"Yeah, my sister knows I'm here."

"And she's okay with that?"

"Yeah."

As if the world wanted to say 'fuck you' to me, the door bell rang almost immediately after. Taking a deep breath in through my nose-

 

That could have gone much better.

Her dad went to open it while Holly and I hid out behind the wall to listen in as the door creaked open.

"Hello Robbie and…?"

"Hey, my name's Emma, and sorry for bothering you this late, but I'm looking for my sister. She ran away from home and this is one of the places I think she might be. Her name's Kendall."

"She didn't tell me she ran away from home. Yeah, she's here. Come in."

The three of them came down the hall and turned the corner to find us. "There you are. Come on, I'm taking you home."

"I'm staying here."

"No you're not," Emma said as she walked up and grabbed my wrist to start pulling me towards the door as Robbie and Holly awkwardly stood there. "I'm sorry for any trouble Kendall caused you."

"It's no trouble, but she told me it wasn't safe at her house." He looked at me, "So Kendall, tell Holly if anything happens and we'll handle it." His eyes then went to Emma in this weirdly awesome 'try something. I dare you.' way. He was still intimidating as fuck, but that was a big plus for him.

"A long time ago, yeah. Mom messed up and I'm still mad at her. But that hasn't happened for a long time. And it's not like Kendall can just run away and be safe, so I'm taking her home now." She turned to the door and pulled me along.

 

And she fucking thinks that just because it hasn't happened for awhile that it's safe!?

 

She's helped a lot, but she doesn't understand this situation one bit.

 

I tried to pull away, but her grip was too tight as she dragged me through the front door and out onto the driveway. Holly rushed in front of her and stood between us and the car. "If Kendall doesn't think it's safe, then she should stay here." She sounded confident as hell, but at the same time it looked like she wanted to back away. She didn't though. She kept eye contact with Emma of all people.

"Save it. Robbie already spent the last hour trying to talk me out of this so I'll tell you what I told him. I'm her sister and it's my job to at least make sure she's safe at least before I move out."

An absolute massive burst of anger and emotion came from Tarmon as he planted his face right in front of hers.

 

+++

You seriously have the guts to say you're doing your job!? You failed your job long ago!

+++

 

Using my other hand, I pried her fingers off of me. "Why the fuck are you trying so hard to bring me back when you're just going to leave anyway?"

"Because you and I both know you don't have anywhere else to live. So I'm bringing you home to talk it out with Mom and you're going to see that it's not as bad as you think it is."

"What the fuck do you know about how bad it is?"

"Because she isn't like dad."

Tarmon stood by my side as anger and resentment built up in him.

"You don't know that! She could start doing that kind of stuff the moment you move out."

"I seriously doubt she's just going to start that all of a sudden."

 

Out of nowhere, Tarmon slammed into me like a tidal wave.

 

What do you think you're doing? 

 

+++

I've had enough of her! I took control of your arms before. I should be able to take over the rest the same way. You and I both know we have a ton of shit to say to her, and I'm tired of holding back because she's your sister.

+++

 

We agree. 

If she's going to push so hard that Mom is safe and physically force us back home, then she needs to be made aware of where our head is so she understands why it isn't safe.

She's clearly not going to listen to us.

So maybe she'll listen to someone as harsh as Tarmon.

 

I don't even know how. And I don't trust him to not say something I don't want people to know.

 

+++

Too fucking bad!

+++

 

Tarmon's body went ballistic and split up into a bunch of little strands that dug into my skin.

 

+++

I've been wanting to say this shit for too long!

And I know you're not going to be fine with letting her drag you back to somewhere that isn't safe.

+++

 

Before I even got to respond, his entire body seeped into my skin and everything became dream-like. Like I was back when Esmer swapped out with me. This time was different though. I was fully awake, and standing next to Esmer as I looked at my body.

 

What the - Woah. Okay. This is incredibly weird but at the same time feels nice? I don't know how to explain it.

 

As tense as this moment is, it's nice to have us in the back like this.

Esmer pulled me in for a hug. But not me as in my body. Me as in my- I didn't know- imagined body?

 

Spirit body?

 

Ghost body.

 

Ghost body sounds good.

 

As crazy as all this was, the best part though was that she actually pulled me close to her. Like she was real and I felt her hand and felt the motion of her pulling me down and holy shit this was incredible. But now wasn't the time to get mesmerized like that. 

 

+++

You two shut up for a moment.

+++

 

Fine, but if you say anything I don't want you to, then we're switching back.

 

With that, we let Tarmon get ready to take the lead.