August 15, 1197
"Are you insane?" The only thing that prevented Yvanette from stepping backward in shock at her sister's explanation was the thought that she might have to lunge forward and physically restrain her. She had trouble enough understanding Aspen at the best of times--how could anyone with the option to not use their self-harming powers insist on using them so often?--and she hadn't known what to expect when their father had marched Aspen to campus and told Yvanette that her sister would be spending the weekend with her. Something about 'getting an idea of the place', he'd muttered--though Yvanette had suspected that was for her housemates' benefit.She may not have understood Aspen, but she apparently knew both her sister and her father well enough that she'd been right. "Uncle Searle doesn't just have a cold or a cut on his arm, you know; he's dying!"
"I know! And he's only twenty-nine! And he has two children and a third on the way!" Aspen's fists balled, as if she were two years old again and throwing a tantrum over her far-too-early bedtime. Her face, however, wore worry rather than childhood stubbornness. Yvanette got that--but Aspen had to learn to worry about herself. "If there's the slightest chance I can help him, aren't I morally obligated to try?""Not when his illness would transfer directly to you, you idiot!" And more often than not, whatever ailment she took on manifested more strongly in her! Not that Aspen ever seemed to care until after the fact--if even then. "You're fifteen. You haven't even had a life yet--and unlike me, your abilities don't have to get in the way of you having one."
"Oh, so making a conscious choice not to help people even when I can constitutes a life? Sorry for caring about people!"
"It's not about not caring about people! It's about caring about yourself. Don't you have any regard for your own health? Father wouldn't have dragged you here out of harm's way if you hadn't been about to essentially kill yourself!""Well, why do I have this ability if I'm not supposed to use it? Maybe that's my purpose. Maybe I'm supposed to die so someone else can live."
Stunned, Yvanette swayed backward, as if her eyes gained weight upon widening. Surely that wasn't how her sister felt. Surely that sort of dreary fatalism wasn't the natural conclusion of a healthy young girl. "Don't say that. Never say that."
"Why not?" Aspen cocked her head to the side. She wasn't defiant, wasn't rhetorical. She may as well have been stating the time of day. "You're clearly convinced that your entire life is dictated by your powers. Why should mine be different?"NEXT CHAPTER:
