Permanently.
Something buzzed inside AJ’s bag, but she kept walking.
Her phone. It rang once. Twice.
A foot from the wing, she answered it. “Hey, Emily.”
AJ’s voice sounded canned in the cavernousness of the theater. Nomic, just her on this deserted stage. Hearing herself speak, she suddenly noticed how jittery she was, how fast her heart was beating.
“I couldn’t sleep,” said Emily. “Did you have your play tonight?”
Air. AJ needed air. “Yes,” she gasped, stumbling back onto the stage.
Emily paused. “Are you mad?” she asked. “Are you mad I didn’t come?”
AJ was now aware of her limbs. They felt as if they had been cattle prodded, twisting, throbbing, tingling. “No, I-I’m not mad,” she stammered.
“Age, are you okay?” asked Emily.
“I—” AJ’s vision sizzled. She felt as if she might pass out.
“Because I’ve been thinking about you a lot tonight.” Emily giggled. “Of course, Ialwaysthink about you, Age. But a lot tonight.”
The theater spun. “How come?”
Emily sighed. “Don’t know. Oh. I was thinking about Winslow.”
It took AJ a minute to realize Emily meant Winslow Shoe, Ezell’s character onAstronauticals. “Look, Em—” She sucked in a breath. “It’s late and—”
“Why did he go back to the Gringotts Pond? That placesucks.”
“Green GobPond,” AJ pushed out. “Bleep-Bloop was in trouble. Remember?”
“No,” said Emily. “Oh. The robot. But how did Winslow know Bleeboop was in trouble?”
“He just…knew,” AJ managed.
“That’s what Mike said,” said Emily.
As she began to list her favorite parts of the episode, AJ grabbed on to the thread of her sister’s voice. She lay down onstage and thought of Emily’s soft body, of how it felt clasped with hers. She thought of her sister’s downy blond hair, of her Herbal Essences shampoo.
“Oh my God,” said Emily. “It’s so good.”
As her sister spoke, AJ felt a white calm glimmer near her diaphragm. It pulsed like a second heartbeat, growing stronger and stronger with Emily’s every word.
“Mike says we can watch more tomorrow,” Emily was saying. “He’s home, you know.”
AJ closed her eyes and took a breath, holding it in for as long as she could. She released it slowly and did it again. Maybe she could go home after all—be with Emily and Mike.
Her vision was coming back into focus. The screaming in her limbs had begun to ebb. Carefully, AJ sat up. She would stay on the phone with Emily until she got home.
Time would restart.
She just had to walk off the stage.
She could do this. She’d taken bigger leaps before.
Today something remarkable happened. A girl came to the house.
