Spoiled

It was as overcast as it had ever been, but people were still swimming like the sun was out. They’d kind of forgotten Makoasis was one of the most expensive parks in the country to get into, but it’s not like their money had been doing much since the tourist of the family shut herself in her room.

Katie tried not to think about it at first, but something was biting her the whole time they were walking through the prologue of the park’s layout, passing by the oblivious soaked tourists on their slides and in their pools. Frankie didn’t speak to her, but she almost wished she would. She didn’t want to keep this animal inside of her.

She recognized absolutely everything they passed. Some things had changed, for sure, and there was the odd trash can or bathroom they’d overlooked on their first visit- but after spending a whole night with the park all to herself, Katie wasn’t getting anything new out of this. When she took a step, she could almost remember the exact moment she’d taken it before. The hellish déjà vu seemed to taunt her that way. With every footstep, with every ride, every stop at a stall she didn’t buy anything from, it was all the same.

After hours of this torture Frankie finally spoke to her again, realizing that from now on it wasn’t going to be so easy to wind up the chatterbox her sister used to be.

“How are you holding up?”

Frankie had thought she was doing her sister a favor by not bothering her, but when the girl tried to speak and had to swallow twice just so her body could remember how, the writer immediately felt guilt ring her neck.

“I- I’m not happy.”

“I can… see that. I’m- I’m really sorry, Kate.” She was genuine in her appeal. The two remembered they didn’t hate each other. “Do… do you just wanna go? We could… see someplace else, like you wanted… or… maybe just go ho-“

“We’re not going home.”

Yet still, the parkgoer did not yield.

“I’m only sad… because I’m seeing something I already have.”

“And… what’s wrong with that? You can see a nice thing again, at least once or twice. That way, you’ll at least now you like it. You liked this place, didn’t you?”

“…I did. But-“

Katie almost bit her tongue.

“I’m wasting my time.”

“Katie, why worry about-“ Frankie took a step closer, getting just the view to see her sister relapse right back into her waking dream.

“I have to see them, Frankie. As many as I can.”

Frankie couldn’t do much else but stare disappointedly at the wet concrete ground.

“Let’s just go, then. Better a waste of my money than a waste of your precious time.”

She delivered those last words with a bite as she took her sister’s hand like a child. A bus trip, most of their cash, all for this. It stung, that was for sure. The rushing water of the rides and slides around her became painful white noise, the mirror image of her inner thoughts at this point. She already knew the truth, how this would end- that there was no pleasing Katie. That they’d do this over, and over again until something happened.

Then something did.

“Leaving already?”

Of course she’d show up. Of course she’d find them before they could even start to look for her, right in time to save someone in need. Who better could they have asked for?

Umi stood broadly smiling, looking the same as she always had, like not a day had passed since they last saw her.