40
Spiral Staircase

“Thank you for having me.” Luna Two’s voice projected into the glass through which was hurled back out into the air. “Jacket, of course.”

Aurora looked at her with an unshifting glare, before that faded away into a slow glance at the floor.

“I’m so sorry I’m being harsh.”

“Well, I’m—“ Aurora couldn’t look at Luna Two for more than a brief second or two before turning away. “I’m sorry— for not being entirely honest— I mean—“

“You’re fine.” Luna Two propped Aurora’s chin up. “You’re fine. I get it. Time travel and that dimension kerfuffle, right? I guess they finally made it.”

“You—“

“Your father talked a big game—“ Luna Two noticed her face. “Well, in this universe, at least. So I guess he succeeded?”

“How can you—“

“The watch, the nice jacket, the voice. Trust me,” Luna Two cracked open her little tin box and lit one of the incense sticks. “I can hear the difference. When I saw you and knew that you aren’t her, well.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, I mean—“

“If you did, I would be an idiot to not understand why you did so.” Luna Two chuckled to herself. “No hard feelings, by the way. Your alternate self was a real character. And now you stepped into her shoes. You have questions for me? Two salmon, for the both of us.”

Aurora’s eyes darted at the waiter that gestured to signal that he heard Luna Two, then back at her.

“You’re not a sushi person, I—“

“No.” Aurora flagged her down like she would a cab downstate. “It’s fine.”

“Well, to be frank, I can tell you that I know why you’re here. You wanted to save Ryan Ferrule, huh? The Kayla that I knew never knew him, but every time we sneak a drink at that back alley two blocks away, the subject of her dad always comes up and—“

Aurora had her head hung off to one side, slowly taking in the mug of tea that was five degrees too warm to be palatable but somehow still went down.

“Kayla? Hmm?” Luna Two stretched her arms and pushed them against Aurora’s shoulders. “I know I would never understand as much as I should to help you, but you don’t have to fear anything. Kayla— if I had your name correct.”

Aurora looked up at her and pursed her lips. 

“You had.” Aurora’s head drifted down. “How did you two end up like this?”

“He didn’t just have one bad mistake, Kayla. Trust me, your father over here is just as strong as he was over on your own side. He got pulled into an investor pool that turned out to be a trap, and he tried to use the 13k he had left to start something else, and that fell through. Your mother was pregnant at the time. He just drank, and drank. I guess she was scared or something, I don’t know— But she moved away.”

“How did you know all of this?” It came from Aurora’s voice box the frailest of voices.

“Being in the same high school with the other you and lots of drinking. Just like him, I guess.”

“How did it end? Tell me.” Aurora looked like she had seen the first glance of water after a two-week dehydrated trek through Sahara.

“You can’t change—“

“Tell me.” There was a little shake as the girl searched her brain for that one magic word. “Please.”

“Drinking wasn’t enough for him. Honestly your mom, and the losses, and the self-doubts, and the disappointment— It just bubbled up. He took a knife.” There was an audible gasp, and a pause, before Luna Two continued. “Gave himself a few cuts that will never be washed away. Your mother never noticed it. She was too busy hiding in her room and crying. Then the landlord came to their apartment one day, and gave him the ultimatum. He figured that there was no way out that night.”

Aurora’s chest rose and fell in rapid succession as the waiter’s voice was drowned out by her internal monologue. Luna Two arranged the two dons that were handed down. The rich girl’s right arm went to grab at the chair she’s on.

Her eyes stared at the pocket that the hypercube sat in. 

“I mean, you don’t have to do this. Kayla. Really.” Luna Two poured the soy sauce all over the raw fish. “What’s done is done. Us two got used to it. We could get by just fine, you know. I’m sorry if I scared you earlier.”

“No, you didn’t.” Aurora took the bottle as her company passed it over. “You took a minor concentration in Hotel—“

“Hotel Management.”

“My, Luna, was this loyal, and attentive, and gracious— friend.” Luna Two’s eyes was on her. “Her family didn’t have much money when she tried to apply for a position with us in my home. Just the most honest and dedicated and devoted— and if my father had—“

Aurora fell into an embrace with this— stranger? Friend? What do you call someone who isthat person, but also is not?

Her voice became muffled in the fabric that infused itself with the scent of burnt incense sticks. Her head became warm. Then it slowly moved away after what seemed like hours from a Luna Two unable to comprehend anything this person told her.

“You can go home, Kayla. You can.” Those are the only words Luna Two managed to enunciate. “You don’t have to do this. Me and my own Kayla—“

“You said that he went down this path because of that scheme?”

“Yes, a scheme that roped him in and took the vast majority— You’re not going to do this, are you?”

“We can try, Luna. Right? We can always try?”