"You're sure?" Evelyn gestured to the girls, who were now wrestling on the carpet. "They woke up with enough energy to power this entire building."
"Yes, I'm sure. Go handle your business. I've got them."
"Alright, then. For starters, get them to put their socks on. It's not as cold in here as outside, but it's still good to protect their feet."
She came closer and held out the socks. As I reached for them, my fingers brushed against hers, and a small, undeniable jolt of electricity passed between us.
It had to be madness.
Evelyn seemed to feel it, too, because she quickly pulled her hands back, shoving them into her coat pockets.
"Girls, I'm leaving," she announced. "You're staying with your father. Be good and try not to burn the house down."
Neither of them responded. Aurora didn't even look at her, so she had no idea she was being spoken to. Anna seemed to be actively ignoring her.
"Good luck..." Evelyn said to me, before heading out the door.
I looked back at the girls. I was going to need all the luck I could get.
"Hey, how about we put your socks on?" I said and was promptly ignored. I tried again, "Girls, you need to put your socks on."
They kept running, chasing each other in a dizzying loop.
"Girls!" I said, my voice rising. Then I was practically shouting. "Girls! Stop! Now! ...Anna, stop!"
My final shout was loud enough to make Anna freeze and look at me. Aurora, running behind her, bumped into her back, and only then stopped smiling and noticed I was yelling.
"Why are you yelling at me?" Anna demanded, her voice a mix of annoyance and anger.
"I was yelling for both of you," I replied, "because you didn't listen when I spoke normally."
"Rory can't hear you, loudorsoft, silly!"
That damned name-calling again. Would we ever move past it?
“I was callingyou,” I replied, keeping my voice level. “Becauseyoucan hear.”
“Rory can’t hear, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand when you talk to her! You’re the one who doesn’t know how to talk to her properly.”
“I didn’t say Aurora couldn’t understand me. I know she can. I just said that—”
“You do everything wrong!” Anna retorted.
I sighed, defeated. “Okay. Let’s try to do it right, then. I’m sorry for yelling. But you still need to put your socks on.”
“I don’t want to,” Anna said, crossing her arms.
Aurora, however, looked at the socks in my hand and came over. She picked up both pairs, handed the blue ones to her sister, and kept the pink for herself. As Aurora sat on the couch to put hers on, Anna threw hers on the floor.
“I’m not wearing those. And you’re not the boss of me.”
With that, she turned and stormed down the hallway. I heard the slam of their bedroom door and sighed again. This was going to be even harder than I’d thought.
I looked at Aurora, who was watching me curiously as she pulled on her second sock.
“Your sister is… very difficult, isn’t she?”
Aurora responded, but she did it the only way she knew how: with her hands. And I didn’t understand a single gesture.
