"Come in and close the door, Paige." Sarah didn't put any particular emphasis on her command, and hadn't even looked up from her laptop when she said it. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor between a bed and a dresser, wearing a pajama set that matched the school colors. Her long blonde hair was dry and draped down over one shoulder.
Sarah's room was huge, at least as large as Jon's mom and dad's bedroom was and maybe even a little larger. Like the bathroom, Sarah's bedroom had a clear theme in white and pink that was elegant and feminine.
The walls were an off-white color with a tint of pink, perhaps an illusion of the light caused by the light pink baseboards. Several posters hung on the walls, all level and aligned with each other. A couple of the posters depicted what looked like ballet dancers, one poster was a Phantom of the Opera promotional poster, a poster of Britney Spears in a gold and cream bikini top from one of her concerts was next to a Black Eyed Peas promotional with each member of the band in front of a different color block under their name, and a few more, mostly smaller posters filled other gaps in the wall with line art and some girly themes, like unicorns and rainbows, that seemed to be from a younger version of the girl who lived in this room.
The centerpiece of the bedroom was a twin size bed, off-center and against the far wall. It had a light pink, sheer canopy draped from a central point on the ceiling out to the corners. Inside the canopy the blankets and pillow were pink and white stripes, and the bed had at least ten pillows of various shapes and sizes. A beat-up, but clean looking stuffed, white and pink striped tiger rested on one side of the pillow pile.
At the foot of the bed was a white, wooden chest as wide as the bed. Paige stood at the door, about 3 or 4 steps from that chest.
On one side of the bed was a desk, white wood like the chest, with an oval shaped vanity mirror on the back. Photographs lined the edge of the mirror, and various bottles and brushes were arranged neatly on the desk, along with a couple of framed pictures of girls Paige didn't recognize and a very worn paperback. The chair was made of the same white wood to match the desk and was pushed in under the desk. There was enough room to pull the chair out comfortably from the desk, which would put the chair almost against the bed.
On the other side of the bed was a white, wooden dresser with some figurines and a trophy on top. Next to that was a closet door, partially open. Paige could see various clothing in the closet, and could tell that it was big, but couldn't make out much more in the quick glance. A light pink, circular throw rug sat on the floor between the bed and the dresser, where Sarah currently sat, easily removed to give enough space for 2 or even 3 people to stand side by side without being crowded.
Paige would later notice a flat screen television sat on a stand against the wall immediately to the right of the door, opposite the bed, a DVD player, a Wii and several other bits of electronics and speakers around the TV, but for now her fear of the future pushed those "geek" interests off to the side. The TV screen glowed with some reality TV show but had no volume.
Paige did as she was told, feeling so small in this house both physically and emotionally. She took a few tentative steps into the room, watching Sarah as she did, and then tried to look at what Sarah was doing on the computer.
Sarah didn't try to hide her activity and Paige saw that she was on Facebook, typing a response to someone's post. "Just a sec," she said and put a few finishing keystrokes on her comment and then closed the laptop. She adeptly rose from her sitting position, her legs and body flowing from the cross-legged position on the floor smoothly into a standing pose that she held for a moment as she regarded her new sister. Then she sashayed around the bed to place the laptop on her desk and self-consciously stuffed the paperback into a drawer. Then she turned around and gave Paige an undecipherable look.
"Have a seat, little sister," Sarah directed, pointing to the canopied bed. She waited until Paige complied and then brought the chair around the bed so she could face the smaller girl. The momentary quiet reminded Paige of the minute of silence Sarah had wished upon her. Proving that she was capable of learning, Paige remained quiet, not even opening her mouth when Sarah sat down before her.
"Let's get a few things straight right from the start, ok?" Sarah's tone was matter-of-fact, but held both a softness Paige had never known she was capable of, and a firmness that spoke of danger should Paige disobey. "You can't touch the stone. Ever. I may come to trust you some day, but if that happens you can trust me to use it for you."
Sarah paused as a ripple of pure fear tingled down Paige's spine, raising the hair on the back of her neck and turning her stomache. Paige imagined the kinds of wishes she might have made, from as simple as I wish Paige would never touch the stone again, to I wish that if Paige ever tries to touch the stone she'd drop dead! Her breath came out in an involuntary choked sob and she vaguely noticed Sarah's face soften considerably.
Suddenly Sarah was on the bed next to the scared, little girl, the older girl's arm draped around her shoulders in a comforting gesture and pulling the girls into a hug. "Shhhh, it's ok." Sarah continued to make soothing noises as Paige sobbed uncontrollably for the next few minutes. Paige unsuccessfully tried a few times to speak while Sarah tried to comfort her. "Let it out, you need this."
Several minutes later, after Paige felt loss, fear, sadness and a host of shades of these, she began to calm down. Sarah relaxed her hold on the younger girl and Paige made an effort to stop crying. Her breath came out in snucks and huffs as she came down from the emotional high of crying, and though she would never admit to anyone, especially Sarah, her older sister's comfort made a great deal of difference. Having passed through the cry with Sarah's support, the despair she felt had dulled considerably, and she had a sense of sisterhood with her new sister. This was a feeling much like she had shared with her little brother as Jon, and somewhat with Zoe, but the core of the feeling had a deeper and subordinate feeling. Paige somehow knew that Sarah would always be there like this for her.
Paige briefly considered that it might have been the result of a wish, but it felt genuine and she wasn't quite sure what to make of this new look into Sarah's mind.
"And," Sarah continued as if there hadn't been a pause, "for better or for worse, and for the rest of our lives, you are my little sister and I will never let anything hurt you." Her words came out smoothly, as if they had not cost her anything to say, but Paige heard far more that she imagined possible from a single sentence.
for the rest of our lives
