Splintered by Sam Cheever

Vivica smiled in her sleep. She’d been walking the familiar streets of downtown Indianapolis again. The sun was warm on her back and the comforting and familiar scent of traffic fumes assailed her nose.

All around her was activity — people going about their day. Only half a block away, her favorite coffee shop waited for her. She knew what it would smell like when she walked through the doors — like freshly ground beans overlaid with the sweet scents of vanilla and chocolate, topped off by the decadence of whipped cream. Vivica took a deep breath, enjoying the memory smell.

A caribou waited at the crosswalk, its intense brown gaze fixed steadily on her. Viv frowned at the massive animal. “What you lookin’ at, Bou?”

You! I’m looking at you, Foxy. The caribou tossed its head, complete with a huge, manly rack, and snorted, galloping toward her with surprising lightness.

What the fuck?

The caribou blipped away and she nestled more deeply into her pillow, trying to recapture the dream. She was pulling open the coffee shop door, walking inside…

Her nose twitched, itchy. But when she scratched the area, bright pain ripped her right out of her sleep and she sat up with a cry. “What the…”

She tried to rub her nose and scratched herself again. “Ouch!” She looked at her fingers… and screamed, scrambling out of the bed so fast her legs got tangled in the sheets and she hit the floor, landing hard on her butt.

She took a deep breath and looked at her hands again. The perfect French manicure her mama had given her the day before was still there. Although one nail tip had a bit of blood on it. “Oh, thank God!”

Viv dropped her face in her hands and laughed, her heart pounding. “That was a hell of a dream.” She started to climb to her feet and quickly found herself scrabbling for purchase on the slick, hardwood floor. Looking down, she saw nubby, furred things with long black claws where her feet should have been.

She yelped and surged upright, wobbling on the way-too-short feet, and fell forward onto the bed.

A throbbing pain shot through her tailbone, probably from falling out of bed. But she immediately forgot about the ache when something smacked the bedside table, knocking her glass of water off the table to break across the floor. Viv spun around and spotted the edge of something bushy and white. But whatever it was stayed behind her. She couldn’t get a good look at it.

Diving into bed, Viv dragged the covers over her head with a squeal and lay there quivering until her heart rate slowed. What she’d just experienced was the worst dream she’d ever had. And she hoped she’d never experience it again.

The door to her room opened, and Viv heard the soft press of feet against the floorboards and a surprised intake of air. From the pine tree in a winter forest scent, she knew it was her sister, Sinopa. It was strange she’d never noticed Sin’s unique scent before, but she recognized it.

Careful footsteps moved around the side of the bed where the floor wasn’t covered in glass. The covers lifted and were drawn back. Viv found herself looking up at Sin’s beautiful but perplexed face. “Are you all right, baby girl?”

Viv fought to calm her breathing and tried to force a neutral look onto her face. “Fine. Why do you ask?”

One of Sin’s expressive, dark eyebrows lifted. “I’m not sure if the screeching was my first clue, or the shattered glass and water all over the floor.”

Viv shrugged, clenching her teeth to keep them from banging together. “I had a really bad dream.”

Sin stared at her for a minute, her pretty brown gaze seeing every one of Viv’s thoughts and fears, just like when they were kids. Then she reached out and slipped a warm, soft hand over Viv’s forehead, testing it for fever.

“I’m fine, really.” Vivica reached up and clasped her older sister’s hand. “It was just a dream.”

Sin finally smiled. “Okay, if you’re sure. Let’s get this mess cleaned up, then. We need to get ready for the party tonight.”

Viv chewed on her lower lip to keep from grimacing. Getting a bunch of country bumpkins together to welcome some moldy old doctor to the sticks wasn’t exactly her idea of a party. She’d be lucky if she didn’t drop dead from sheer boredom. But she knew it was important to her sister, and with their mother and youngest sister down in the Lower 48, as the freaks in Alaska liked to call it, packing up the rest of their things so they could all move to the ass-end of the world and live miserably ever after, she was all Sin had to help her with it.

Well, except for Sin’s exceedingly yummy boy toy and soon to be husband, Crevan. Viv was sure he’d be very — erm — helpful. Viv was happy for her sister. It was good Sin had found love. But she was glad it wasn’t her. She was so not interested in doing the whole love and commitment thing. Not now and maybe not ever. Viv was too happy being a free spirit.

“I’ll get this, Sinny. You just go back to what you were doing.”

Her sister tilted her dark head. “You sure?”

Viv nodded. “Yup. I’ll be out to help as soon as I get dressed.”

“Okay, then. Thanks.” Sin started to turn away and then stopped, drawing her sister into a hug. “Have I told you how glad I am that you’re here?”

Viv laughed. “Not in the last eight hours, but that’s only because I was asleep.”

Sin tapped her on the nose with her finger. “Well, then, I guess we’re good for another eight hours.”

Viv watched Sin leave and almost forgot to be miserable for a minute. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her older sister look so happy. As the oldest and, Viv admitted to herself, most responsible one of the three girls, most of the work of keeping Mama propped up after Dad left them had fallen on Sin’s shoulders. In addition to keeping the family on its feet financially.

Sin had worked hard and suffered much as the result of their father’s abandonment. She deserved a little happiness, which was the only thing keeping Viv in Alaska at that moment. Viv had decided she’d stay for a year, until her twenty-second birthday, and then break it gently to her older sister that she was hightailing it back to civilization.

She walked over and looked out the window, inhaling deeply to pull fresh, clean air into her lungs. She expected a coughing fit from the overabundance of fresh air. Her poor lungs had really struggled for the first couple of weeks, trying to adjust to processing real air instead of car exhaust. But apparently they’d acclimated. All she got was an oxygen rush that wasn’t totally awful.

At least part of her had gotten used to the hinterland.

Viv missed her friends, the shopping, movies, and the excitement of living in a small but very active city.

But she had to admit it was beautiful in Alaska. And for all that she called them freaks to herself, her new friends were a lot of fun. They just didn’t understand how much they were missing way up there in east bumblefuck.

Sighing, Viv went to find her shoes and a broom. It was going to be a busy and exhausting day. But the good news was, she had a really boring party to look forward to when it was all over.

Yay…