Part 1: Marie

“In the death of… Night,” Marie read, squinting at her RayScreen book, which reflected upwards from the glowing pink band on her wrist. “What’s Night?”

“They say Night was a monster that used to bring terror to citizens when it came. It crawled into cities everyday, covering the skies with darkness and closing the children’s eyes forever. This was called sleep.” Edith grinned, an ominous haze passing through her eyes. “If you’re naughty, Night will come for you and put you to sleep. In fact, I just teleported Night from my RayScreen, and he’ll be here soon.”

9-year-old Marie’s eyes dilated. “No! I don’t want to sleep, or whatever that is. You know I’m terrified of the dark.” She stumbled behind the curtain, peeking an eye out.

Edith rolled her eyes. “I’m kidding. It’s a myth, Marie. But the government did save us from Night. They created the artificial sun, glowing and bringing us light. You should be grateful.” She tapped her hand, and the curtains unfolded. Observing Marie’s wilting posture and heavy eyelids, Edith traced a circle in the air, and rays of light formed a shiny, flashing digital clock.

“The time is now 20h 29m.”

“You have one minute until your water interval starts. You know when your water intervals are, right?”

“I’m not dumb. I’m thirsty, I know.” Marie laid on the armchair, legs like weights, dropping to the floor. “And I know that if I don’t drink during my water interval, I’ll pass out. Or at least, that’s what I’ve seen.” She shuddered.

“And we don’t want that to happen.” Edith glanced at the Water Mechanic, which had stuck its hand out of the many holes in the wall, holding out a glass of water. “Come on. Take your water.”

Marie ran for the glass and downed it in a minute, throwing it back at the Water Mechanic. The Water Mechanic’s hand grasped the empty glass and a beep sounded.

Marie’s eyes flew open and she stood rigid.

Edith asked, “Not thirsty anymore?”

“So much better.”

“Good. I have to dash to work, Marie.” Edith smiled. “Have fun.”

———————————————————————————————————————

“Lucille is coming over now.” Marie jumped around, unable to contain her excitement. “I haven’t seen Lucille in forever. She was always at the hospital getting treatment for her disease, but she got cured, I think. I only ever got to call her hospital room. I heard her nurse’s voice more than hers.”

Edith laughed, barely shifting her eyes from the game on her RayScreen. “Did she bring her Water Mechanic?”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“Nothing, I just wanted to make sure.”

Marie scrunched her eyebrows and gave her a suspicious look. The doorbell rang, and Marie stumbled across the polished floors, scrambling to get to the double doors as fast as she could. She yelled “4-6-5-2!” and the metal doors slid open.

Wind blew into the house, and standing there was a little girl dressed in a frilly purple skirt and puffy white-as-paper shirt, curly brown locks tangling in the gusts of air.

“Lucille! My brown-haired twin!” Marie ran forward and embraced her, squeezing out a wince from the girl. “Sorry. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Marie. I just miss you,” Lucille murmured, tears slipping down her cheeks. “Sorry. I don’t mean to cry. I don’t want to make you sad.”

Marie shook her head vigorously. “No! You could never make me sad. You look pretty, Lucie. And healthy. Did they really cure you?”

“Yeah. It’s amazing.” Lucille tried to smile, and Marie frowned. “Really. I feel like a whole new person.”

“What did they do?”

“There was something wrong with my reaction to water, so they had to fix it. Now I feel great.” Lucille pulled Marie’s hand toward her bedroom. “Come on. Let’s go to your bedroom. We can play with Legos again.”

Hand-in-hand, they passed the living room, where Edith sat, still pinned on her game. Lucille’s hand tensed as she stared at Edith.

“Are you scared of my sister?”

“No!” Lucille shook her head. “Look. Hi, Edith!”

Edith looked up, a look of confusion crossing her face and gone away in a matter of milliseconds. “Oh, hi, Lucille. Enjoying your stay?”

“Yeah. It’s been a while.” Lucille laughed.

Edith grinned. “I’m sure. Go hang out with Marie. I’m wasting your time.”

Lucille’s face dropped. “Yeah. Right.”

“Am I that bad?” Marie joked.

“No. No. That’s not what I meant!”

“I know Lucille, I know. I was just teasing. I know my sister could never be as fun as me.” Marie giggled. She tugged on Lucille’s pale hand, noticing a pink metal band fitted tightly around her wrist. “Is this a new watch? It’s… cute.”

Lucille hid her hand behind her back. “Y-yeah. My mom got it for me.”

“No, it’s stylish. You just didn’t hit me like a watch-person.”

“Yeah. It’s my mom’s. I swear.”

“Huh. Lucille, remind me to give you the thing I’ve been wanting to give you later before you leave. It’s something I made.”

“Okay! What is it?”

“I’m not telling you! You’ll see.”

5 hours later...

They sat on the floor, meticulously sorting the Legos by color in a happy silence. “Red is here. Ugh. Why are so many pieces missing? The proportions are off.” Lucille put her palm to her forehead. “I forgot to tell you, Marie, I have to go back to the hospital tonight one more time.”

“Why? Is this the last time?”

Lucille stared at Marie for a very long time. Finally, she said, “Yes. The last time.”

“Before you go, let’s sing-scream our favorite song. Edith isn’t home.”

____

Part 2: Lucille

“Bye, Lucille!”

Lucille blinked back the rapidly forming tears. You cry too much these days. At least you won’t have any more tears soon. “Bye, Marie. Play with me soon!”

“Fine, I will! Bye, for real now,” Lucille yelled.

“Bye!” Lucille watched as Marie hopped up and down while waving until she disappeared behind the driveway bushes.

Lucille’s wrist vibrated. “A message from The Hospital: You have five minutes to arrive in your room for your next procedure.”

Her shoulders sank as the hazy white of the disgustingly clean hospital came into view.

Slowly walking up to the side entrance, Lucille reached out her hand, the cold metal pressing against her palm, while the ID sensor beeped. “Lucille Chelsey Laurent. Room 372.” She blinks. What was that? I swear I just saw something red go by. I’m delusional.

Edith stood waiting for her outside of her room. “Quite an act we put on at my house.”

Lucille said nothing.

“Did you enjoy your last day?”

Lucille tried to walk past her into her hospital room, but her arm was caught, tightly pressed between Edith’s fingers.

“Did we lose our manners, Luce? I’m trying to be friendly.” Edith grinned. “We could be friends if you wanted to. We don’t have to be enemies. Makes the end of your life more peaceful.”

“You’re psychotic!” Lucille spat. “What did I ever do to any of you? Why me?”

“It’s for the better. You defy the medication. Water has absolutely no effect on you. It’s impressive. No matter how much water you drink, you still manage to fall asleep.” Edith sighed. “If everyone was like you, we’d have a problem. Sleep would become regular. No one would pay money for artificial sun fees. No one would pay money for water. People would have half of the hours in a day to work. People would lose trust in the government. Which is why the few anomalies like you can’t stay. It’s for the better of the world. If there are no anomalies, we live in peace.”

Lucille sank into her chair. “I promised my mother that I would return home early today.”

“We’ll simply tell her you took water late and missed your interval.”

“The government kills people who miss their interval because they realize that sleep is harmless. You all are murderers.”

Edith turned her back to Lucille. “Have fun, Lucille.” She twirled around, grasping the syringe filled with liquid. She pressed the tip of the needle to Lucille’s arm, and Lucille squeezed her eyes tight.

Nothing.

“Good night, sissy.” Marie?

A scream echoed throughout Room 372.

Lucille opened her eyes wide to Marie’s hand reaching out to her. She took it and pulled herself up. Edith lay on the floor, unmoving, the syringe still in her arm.

“I forgot your rose.” It was beautiful. A rose— Lucille’s favorite flower— made out of Lego pieces.

“Thank god you forgot to give it to me.” Lucille and Marie giggled.

Marie pulled at Lucille’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go.” They ran, hand-in-hand, and didn’t look back.