Amson, 17, "Ironclad Cavalry"

"A baby sister?" I asked in awe. "Like, just now?"

Now, that was about the last thing I'd expected. A kid sister, huh... I don't think I could ever imagine having a kid sibling myself. I've always been the younger sibling, and from my experience, I know I'd never treat my sibling half the way Lorelai treats me, sometimes. But this... a baby sister at eighteen years old...

It'd still be sad growing up without my sister.

Being that my sister and I are only four years apart, we still lived the majority of our lives together, dealing with each other whenever necessary. Though our relationship has been reduced to what some would call a tolerance, it would be very different.

Despite what I say about her, I still love her.

"Yuh huh." Tora responded, excitement heard in her enthusiastic tone.

"Congratulations to you and your family." I smiled. "How's the baby? What's their name."

"Well, Mom says Dad got to name me, so she named her." Tora explained. "Her name is Anna, after my great grandma."

Like a switch, something inside my mind changed. It's not as if I wasn't happy for her, but I noticed something changed, without much more than a moment's notice.

"That's a nice name." I said, slowly bringing the phone away from my face. "I'm glad everything's ok over there, and I hope everything remains well. I'll get out of your hair."

"Huh?!" Tora yelled. "But we just got started talking, Amson..."

I could hear the sadness in her voice, and something pulled me back to the phone, perhaps a gut feeling. Yet, at the same time, I felt like I had to leave; homework just happened to be the perfect excuse. For some reason, I didn't want to continue the conversation, just the closure that she was ok sufficed.

The phone line was silent for several moments.

"I-I have to finish up some homework." I said. "Some homework for homeroom."

"Homeroom?" She pondered, quickly turning into further excitement. "We could do it together, if you wanted."

Tora was way too quick to respond, catching me off guard. It was as if she, for some reason, needed me on the other end of the phone, and I didn't get it, only growing more distant. In all honesty, I knew why I was apprehensive to continue the conversation. I felt uncomfortable, and every second I spent on the phone with her only intensified the feeling.

I'd called her out of nowhere, got what I'd wanted, and now, I felt out of place on the phone, and her urge to keep me on the phone only increased my yearning to leave. Yet, the sound of her voice made something in me recoil, a guilty reflex in and of itself.

"F-Fine." I said, caving to the guilt.

"I-I wouldn't want to force you, Amson." She assured me, trying to hide her sorrow. "You don't have to."

"N-no, it's fine." I stated, holding my tongue.

In actuality, given the concentration, the homework was child's play; staying on the phone with her just seemed like another distraction. I'd gotten what I wanted, was satisfied, yet I was still forced by some inability to say no more than once. I tried my best not to make my annoyance apparent, modulating my tone to mimic how I'd felt before.

"Did you need help on something specific?" I asked, turning the phone on speaker and giving my attention to my laptop. "I'll help you catch up with what you missed."

///

That night, Tora and I stayed on the phone together until two o'clock in the morning, getting her up to speed with everything we'd learned and would learn throughout the week. Tora, being not the brightest in our bunch, had trouble understanding most of what came out of my mouth, hence why we didn't sleep until we nearly needed to be up for school. It was like she hadn't listened for a single second since school started, yet she seemed like she was having every bit of fun there was to have, unfortunately sucking up all the joy.

I was not amused, and I woke up in a daze, ready to go back to sleep. I limped throughout the house in a struggle with myself to find the will to go to school, but with Baun driving me, I had little to no choice in the matter. The rest of the day was a blur. No Tora, no will to live, same ol'; same ol'. I can hardly remember a single detail from the day since I was unconscious for most of it, but who could blame me with four hours of sleep and no physical stimuli for eight hours straight?

Yet, after school was the main event of our day.

"You're ready?" I said, nudging Baun as we stood beside Lore's door.

Lore's room had been awfully quiet since we arrived, and with Baun trying to take the helm, our numbers of success were slim to none. This was our only shot to both ask for her help and have enough time to ask people, so I thought we'd be taking this seriously.

Baun, however, made it his life's mission to irk me.

"Born ready." He said fastening the tie to his mesh of an attire. "What I wanna know is, are you ready, Am?"

To his own demise, he wore a graphic T-shirt, a formal jacket, and cargo shorts, three things I'd never seen him wear in my life. I didn't know whether he was fucking with me because of how confident he was in every aspect of his being. His posture, his walk, his voice... I don't understand how someone like him could be that confident while wearing a country man's version of a clown costume.

Yet, as I've known for all the time I've known him, there was no chance of changing his mind. He was going to commit to this goofy skit of a scenario, yet I'm too choked up to chuckle. Not even a bit.

"G-Good luck?" I mustered.

He nodded and entered the room, strutting like a soldier from one war into the next. It was as if he had an entire entourage behind him, yet no one was there, only me who was too pussy to accompany him on his mission to certain doom. No one could tell him anything, and that was probably the most honorable I'd seen him, ready for anything headed his way.