Morgan never thought that this could ever happen to her sister or anyone. What happened was so obscure that nobody outside the family believed the real story. It was a warm, sunny spring day, but Morgan’s mood and dress were far from that. She wore a black dress and gloves. Morgan thought about wearing a veil but decided against it. Sam never liked veils. She stood in front of the grave-site, shaking her head. She could only recount what had happened just three weeks ago. Anything else wasn’t possible. The memories seemed to flicker like a dying lamp.
Three weeks prior
“Sam, you’ll forget your lunch sweetie!” Samantha ran back to grab it before making a funny face at her sister. Morgan looked up from her computer and rolled her eyes.
“Go to school, dork. See you later.” For the rest of that day, Morgan was on her computer, doing her homework. Math really isn’t my strong suit. Gosh, I wish I was better at this stuff. Why does Sam always find it so easy to…
She jumped as the front door flew open. Sam walked through the door and plunged into the couch. Morgan raised an eyebrow, getting up from her computer.
When she walked over, she noticed that her sister was tired.
“What’s up, Sam? Did you have a good day at school?”
Sam shook her head.
“That boring English teacher was there again. At least the music was fun. I sure am tired from practicing though.” She eyed the piano in the corner of the room.
“Need to practice again today if I’m going to make it to the semi-finals.” Sam yawned before picking up her bag to go to her room.
“Just need a few hours of rest, I think.”
Morgan returned to her computer, nodding to herself.
At around five that evening, the girl’s mother returned home from work. She found her oldest daughter on her computer but not her youngest.
“Is your sister around?” she asked.
Morgan shrugged non-chaltanly.
“Sam said she was tired so she went to bed for a few hours.” Her mother nodded and left the room.
A few minutes later, Sam emerged from her room. She looked a little panicked, and her mother was saying assuring words.
“Don’t worry Sam. The competition isn’t for another month. You deserve a few hours after working so hard today.”
But Sam seemed more worried than usual.
“Yes, but this piece has to be perfect Mom for them to even consider me.”
Her mother nodded.
“I’ll fix up some dinner first.”
Sam seemed to agree with that.
Morgan also offered a few words.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist, dummy. They’ll think your playing is perfect and won’t even consider anyone else.”
Sam nodded once again before sitting down on the couch.
“I’m-I’m sure you’re right,” she said, although it was not confidently.
After dinner that night, Sam went to play. The first few times sounded rough, but then it slightly improved. Sam banged the keys in frustration. Morgan winced but understood her frustration.
She almost thought about offering words of wisdom but wasn’t sure what to say.
At around midnight, their mother made her go to bed.
“You have to go to school tomorrow, and you can’t play if you’re tired.”
Sam nodded but seemed determined about something.
“I’ll play it right, no matter what I do,” she said as she tucked herself into bed that night.
The next day, Sam was full of energy and jumping around. She collected her lunch from their mother and said something to her sister.
Morgan remembered the words as she std
“Hey Morgan, do you know any tips or tricks for stress?” It was a simple question, but Morgan choked, unable to think of anything. A few minutes passed by. Then she cleared her throat and answered.
“I like to go out for runs or drink coffee, plus energy pills.” Energy pills.
Morgan hit the metal fencepost at the graveyard, hating herself for saying such words to her younger sister.
She was just a baby. Why did I say that shit?
Sam blinked, an idea seemed to be forming in her head.
“Thanks, Morg, you always know the answer to everything.” Then she opened the door and left. If Morgan had known what would transpire in just a few weeks or the outcome, she would have stopped her sister from leaving that day. It would have prevented the tragedy that was to come.
When her sister walked in the door that night, Morgan noted that she looked tired, like the day before. She was full of energy too. Her sister refused to go to sleep until she learned the piece.
“I’ll play all day and all night if I have to to get this right, even if I fall over like a rag doll. The girl’s mother protested and insisted that her daughter needed rest. Sam ignored her.
When Morgan was in bed that night, she heard her sister playing. It was around midnight when her mother forced Sam to go to bed.
In the morning, Sam looked tired but refused to stay home. She went on to school once again. But only a few hours passed before her mother got a call from the school to come pick her up. Sam had fallen asleep in the music room and didn’t look well. Her mother went to pick her up. When she returned, she told Morgan to keep an eye on her sister, as she drove away to work again.
Morgan squeezed her palms, kicking a stone across the graveyard. She had been told to keep an eye on her sister, yet…
A few hours later, Morgan figured that her sister would continue to sleep soundly, calling up her friends.
“Let’s go to that park and hang for a few hours, my sister’s sleeping because she’s not feeling well.”
Her friends agreed, and they left that night. Morgan was having so much fun with her friends that she ignored her cell phone. She laughed and talked with them, and they planned to eat out. That was until she picked up her phone and saw missed calls. Morgan rolled her eyes and called her mother back. A sharp, angry voice sounded on the other end.
“Morgan, where are you? You were supposed to be watching your sister. I walked in from work and had to physically stop her from practicing and make her be in her room. Come back here right now and explain yourself.” Morgan just scoffed.
“She’s not a little baby. She can handle herself, I can’t watch her 24/7.”
Morgan remembered those words she said. All said in the moment and regretted deeply later.
“I’ve got plans. You can handle her.” Before her mother could respond, Morgan hung up.
The next few weeks went by like a blur to Morgan, except for two distinct things. Her sister would continue to be tired and unwell, even as she was forced to rest. The piano became more incessant and more common. Eventually, it became a thing every night, and Morgan found it oddly comforting. But what was not were Sam’s test scores. They began to drop, and she started spending more and more time in the music room. The teachers reported that she snuck into the music room for hours. When they found her, she would be playing, even as her fingers were sore and she looked so tired. The piece for the competition was heard but at other times, incoherent playing.
At home, Sam barely spoke to anyone. All she would do was come home, play, be forced to rest, more than often sneak out to play, and then play for the rest of the night before being forced to stop again. It began to consume her daily life.
Her mother became worried that it was adversely affecting her health and tried to take her to see a doctor several times. But Sam refused to go. In fact, she fought so hard, even biting and screaming every way. Over the weeks, her hair became a mess, and she stumbled around like a zombie. Morgan tried to think of what could have caused it.
One night, she went through her sister’s backpack to look for clues. Morgan was surprised to find a bottle. Might be energy pills? It said something on the label. Take one a day for concentration and focus. Shrugging, she opened it up and dumped some onto her hand, but immediately dropped it with half a scream escaping. These weren’t white pills. They were worms. They moved about, gelatinous, and moved around the floor. Morgan crushed them to death and counted how many were in the bottle. Only two were left. On the back, it read: 150 milligrams of vitamin C. Someone had given this bottle to her sister. But who? Sam quickly took it away, and planned to kidnap her sister to take her to the hospital. Sam was at the piano, and Morgan saw for the first time that her sister looked like she had been taken over by something.
Her eyes twitched. They were dilated to tiny pinpricks, staring at nothing, and her fingers danced across the keys and playing random notes. She paid no mind to her sister. Morgan took a deep breath and jumped her sister from behind, interrupting her playing. The reaction was nothing short of nightmarish. Sam screamed this horrible guttural scream, clawing at her sister and trying to bite her. She dug her fingernails into Morgan’s arm. Morgan winced but held on tight. She held on as tight as she could before Sam finally threw her off.
Morgan fell into a wall, shocked by her sister’s sudden strength. Sam stumbled before going into her room, presumably to grab the bottle. Morgan was confident she wouldn’t find it. She had killed the two worms before throwing away the bottle. She could hear her sister’s scream as she ran around the house, trying to find it. She looked at her sister unblinking, before getting on all fours and running at her. Morgan quickly got up and threw a thick blanket over her before sitting on it.
Sam hissed and screamed as she was pinned down under the blanket. Then the girls’ mother walked in the door. When she heard the screaming and hissing, she knew that there was something terribly wrong.
When they did a scan of her brain, the doctor was shocked. Nearly all of her brain matter had been eaten by something, yet she was still alive because the parasite was controlling her every move, replacing every function with its own. He looked to the family, saddened. There was nothing they could do. Sam was put into a coma. Without being awake, the parasite ate the rest of her brain and she passed away a week later.
Morgan rubbed at her arm where her sister had scratched her, staring at her gravestone.
She wished she could take it all back, but there was nothing she could do. With a sigh, she walked out of the gravesite, still hearing that song that her sister was trying to perfect. I’m sorry, sis.
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