What Dying Taught Me About Living
an excerpt

As she walked, she thought of random things, and was soon lost in thought. Thoughts about her uncles and Li, and thoughts of what all had happened to her since that phone call nearly four months ago from the Commander, and even thoughts of what she thought she’d make for dinner that night, were flitting through her head when she ran smack into someone with an, “Oof!”

“I’m sorry!” she said, backing up and smiling apologetically to whomever she had run into. Looking up, she blinked. “H-hello,” she said as she gazed into the eyes of a tall red-haired woman with striking blue eyes. Katie’s head tilted to the side, and a cutely confused expression graced her features. “Do I know you?”

The woman lifted a brow and, in a voice fittingly deep, answered, “I think not.”

“Junko!” a similar but higher pitched voice yelled out from a distance. “I found it!” The redhead turned and said, “Good. It only took you a few centuries.”

A blue-haired woman with similar features rolled her bright red, expressive eyes as she came bounding up. “Yeah, and you call me a drama queen.”

The redhaired sibling—Katie assumed they were siblings from their features and the way they interacted—lifted that brow again. “That’s because you are.”

The bluenette rolled her eyes again. “Whatever,” she said, then stopped and looked at Katie, blinking. “Who’s this, Junko?” she asked.

The redhead—Junko, if the bluenette’s words were any indication—turned back to Katie. “I’m not sure,” she said. “But she does say that I look familiar.”

“Ohhhh?” the bluenette said with a smile. “Does she now?” Junko nodded. “Well, then…” she trailed off with a sadistic smile, rubbing her hands together.

Katie sweatdropped. Who let the freaks out?

“Do I look familiar?” the woman asked her, still grinning creepily. Katie nodded once, smiling back uncertainly.

“Uhm, yeeaaah,” she said. “Why?”

The bluenette smiled ‘innocently’ and ‘reassuringly’. “Oh,” she said. “No reason. My name is Jinko,” she continued, “and this is Junko.” With the other woman’s name, Jinko gestured at her companion. “We’re sisters. Twins, in fact. Any of this ringing a bell?”

Katie shook her head. “No Ma’am,” she replied. “It doesn’t.” Smiling politely, she continued, “I really must be going now, though. I’m sorry to bother you.” She started to brush past the two women, but Jinko’s comment stopped her short.

Jinko shrugged. “Oh, well, I suppose you wouldn’t remember…what with how drunk you were that night and all….”

Katie turned back with a frown on her face. “W-what?” she said. “I don’t think…I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing.”

Jinko grinned again. “Oh, but I’m sure we are, dear. You just don’t remember that well.”

Junko laughed, and Katie turned to her worriedly. “Quit lying to the girl, Jinko,” she said quietly, tapping her knuckles on the back of her twin’s head.

“Oh, alright,” Jinko replied.

Turning to Katie, Junko told her, “Don’t worry, kid. My sister’s more full of tales then Limbo is of space.”

Katie smiled at the metaphor. “I see,” she said carefully. Then she bowed to both of them and replied, “Well, I really do have to be going….”

Junko nodded. “I understand. We all have places we have to be.”

Jinko smiled, benignly this time, though, and waved. “I guess we’ll seeya.”

Katie bowed again, then turned and began walking away.

When she was out of earshot, and the twins had returned to walking, Jinko snapped her fingers, startling her sister.

“I got it!” she said, and Junko’s eyebrow raised again.

“What?” the redhaired sister asked cautiously.

Jinko grinned at her sister. “I know why that girl was familiar!” Juko tilted her head to the side.

“She was familiar?”

Jinko nodded. “Mm-hm! She looked just like Tobias and Cerberus’s half-sister! I don’t remember her name, though….”

Junko looked curiously at her sister, and then it clicked. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “I remember now.” Trailing off into thought, she commented, “The eyes are different, though. Everything else is practically identical.”

Jinko nodded. “The eyes are a little different, and the cheekbones are a little higher, but the girl’s eyes changed a lot. I mean,” she said, “not color to color. But they would sometimes have more brown than green, and sometimes more green than brown.”

Junko nodded. “I’d heard that, but never really noticed.”

“It was cool!” Jinko said. “One time, I was watching when they changed. Her eyes started out green with an inner outline of brown, but a brown circle, almost like a second pupil, kept growing larger and larger until it had practically obscured the green.” Grinning again, Jinko nodded. “That was awesome.”

Junko nodded as they walked along. “I’m sure,” she said.

“Oh, it was,” Jinko said. “Trust me, it was truly awesome.”