Her

“Um… here.”

As Cheryl took the book she wasn’t trying to look at Katie, but the shadow in the corner of her eye kept tugging at her, despite it never moving aside from the scrolling of a finger on her cellphone.

Frankie eyed the door, noticing her partner’s anxiety. She quickly led her out, leaving Katie back to her isolated silence as she begrudgingly closed the door.

“It’s not too long.” The junior author struggled to change the subject as they stepped out of earshot of the older sister. “But… I touched it up a lot. I think you’ll like it.”

“Come on. I know I’ll like it.”

Frankie awkwardly giggled as a blush touched her face again.

“Cheryl? Suddenly, Ms. Pop’s voice called out from down the hall. The gunslinger wasn’t used to getting this much attention. “Come play board games with Saint and I!”

In the kitchen, mom had set up one of her favorites. She seldom got to play it because only Katie really enjoyed the thing, but now she had some new kids to hang out with.

“Uh… okay!” Cheryl shouted down the hall. “Frankie, do you wanna…”

“Um- no.” Frankie excused, though she did absolutely want to. “I, uh… I’m not the biggest fan of that one. See if… um, you like it.”

For just a moment Cheryl looked at Frankie disappointedly. It was obvious she was lying, but… why?

Soon however, she started to see that Frankie’s eyes were still glued to the doorknob of her and her sister’s dark, lonesome room.

“Uh… sure.” Cheryl nodded, smiling. “See you soon, ‘kay?”

Frankie nodded as her girlfriend ran off. Then all that was left near her was the golden knob leading to Katie’s resting place.