find out what day it was. Since the surgery Jessica’s been hanging out in the room with me, it was quiet most of the time since she was filling out paper work. It was interesting at least to watch her do that, most of the people I saw wrote with their right hand but she mainly did her left; once her hand got sore she started writing with her right hand but quickly went back to her left after around ten or so minutes. Though when she came in this morning was different, she had a mask on. At first, I didn’t know it was her, it scared me because I thought a monster came in the room.

She must have seen my face and started laughing. “It’s ok Red, it’s just a mask…”

I puffed. “Mean.”

She snickered, I felt like I was being mocked… She put her finger up which by now I figured out meant hold on and she walked out of the room. She came back in with a doctor.

He was eyeing her strangely. “I’ll have to check with the head surgeon but if he okay’s it she should be able to leave for the day. Just be sure to bring her back if he does approve.”

She nodded. The doctor walked out and then she walked over to the bed. “Sorry about that. The base is throwing a party for Halloween and I figured you should be able to at least see it. I brought this mask for you to put on that way you can at least say you have a costume.”

This was odd, not the Halloween party but her being so friendly. I still find it strange that not too long ago she tried to kill me. “Why are you being so nice. Just a month ago you almost killed me and then threatened me multiple times… I’m not saying I don’t like it’s just; it feels strange.”

She leaned up against the wall. “Well I guess he’s right, you are more mature then most for your age… I should probably tell you then.” She mumbled that to herself but I still heard it. “Human age and NightTide age work differently. For us three or four years is enough time to be and adult, but that’s because we don’t spend time growing physically, we’re thrown into the world and must mature quickly or be chewed apart. We don’t have the little bodies humans are born with so they don’t have as much sympathy for us. Well generally speaking, me and you are different, we were infected young so we had that advantage; at least I did. It also helps that we were put in female bodies, humans tend to be more protective of women… well most of the time.” She tightened her grip on her arm. “Technically speaking were twins, it looks like the change didn’t really affect that much either. I’ve been around for seven years now… Oh right, you don’t know when your birthday is… Well I celebrate mine in December since the stone for that month is blue, I decided to do this since I have bright blue eyes. Do you want to do the same?”

She asked what month I want to celebrate my birthday… “Is there a month with a stone that’s red? Wait, you just dodged my question.”

She closed her eyes for a second. “I believe, January has a red Garnet. Is that when you want to celebrate your birthday.” I nodded, still a little sore about her ignoring my question. “Ok then. “… The stone of health… I suppose it fits well enough, you recover quickly; at least faster than I do. I suppose trying to celebrate two birthdays at once would have had some issues in the first place… So, about your rank. I’m the Sergeant Major of base one. You’ll be starting off as my assistant at rank Specialist, they wouldn’t accept any lower of a rank to be my assistant but as it stands it’s nothing more than a title, you haven’t earned it yet. When we’re working I won’t be as social. When we’re not I will… I’ll take it easy on you for the first few weeks, unless of course you act out in which case I’ve been given permission to discipline you how I see fit.”

I felt a chill run down my spine. I wanted the subject to change quickly. “So, uh, how do they, err well you know were twins?”

She let out a weak laugh. “I was suspicious but it wasn’t confirmed until the blood test. When they came back it said we had a ninety-nine percent DNA match. At first, I thought that they had cloned me, but you had a belly button and there were slight differences between us. I’m what, an inch taller then you, and judging by your insides I’d say that would be because of the conditions you lived in, also with the eye color. I was told a clone would likely have been a one-hundred percent match as well… After that sunk in I started to feel guilty, I didn’t need to break your ribs. You were weak enough I could have just dragged you with me with little issue.”

I felt insulted by that. “Hey! I’m not that weak!”

She laughed. “Trust me, you are that weak compared to me.” If I could have raised my arms they have been crossed. “I guess I was making a face because she snickered for a minute. “Remember Red, I shattered your ribs with one punch.” Right… she did do that. “With the feeling guilty part. After I heard what lifestyle you had I felt even worse about what I did. It kept piling on and hit the tipping point after your cat scan. I couldn’t take the pain in my gut and started really pushing to keep you here, for some reason I wanted to try and protect you. I guess like how a someone wants to protect their little brother or sister; at least that’s the way I think of it… Don’t take my kindness for weakness, if you try to take advantage of it I will TEACH you how to respect others!” Another chill went down my spine.

She seems so kind and then has burst of terror about her. “D-don’t worry, that won’t be a problem with me! I’m a good girl, honest.” At least she answered the question though.

She gave me a small glare, maybe she was thinking about something. Then there was a knock at the door. It opened and the doctor walked in.

He was smiling. “Ah hello. I heard you were wondering about taking Red out for the day. I’d like to talk about that actually.”