Shattered Worlds

Veronica stared out the window bouncing on the bed as she said, "Come on, come on. Hurry up!"

Suddenly, a bat swooped down from the ceiling and landed on her shoulder. She didn't even glance at it as her eyes were focused on the full moon up in the sky.

"Veronica, what are you doing?" the bat asked.

"I want to go to the party already," she said as she finally stopped bouncing on the bed.

"I don't think there's any ritual involving jumping on the bed to make time go faster."

"Not funny, Echo."

"I'm just saying you should stop that. It gives me migraines."

She huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine."

Now that she stopped jumping on the bed, she started tapping her feet on the floor. Echo swatted her face with one of his wings in response before flying away. Veronica sputtered as she glared after him. The bat settled back on the ceiling and wrapped his wings around his body.

I'll get him for that once we reach the mansion.

A knock on the door distracted her, and she turned her attention to who was on the other side.

"Veronica, we need to have a talk," a familiar voice said.

Standing up, Veronica said, "Coming, Mom."

Veronica swiftly crossed the distance and opened the door. Her mother's disheveled appearance greeted her, making Veronica's jaw drop.

"Veronica, I'm so sorry, but there's an emergency," her mother said as she frantically urged Veronica to come out of her room.

She didn't hesitate to follow her mom to the living room as she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Your father was caught up in a traffic accident. I have to go."

Her eyes widened. "Dad's hurt? Is he okay?"

"I don't know. All I know is that an ambulance arrived to take the injured to the hospital," her mother said.

Veronica stared horrified.

She never thought her father would ever get into an accident. Both her parents were responsible drivers. They had never been in an accident before. In fact, Veronica was pretty sure they never had car problems, period.

As her mother threw on a coat and grabbed her purse, she said, "That's why I want you to stay here and keep an eye on your sister until the sitter shows up."

Caught off guard, Veronica blurted out, "What?" She quickly recovered from her shock and asked, "Why am I not going with you?"

"The situation is not ideal. I don't want to leave you two alone, but bringing both of you to the hospital isn't possible."

"But—"

"Veronica," her mother snapped as she spun around to face Veronica. "Please. I can't deal with this right now. I already called the sitter, and she said that she'd come soon. We're lucky that she was able to come in last minute." Then her mother mumbled, "If only the rest of the family lived close by. Then I wouldn't have to worry." In a louder voice, she said, "Remember. Keep the doors locked until she shows up. Do not answer the door for anyone else. Stay safe, you two. I love you."

Then she was out the door. Veronica stared at the closed door in disbelief.

Just early, she had been excited to sneak out at midnight to go to the witches' party. It was something she had been dreaming about for months since the last one. Now she was stuck anxiously waiting for the sitter to show up and wait for news about her father.

Suddenly, there was a sharp cry coming from the baby's room. Veronica ran, throwing the door open. Her baby sister brawled from in her crib, her tiny arms reaching up the ceiling. Without missing a beat, Veronica marched towards the crib to carefully lift her baby sister and gently rocked her to sleep. Unfortunately, her baby sister didn't make it easy and wailed into her ears. She grimaced but didn't stop. Eventually, her baby sister fell silent.

This is the worst. How could this have happened? I hope Dad is okay.

Veronica nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard ringing. Her baby sister whimpered.

"Shh. It's okay." Her words didn't seem to have any effect, as she could see tears forming at the corner of her sister's eyes. "Please don't cry. If you cry, I'm going to cry."

The ringing still hadn't stopped, and she gritted her teeth as she stormed out of the baby's room to grab the phone.

After ripping the phone off the stand, she placed the phone against her ear and snapped, "What?"

"Veronica, is that you?" asked a familiar voice on the other end.

It was the sitter.

"Yeah, it's me," Veronica said as she adjusted her grip on her baby sister. "When are you getting here?"

"Actually, about that." Veronica had a sinking feeling in her stomach. "I don't think I'll be able to come."

"Why not?" Her baby sister whimpered at her sharp tone, and she took a moment to soothe her baby sister before returning to the conversation. "Mom said you were coming. What happened?"

"There's horrible traffic. Apparently, there's been a terrible accident that's keeping everyone stuck. I won't be able to get to the house until a couple hours later."

A couple hours?

By then, it would be way after midnight.

"But my mom already left," she said.

"Oh no. I'm really sorry, but none of the cars in front of me are moving. I'm literally stuck. Can you call your mom? If not, I'll call her," the sitter said.

"I'll try."

"I'm really sorry about this. I promise to make it up to you."

How are you going to make this up?

She hanged up. After dialing her mother's number, she waited for her mother to pick up, but it went straight to voicemail. Veronica tried a couple more times only to get the same result. Giving up, she returned the phone back to its stand. Then she collapsed onto the nearby sofa and stared at nothing.

What now?

Veronica never expected to end up in such a situation. This was probably the first time she had been left alone, much less solely responsible for her baby sister. She never had to handle her baby sister alone, at least without another adult nearby, to make sure nothing bad happened. Even now, she was worried she might accidentally drop her sister.

She eyed her baby sister warily, making sure that she was holding her correctly. Her baby sister had the audacity to blow a bubble at her.

With a grimace, she muttered, "You're really lucky you don't understand what's going on right now."

What am I supposed to do now? Do I just stay awake and watch my baby sister until Mom and Dad come home? I don't even know when they'll be back.

A familiar ringtone caught her attention, and she stared in the direction of her room. Veronica sighed before getting to her feet and walked to her room to grab her phone. She picked it up and saw it was a text from her friend asking if she was excited to go to the party. Unable to properly text with one hand, she called her friend.

Her friend immediately picked up and asked, "What's up? Why did you call?"

"I can't come," Veronica said in a dejected tone.

"Huh?"

"I can't come."

"Why not? Weren't you the one begging to come to the party even though you're only twelve? You even managed to get them to waive the rule that you have to be thirteen to join as long as you fulfilled the conditions."

"My dad got into an accident."

"Oh, sorry. I guess you're in the hospital right now."

"No, my mom said I need to stay home to watch my sister."

"Wait. You're home alone?"

"Yes."

"Isn't that illegal? Don't you have to be thirteen or something?"

"It's fourteen. I checked."

The only reason she knew about this was because she had been researching when she could be left home alone so she could sneak off to meet other witches. As the only witch in the family with her entire family completely in the dark about it, she had to keep it a secret. Witches were not supposed to reveal themselves to humans, and Veronica just happened to be one of the rare witches to be born into a purely human family.

"So what are you going to do?" her friend asked.

"I don't know. The sitter my mom called says she can't come because of traffic, so I'm stuck alone with my baby sister," Veronica said as she shifted her baby sister.

"That's rough. It's too bad you can't make it this year. At least you'll be able to go next year when you're of age."

"I know, but I really wanted to go this year. I even got clothes specifically for the party."

"Well, it's not like you can leave your baby sister behind. That's practically asking something bad to happen."

"I know that. I'm not that dumb or heartless."

"I'm just saying. Well, I've got to go. I need to get ready for the party. See you on Monday."

Before Veronica could respond, the call was discounted. She glared daggers at the phone, tempted to toss it at the wall. Instead, she dropped it on the bed and nearly threw herself face forward onto the bed. Luckily, she quickly remembered that she was still holding her baby sister and stopped herself from crushing her baby sister beneath her weight. Falling onto her back, she stared up at the ceiling where Echo was still perched.

The bat flew down as he asked, "I heard what happened."

"It's not fair," she whined. "I've been waiting for so long to go ever since I found out about it."

"You only found out about it a couple months ago."

"Exactly."

"I can't believe no one thought to tell me for the past two years."

"You were only ten."

If Ten was old enough to awaken as a witch, she was old enough to know about the party. They didn't even have to let her go at ten. She could just have let her know that it was one of the things witches did.

"Besides, shouldn't you be more worried about your dad? I mean don't you think him being in the hospital is more important than a party?" Echo asked as he waved his wings.

"I'm trying not to think about it," she admitted.

It was easier not to panic if she didn't think about it. Talking about the party distracted her from thinking about the horrible things that might have happened to her father.

"How about watching some TV?" he suggested. "It'll keep you awake and distracted."

"I don't want to watch TV though."

"I don't know what else to tell you."

For several moments, no one spoke. It was quiet except for the noises her baby sister was making. Suddenly, Veronica sat up as she was struck with an idea.

"I don't like the look on your face," Echo said as he took into the air and eyed her warily.

"If I can't leave my baby sister alone, I can just take her with me to the party," she said as she stood up.

"...Are you crazy? This is a witches' party we're talking about. A human baby isn't going to be welcomed."

"I'm sure the others will understand. It's an emergency. They said I'm allowed to go."

"I'm pretty sure they allowed it because they didn't think you would suddenly bring a human baby to the party."

"Well, it's better than staying home alone. If I go to the party, there'll be a bunch of adults around."

"You're not going to listen to me anyway. Do whatever you want."

That was her intention. However, she needed to prepare her baby sister for the trip. There was no way her baby sister would be able to stay warm while they flew through the sky on her broomstick. She would get sick.

"Where's the coat?" Veronica mumbled as she set out to dress up her baby sister for the party.