There’s the briefest lull in conversation so we blurt into it.Weather was pretty crappy in Wellington while you were gone.
Hopefully picking up now I’m back.
Nothing beats Wellington on a good day.
Right? It’s like living in a postcard when the sky’s blue.
What are we talking about? How much more weather can we talk about?
Should be a clear night, stars will be out.
I grind my teeth. “It was good weather the night my sister died.”
The truck slows a fraction. Trent looks at me.
If we can’t talk about one ghost, we can talk about the other.
We pass fields with teams playing soccer. I think of the ball-like rug in our shared room.
The indicator clicks, blinking left. “How did Ika die?”
A pause. “Also car accident.”
“Bad weather?”
“Collision.”
I nod.
He adds, “Not Ika’s fault.”
“Beth wasn’t at fault, either,” I say. “I was.”
Trent stiffens, pales. “You . . . were driving?”
“Fighting with her from the back seat. I didn’t want to be back there, all crammed up. She said drunk teens will be treated like taxi passengers. In the back. Fifty bucks cleaning fee if I puke.”
I shrug. “Turns out, that’s what saved my life. She was a protective sister to the end. While I was a right drunk prick.
“Her phone went off—Mum. She asked me to answer. I put it on speaker, complaining that Beth was bullying me.
“Beth got irritated. Told me I shouldn’t have gotten plastered like this in the first place. She had an exam the next day, she was supposed to be studying not dragging my butt back home. Mum couldn’t pick me up either, she was heavily pregnant. Dad wasn’t around, but he hadn’t been for months. He couldn’t handle raising a kid all over again.
“So it was Beth in the car.
“I threw up over the back of the seat and her shoulder. She jerked—reflex—on the gas. Whipped her head towards me.
“The rest of it is... a collection of senses. Sudden pressure. Screeching rubber. Crunching metal. Buckling. Something digging into my side.
“And Beth, her head, hanging forward.
“I tried calling her, but I lost my voice.
“The phone was somewhere, Mum’s voice was hysterical, shrieking.
“People rushed to the car. Blurred faces, sirens sirening.
“Then, hospital. Beeping machines.
