The next morning, Sarah McMillan woke up, and shook her sister Zoe awake, as well. Sarah somehow knew that she was going to be working with her mother that afternoon, and didn't need to be awake early. But Zoe still had school, and having fallen asleep in Sarah's room, was not roused by the alarm that was set in Zoe's room.
And like a good big sister, Sarah made sure that Zoe was awake and ready and on her way downstairs, in time with their youngest sister, Michelle.
Already awake, Sarah went through her own morning routine, albeit a bit more slowly, and languidly descended the staircase on her way to the kitchen, as though she had done this every day of her life, when the front doorbell sounded, a full Westminster chime ringing throughout the house.
"I'll get it," Sarah called as she detoured to the door. And when she opened it, she found quite an unexpected face. "Karyn?"
"You're..." the formerly-ginger girl was tentative, "You're Sarah McMillan, right?"
"Yes?" Sarah wasn't sure how to respond.
"But... did you used to be someone else?"
Sarah's breath hitched. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure I know. My head is... fuzzy. I'm confused. I remember I wished once to have your hair and your boobs. And then it happened. But it wasn't you. It was your sister."
"Sarah?" Zoe's voice came from the kitchen, as if on cue. "Who is it?"
"It's one of your classmates!" Sarah called back, then wondered what kind of relationship Karyn and Zoe must have now.
"Is it Amber?" Sarah's voice was just a little bit closer.
Karyn's eyes went wide, and she started shaking her head and making "no" signals with her hands.
"It's someone else," Sarah replied to her sister. "Never mind, she has to leave."
But Karyn could see Zoe approaching, and although she was sure that Zoe wouldn't make her out as long as Sarah stood between them, her time was short, and she was beginning to panic. Karyn didn't know why, but she didn't want Zoe McMillan to see her, even as a voice inside of her kept screaming that she had questions that needed to be answered inside the McMillan house.
So, as she hyperventilated, Karyn heard a sentence emerge from her own mouth, almost unbidden: "I just wish I knew what was going on."
Then there was a flash of light, and Sarah McMillan let out a gasp.
-fin-
