a red-headed woman talking on a phone in a room

She didn't have much time. All she had thought of over the years was keeping the children safe, which hadn't always worked as planned. Headquarters promised the fucking moon for those babies, only for them to be dispersed, assimilated, lost to her.

Despite the poison beginning to dull her senses, the mother instinct kicked in as she untied the yellow ropes and rose with a roar. FOCUS. Drink lots of water for a reprieve. DONE. She sat down, uploading incriminating files on all the right people. SENT.

Sweating and bleary-eyed, she cursed her red hair, hoping at least one of the twins had gone rogue, unknowingly, as young people do to rebel. She wished for more time to explain, to tell them both their true purpose and destiny. Would either listen to a mother who abandoned them ?

She showered cold to lower her body temperature plus give her more time. She didn't bother to towel off, but went straight to old boxes of faded photos and journals, long since hidden. The truth would save them...or so she hoped, passing out in a haze of past, present and future, naked.

Brevity Quest 2016 213 Truly Madly Deeply Fallen Quest

Well,  it's mostly true.   The stories you have heard,  the stereotypes.   We are full of spite- "piss and vinegar" one of our parents said. We had several of them-parents I mean.   We burned through fosterhomes faster than you can say They need to go, and so we did,  go.

My sister used to tell me that one day we would be rich and famous.  People thought that was crazy because I was angry and violent and she was blind and way too quiet.     I played along because I didn't think it was fair for a kid to crush the dreams of a kid.    There were enough adults to do that for us.

We moved in and out of every small town in  East Texas until she was old enough and smart enough to go off to school.   The School for the Blind is a big campus on the edge of Austin and once she landed there I knew she was never headed back.    

It's been five years now, more or less but I know she is looking for me.  We don't talk on the phone and I haven't gotten a letter or email from her in years. But I know. We communicate in a way that is different from most. 

 I'm in Vegas now, doing contract work and no,  it's not something I can discuss and it's mostly illegal.   She might be the famous one,  but I got the cash,  even if most of it is offshore.  

I would offer to share some,  but she is smart enough to not want that sort of donation.

^{Truly Madly Deeply Fallen Quest}