An Unexpected Visitor with Unexpected Circumstances

I Want to Consume Your Dark Blues

It’s hard to believe how I ended up in this situation. I was unaware of the dangers and concerns that came with the territory. Personally, it didn’t feel that bad. But I wouldn’t say that it felt good either. I mean, I would do anything to help my sister Erin. I wished I could take her pain away and give her something to look forward to.

I did do that.

I had a desire to do it.

However, I wasn’t aware of the repercussions that came with it.

There was a knock on the door. Which was weird because I wasn’t expecting anyone to be coming by my apartment. I got up and walked to the door, yawning as I tracked through the catastrophic maze that was my messy apartment. I didn’t have the time to clean it or even organize the papers on the nightstand. It was the perks of living by myself. I knew where everything was and I knew no one was going to say anything because no one was living here except for me.

The knocking became more frantic as I reached the door.

“I’m coming!” I called as I reached for the doorknob.

When I looked through the peephole, I saw someone that I haven't seen in a long time.

Swinging the door open, I scanned the person standing in front of me and the surrounding view behind them.

“What are you doing here?” I asked them slightly annoyed.

“What do you mean, ‘What am I doing here’?” They responded with shock in their voice. “I’m here to see you, obviously.”

The person standing in front of me was my little sister Erin. I haven’t seen her since I left home. Around four or five years ago. If I remembered correctly, she was around eleven or twelve when I made the official decision to move out of our parents’ house. I had “successfully” graduated from college with an engineering degree. Barely got by with a shotty GPA, a shitty but manageable 2.3 GPA. I was just surprised as the advisors were. However, I was able to score a pretty substantial job working in manufacturing. So, the pay was good, but the work was terror.

“I see,” I said scanning out behind to see if our parents had dropped her off. My apartment had a view of the parking spots. So, it was easy to see if any cars were going and leaving.

“Well, aren’t you going to let me in? Or are you just going to stand there like a log and block the door?” Erin said eagerly.

“I mean, I could just slam the door in your face and tell you to sleep outside or go back home to our parents.” I said sarcastically.

“You are so full of shit. You know for a fact that you wouldn’t let me sleep outside.”

She was right, I wouldn’t have. I would’ve let her sleep in the laundry room downstairs and gave her a blanket and told her “good luck, kid”.

“Come on in, then.” I said, stepping out of the way and motioning her to walk in.

“About time you let me in, dork.” She said sarcastically.

She always called me a dork. Apparently, all the girls I talked to did. And no, there was no romantic attraction towards my sister. Nor was there any romantic attraction towards any girl that I spoke to. At least on their side of the court. It wasn’t too hard to talk to people, but it was pretty redundant talking to people (especially women) because of the social anxiety. Or as one of my exes called it, “the inability to talk to any girl because you possess zero social skills and you are a complete dumbass”. Hence, why we weren’t together. However, in terms of my sister, I felt she started calling me that because she found it funny and felt that if she called me dork, I would feel sentimental or emotional. But every time she did, I would just give her a dead stare and flick on the forehead.

I closed the door and walked into the apartment. Once again, tracking my way through the maze and finding my way back to the couch and opened a Pepsi and looked at my sister inspecting the surrounding.

As she was inspecting the living room around her, I was expecting her to haul off at the mouth at how disgusting my apartment was. But she instead just sighed and looked up at me.

“So, this is what I walk into?” She said disappointedly while facepalming. “Andrew, do you have any shame? This place is disgusting. Look at this shit.”

I put my feet up on the secondary love seat sitting in front of me, “It could be worse. I, at least, know where everything is.”

Erin looked at me with disdain and rolled her eyes, “You’re impossible, you know that?”

I gulped down my Pepsi and with that came a loud but profound burp. It felt great, and Erin recoiled at how loud it was. I looked at her and started laughing. She was always concerned with how shitty my manners were. In her words, “You have no sense of courtesy or respect. How have you been able to get a girlfriend?” She was just jealous about my success as a “prominent member of society”.

“So, are you going to tell me why you’re here?” I asked, knowing that the metaphorical elephant was in the room.

Erin looked up at me and placed her hands on her hips, “Well, if you must know, our parents kicked me out. They said that it’s time for me to learn how to be an adult and that you were the best person to show how to do that.”

I looked at Erin with the most puzzled face, “They said to you?”

“Yes, to me.”

I scratched the back on head, expecting her to say that what she just said was a joke and that she would be here just to visit and that our parents are actually still sitting outside waiting for the green light from Erin to come in.

“Well, I highly doubt that they kicked you out. Nor do I believe that you are an adult, Erin. You’re sixteen, seventeen. Right?”

“Eighteen.” She said annoyed with her eyes closed and her right eye twitching with distain.

“Eighteen. Well, in that case, they consider you an adult. But, I’m the worst person to seek adulting advice from. Well, according to you. You did just scathingly criticize my living conditions.”

“Well, anyone would do that. And as your sister, I have to stay here and live in these conditions. Something has to change.”

“Who said that you would live here?”

Erin's face went from being stern and brash to shock and fear. I had never seen that face from her before.

“What do you mean by that?” She said concernedly. “I don’t have anywhere else to go. Honestly.”

I could see the fear in her eyes. I will admit that my question was a little blunt. But it was an honest question. I wasn’t told about this and wanted to learn more. But I wanted to play the sympathetic and empathetic brother rather than the brash and scathing brother.

“So, you need a place to stay?” I said, trying to be as sincere as possible.

Erin nods her head slightly. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She was being serious and looked as if she had no other options.

“Alright, you can stay.” I said as I got up and rubbed her head. “I wouldn’t make you sleep outside.”

“Thank you.” She said quietly.

“Only in the laundry room.” I said laughed.

She looked up at me with tears streaming down her face and her face in a pouting demeanor, “Asshole.”

“Completely valid.”

***

The last few months have been pretty uneventful with Erin living here. She was thinking of going to a college in the area. However, whenever she would go to look up schools, she would feel a sense of dread and lose motivation and close the laptop with a sad and slow close. Almost like she was giving up.

I would not push college on her. That wouldn’t have been very fair to her. However, I talked to her about her options since she was eighteen. She could get a job. Or that she could go to a community college instead of going straight to a four-year university. She was a very intelligent and studious girl. I was almost jealous of how smart she was. Of course, I never told her that because I didn’t want to hear that she was better than me at something. I also didn't want those compliments to affect her self-confidence and potentially make her develop an inflated ego that could be easily shattered.

I knocked on her door and saw that she was on her laptop and had a smile on her face.

“Whatchu smiling about?” I said walking over to her.

“Just looking up some things, of course.” She said happily as she was scrolling on a website.

“It’s not porn, right?”

Her face went from a smile to a disgust and disappointed look, “I should be asking you that since you’re single and lonely.”

That comment stung a little. But the comment deserved and timed well. I taught her well.

“Fair enough.” I said as I sat on her bed in front of her.

As she scrolled on a bunch of websites, I observed. I could see the reflection of the computer on her glasses and they looked to be travel sites. I knew Erin was a wannabe profound traveler and wanted to travel the world when she got older. She always said that she was going to visit every continent and explore and learn about different cultures and customs. She was an inquisitive person and asked an abundance of questions about anything she was interested in. I envied that quirky personality and drive to learn about everything.

“What are you looking at?” I asked trying to seem interested in what she was looking at.

“Places to visit,” she said with her face still glued to her laptop screen. “You know me. I love traveling.”

“The farthest place you traveled to was the Washington monument during the Fourth of July party our parents forced us to go to.”

“No, we also went to the Grand Canyon.”

“That was through Google Earth, my friend.”

Erin rolled her eyes and continued scrolling.

“Since you seemed so interested, I was looking at places to visit in Japan. Since Spring is approaching, I wanted to go visit and explore Japan.” She said with annoyance as she turned her laptop towards me, showing a bunch of places to visit in Japan.

“I see,” I said staring at the different tourist attractions that the website showed. “You goin’ by yourself?”

“No, I wanted to ask you if you could go with me.” She said with that smile returned in full force.

There was no way to deny that her sudden question caught me off guard like a curve ball at full speed. I wasn’t prepared to have that question being sprung on me. I had some dreams about visiting Japan, but they were more for superficial reasons. I enjoy anime (obviously) and was curious to see if there were panties inside the vending machines. The latter was for my own personal research.

“Umm… I don’t have an issue with going with you to Japan.” I said hiding my true motives. “I am surprised that you wanted me to go with you. What about Mom and Dad? Wouldn’t you want to go with them as well?”

“No, I wanted to just go with you.” She said looking down and her sad face lingering again.

“Hmm… I don’t see why not. We can go.” I said after pondering on the potential opportunities.

“Really? You mean it?” Erin said with that smiling face now being multiplied tenfold.

Her face was that of someone feeling euphoric and on cloud nine.

“Yes, I mean it.” I said reassuring her. “There are many opportunities there and I’ve been thinking about going there myself.”

Erin, after hearing that, sat up and reached over and hugged me tightly, “You don’t understand how happy this makes me.”

I was slightly taken aback by her comment, but for the time-being I just ignored it and hugged her back.

She released her hug and laid back down and went back to being hyper-focused on her laptop.

“I will get tickets and set up everything.” I said getting up and walking towards the door. “Just let me know when you want to go.”

“Okay!” She said eagerly, not even looking up at me.

***

Erin had successfully figured out the days she wanted to visit Japan. She had a whole presentation slide ready and everything. I got the plane tickets and reserved a hotel room in Tokyo in the heart of the city. Despite the slightly higher cost, we considered it worth it because Erin was thrilled about the trip.

We got to the airport and boarded the plane for Tokyo. The flight was pretty uneventful. Thankfully, no children kicked my seat as we were in the air. Erin was fast asleep on the plane. I assumed that the excitement got the best of her and she couldn’t sleep. It was understandable that she couldn't be blamed. I would’ve been in the same position if I wasn’t so tired from working.

We arrived in Tokyo and made our way through the airport to get our luggage. We were able to flag down a taxi and got a ride to the hotel that we would be staying at. It was a beautiful hotel with a waterfall in the back of the hotel and they even had a massage and spa on the first floor.

The first few days we were in Tokyo were amazing. We got to explore the city and took the trains to the different prefectures and explore the different temples and shrines. We even got to try some of the food from the best restaurants in the city.

Erin had a face that was very similar to someone experiencing Heaven on Earth. I thought nothing could break that smile on her face. I just wished that I could’ve been there for her more and see that smile more often.

As we were walking along one of the lakes surrounded by cherry blossoms, Erin started to hunch over in pain. She was started to hyperventilate and grabbed her chest.

“What’s wrong?” I asked puzzled. “Are you okay?”

She barely managed to look up at me with a semi-smile, “Yeah, don’t worry about me. Perfectly fine.”

As soon as she finished that statement, she collapsed on the ground.

“Erin!” I screamed, kneeling to tend her.

She had fallen unconscious. I flagged down a passer-by and explained the situation and they called an ambulance.

***

Erin woke up in the hospital after a few hours. I was sitting by her bed, waiting for her to wake up.

“Hey,” She said groggily. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure that you are okay and safe.” I responded. “What happened back there?”

Erin turned away from me and wiped tears from her face, “It’s hard to explain, Andrew. I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you? You just collapsed on the ground. I’m more concerned and scared rather than angry.”

Erin took a deep breath and composed herself before turning her head and looked at the wall in front of her, “I haven’t been completely truthful with you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked curiously, awaiting her answered.

She took another deep breath and sighed deeply, "The doctors diagnosed me with a terminating illness." Breast cancer to be exact. We found out about a few years ago and we have been doing everything in our power to treat and find a cure for it. However, we had missed the first stage and the cancer progressively got worse over time. We attempted chemotherapy, but I refused to cut my hair as it would have forced me to confront the harsh reality of having cancer and facing the possibility of dying before reaching twenty.

That truth hit me like a moving train. I couldn’t believe that no one told me about this and how they didn’t catch this illness sooner. Surely, there had to have been some signs or anything that could’ve alerted them of it. Tears of regret and fear overwhelmed me as I was unsure of what to do.

“Is there anything that can done now? Have they found a cure?” I asked hoped for some kind of good news.

“Breast cancer is treatable, not curable.” She said with a depressed look. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”

“So, our parents didn’t kick you out?” I asked putting the pieces together. “Everything makes sense now.”

Erin nodded her head and wiped the tears on her face.

I stood up and touched her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead, “Don’t worry. We will figure this out.”

She smiled and closed her eyes. I sat back down and did the same.

***

I woke up out of my sleep in excruciating pain. I barely got out of her room and down to the nurses’ station and barely managed to say what had happened. There was a mirror next to the nurses’ station. I looked up and saw that there were a bunch of cuts and blood all over my body and I felt an immense amount of pain in my lungs and my head was pounding. At that point, I had collapsed on the floor. Little did I know, I had just contracted the same illness as Erin.