“No, I get it. I find myself walking some tricky lines as a twin.”
“Does she know yet?”
“I haven’t been able to reach her. I lost my phone in Times Square and—”
“Oh my god, really?”
“I realized it in the car but didn’t want to bother you.”
Dalma pops out of her seat with her phone at the ready. “Use mine. Do you know her number by heart?”
I nod. Scarlett’s number is the only one I know off the top of my head. Our area codes and first three numbers are identical, but the final four digits are unique. We’ve always considered our phone numbers to be fraternal twins too.
“Thanks so much.”
I put in Scarlett’s number, desperate for her to answer even though I have no idea how to begin telling her that I’m living my End Day. That in the next twenty-three hours she’s going to become an only child. Unless something horrible is going to befall her too. Then we will have entered and left this world together. But I don’t want that for her any more than I want it for me. If given the choice, I would want Scarlett alive and me dead. I know it’s true because when she was in the hospital I was bothering every doctor and nurse and letting them know they could harvest me for every last organ Scarlett needed to be saved. And even though I’m not as religious as my proud and strict Catholic parents, I sure found a lot of faith when I went to the chapel and prayed to God to take me instead of my sister. It seems he was listening and answered my call.
Unlike Scarlett.
It’s okay. This gives me more time to figure out how to break the news.
Time I hope I have.
1:28 a.m.
The End Day calls are managed by the time zone of a Decker’s registered city. That means had I been here as a visitor, Death-Cast wouldn’t have reached out to me yet. I wouldn’t have been the very first Decker. Maybe if I never moved here, I wouldn’t be a Decker at all.
Playing those mind games won’t get me anywhere.
Instead, I’m worried about Scarlett. She’s still living in the past, still living without Death-Cast. The same for everyone else in Arizona. They’ll have no reason to drive with greater caution, and what if Scarlett has found herself in another accident and that’s why she’s not answering the calls?
I feel like I’m not going to be able to breathe until I know she’s okay.
After Scarlett’s accident, a friend asked if I had sensed something happened to her. Twins don’t have a concrete sixth sense to know everything going on with the other, even twins as close as us. I was out shopping for new concealer that afternoon because the shadows under my eyes were getting darker from too many nights where I couldn’t sleep because I was questioning my dreams of becoming a full-time model. I wasn’t standing in the middle of the drugstore, where I suddenly dropped my shopping basket as if a feeling of dread hammered my stomach out of nowhere. I only felt all that once I got the call from my parents. Though I wish I could close my eyes and concentrate and hear my sister’s heartbeat so I know she’s okay.
All I hear is the hum of the vending machine and footsteps approaching me and Dalma. The same nurse from before, the one who asked if Death-Cast called Orion, stops in front of us.
“Orion is drowsy, but you can see him now,” the nurse says.
“Thanks, Mary Jo,” Dalma says, getting up. “Come on, Valentino.”
“Really?” I ask. I’m relieved he’s okay, I just know I’m not family.
“You can hang back if you want, but you’re welcome to see him too.”
I follow her. I’m more than okay with finally escaping this waiting room where it feels like time stands still even though precious minutes are going unspent. I’m holding on to Dalma’s phone, and I check the signal bars again. It’s still three out of four. Dalma attributes that to the hospital’s connection.