Pandemic

by ASGeek2012

Chapter 5 - Responsibility

Sarah awoke Tuesday morning to the sound of arguing.

"--wasn't me who spent five zillion hours washing her hair."

"This is not my fault!"

"If you hadn't gotten your hair all stupidly orange and curly--"

"For the last time, Jenny, I didn't do this!"

"Even Mom didn't believe it at first. She had to go and call Doctor Conner to--"

"That was only to ask about Dad's chemicals in the basement!"

Sarah groaned and rolled over in bed. "Harry?" she said in a groggy voice. Can you go see what they're ... urg ..."

The other half of the bed was empty.

She slid her legs over the side and frowned as she glanced at her cell phone. Greg had sent her a text message. She grabbed the phone as she stood up and struggled into a robe as fast as her half-awake state would allow.

Sarah opened the door to her bedroom and flinched when the argument erupted into full volume. Laura was dressed while Jenny still stood in a bath robe.

"All I'm saying is, just because you're the Fae Queen doesn't mean you get to hog the shower," Jenny said in a lofty voice.

Laura covered her eyes with a hand. "Will you please stop calling me that?"

"Sorry, Your Majesty, but your secret is out. Your magic is so powerful that you cannot disguise your true nature any longer. Why, I bet your ears will go all elfin by lunchtime."

Laura shivered hard. "I swear, Jenny, I am one step away from--"

"Enough!" Sarah declared. She pressed the back of her hand holding the cell phone to her forehead briefly and sighed. "I don't even want to know what this is about. I have a very busy day ahead of me and don't need this. Jenny, go take your shower before you're late for school."

"Can't," said Jenny. "Carrot-top here broke the water heater."

"I did not break it!" Laura bellowed.

"Laura, lower your voice," Sarah said.

"All that happened was that the pilot light went out again," said Laura. "Dad's in the basement fixing it now."

"He's been at it for twenty minutes," muttered Jenny.

"Then take a cold shower," said Sarah.

"But it's freezing in here already!"

"Jenny, I don't want to hear it," Sarah said. "You're already one step away from being grounded for your little escapade at the mill. Don't push it."

Jenny sighed dramatically and turned away. "Fine," she muttered before stomping towards the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind her.

Laura gave her mother a sheepish look. "Um, I better finish getting ready for school."

"Wait," said Sarah.

Laura's shoulders sagged as she turned back around.

Sarah stepped up to her. "This is not like you, Laura. You generally don't let her rile you up so much that you openly argue with her."

Laura could not bring herself to meet Sarah's eyes. "I know. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"I'd like to know why it happened at all. I usually can count on you to be the mature one. So what's going on?"

Laura slowly raised her eyes to her mother's. "I'm really worried about what's happening to me, Mom."

Sarah touched one of Laura's curls. "Well, I can't promise that you won't take some teasing from this, but--"

"That's not what I mean. I woke up this morning feeling ... well, weird."

Sarah folded her arms. "Define 'weird'."

"That's just it, I can't. I mean, sometimes it's like a buzzing in my ears. Sometimes a tingling or ache in a strange place. I don't feel normal, and I don't mean just the hair." She paused. "When Jenny made that stupid joke about my ears, it really got to me. I'm not sure why."

"She's just trying to push your buttons," said Sarah.

Laura shook her head. "I don't think that's it. I don't even understand it myself."

Sarah gave her daughter a concerned look. "Do you want to see Doctor Conner again?"

"I'm not sure what that would accomplish. Even he didn't know what was up with my hair. All I can do is wait for the test results to come back."

"If it helps any, I made your father pack away his chemicals for now."

"I honestly don't think that caused it," said Laura. "Even the doctor said so."

Sarah was beginning to realize the same thing, but she wanted to feel like she was doing something to help. "All right. If you do start feeling sick, don't hesitate to tell me about it."

Laura nodded. "I won't."

"I'll go see how Harry is doing," Sarah said as she started to turn away.

Laura gasped. "Mom!"

Sarah whirled back around. "What is it?"

Laura's eyes were wide. "Y-your hair ... there's a big streak of red through it!"

Sarah scrambled to reach around behind her and pull her hair into view. Where a narrow band of cherry red hair had been excised the night before, she now had a streak two inches wide and stretching further up towards the top of her head.

"That's how it started with me," Laura said in a hollow voice. "Streaks up the back that spread."

Sarah stared as if she were still trying to convince herself what she was seeing.

"Mom, what the hell is happening?"

"I have no clue," said Sarah in a toneless voice.

---

Harold muttered a curse as he tried unsuccessfully for the seventh time to light the pilot on the aging water heater. He told himself that it was the heater that was faulty and not himself, but that proved difficult when plagued by memories of that returned letter.

He drew back from the heater and stood up as he heard footsteps descending into the basement. He turned around to see his wife step off the stairs, her finger tapping out a text message.

"Honey, you know you make me nervous when you text at the same time you're trying to navigate those steep stairs," said Harold.

Sarah unerringly weaved around boxes as she approached, head still down. "And I keep telling you I do this all the time at digs and never had an accident."

Harold rubbed the back of his neck. "So what's the deal?"

"Greg's going to get pics of those petroglyphs."

"That soon?"

Sarah finished sending her message and looked up. "He doesn't want to take any chances that something will happen to them."

"They're kinda attached to the cliff, aren't they? Not like someone can steal them."

"Yes, but they're easy to deface."

"You two really believe that could happen?"

Sarah frowned. "After that debacle where all the artifacts were stolen from that previous dig, I wouldn't be surprised."

"You sound almost like you think someone would do this on purpose."

"I want to believe it was a one-off, Harry," said Sarah. "But where it was the one dig that had the exact hard evidence I needed for my theories, I can't help but be a little wary."

"It's distracting you from your writing."

Sarah sighed. "I know. I'm going to try to catch up today."

Harold nodded. While he still had a job, her book had been a means for her to further her career. Now it represented food on the table if Harold couldn't find work soon. He tried not to point it out too many times, as it invariably led to an argument over decisions that had long since been made, like her shift in career or taking in Bob.

Sarah glanced past her husband. "Any luck?"

"No," Harold said, turning back towards the heater. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with it, I ... uh, Sarah, what are you doing?"

Sarah had stepped up behind him and turned down his collar. "That blue hair is spreading."

Harold tugged his collar back up. "Worry about your own hair." He turned around, reaching a hand behind Sarah's head and letting her fine fair spill through his fingers. "I saw that red streak you're sporting."

"Aren't you the least bit perturbed by this?" Sarah asked.

"You mean more so than the prospect of spending twelve hundred dollars on a new heater because I'm not competent enough to fix this one?"

Sarah lowered her head, pressing her hands to her husband's chest. "Don't do this to yourself, please," she said in a soft voice.

Harold sighed. "Pay no attention to me."

Sarah looked up. "If your father doesn't want to talk to you, that's his problem, not yours."

"Yeah, but what if he's right?"

Sarah took a step back and gave him a wary look. "About what?"

"About a lot of things."

"All he's doing is trying to guilt you into coming back to help him with the farm, and he doesn't even need you for that, he has your sister. She was more than happy to step in."

Harold scratched his head. "Yeah, but you know how he feels. Traditional roles and all that."

Sarah pressed her finger into his chest. "Again, his problem, not yours. I know you spent a lot of time on that farm as a kid, but you don't owe him."

"Yeah, but what was my reason for leaving?" Harold said. "Because I didn't see a future in farming."

"And that's a perfectly valid reason."

"Not in his eyes."

Sarah tilted her head. "What's gotten into you? I know this thing with your father is really bothering you, but you can't just throw away a life you've made for yourself."

Harold said nothing.

"Harry, do me a favor," said Sarah. "Call your sister."

"The last thing she needs is a sob story from me."

"You mean the world to her." Sarah gave him a lopsided grin. "I could wish for a sister as great as yours."

Harold smiled faintly. "Yeah, all right, I will."

---

Tina smiled broadly as her friend approached. "Well, look at you. You're braver than I am."

Laura rolled her eyes as she approached, her curls bouncing with her walk. "Says the girl with half-pink hair."

"Yeah, but that's my thing," said Tina as she transferred books from her locker to her satchel. "Not yours. What made you ..." Her voice suddenly strained and broke up into a coughing fit. "... made you go au naturale?" She coughed again and frowned. "Fuck, I hate this post-flu crap. It takes forever to go away."

Laura wanted to give the real answer, that she felt it was the mature thing to do. She had to show she could take a few snickers and odd looks. Her little sister had not helped by spreading the nickname "carrot top" among the students, as if Jenny were purposely testing her. Sometimes Laura believed that was true. Sometimes she felt Jenny had every right to do so even if she wasn't.

"I guess I figured I'd try out the new look?" Laura said, forcing a small smile.

Tina smirked. "Uh-huh. Right. I know you too well, Laura. You're about as straight-laced as they come."

Laura sighed. "Fine, I have other reasons, but I don't want to go into them right now."

Tina shrugged. "Fair enough." She closed her locker. "Hey, if it helps any, you don't seem to be the only one with weird hair issues."

Laura's eyes widened. "I'm not?"

"You know Josie? She's got this really wild streak of purple through her hair. She said she has no idea how it happened, but she sorta likes it." Tina grinned. "Her Mom? Not so much. I think she's gonna drag Josie to the doctor."

"Are you serious?" Laura said in a hushed voice. "Is there anyone else?"

"Not that I know of, but I haven't been looking."

"Maybe you should," Laura said. "Maybe we both should. This can't be normal."

Tina leaned against her locker. "This really has you riled up, doesn't it?" she asked in a more serious tone.

"The same thing is happening to my mother," Laura said. "And I think I saw something odd about Dad's hair, too."

"Wow. You think you all got into the same thing, whatever it is?"

"I don't know. Jenny doesn't have it. Neither does Bob. But now people at school have it, that has to mean this is spreading somehow."

Tina snorted. "Have to admit, I kinda wish it would happen to me."

Laura rolled her eyes. "Come on, be serious!"

"Hey, good hair dye is expensive. If I could have magically colored hair, I'd do it in an instant. But, yeah, okay, I see where you're coming from. I'll keep my eyes peeled."

"Thanks," said Laura. "We better get on to class."

"Seeya later."

Laura turned and headed away. Like her mother, she had no idea what this would accomplish. She simply wanted to feel like she was doing something.

---

Jenny dashed through the main hallway of the school at the end of the school day, her eyes falling on her still behatted friend as he headed to the exit. "James!" she shouted nearly at the top of her lungs to the annoyed glances of her peers, but he kept on walking.

Jenny plunged through the crowd again, elbowing people out of her way. She finally cleared them and jogged after her wayward friend. "James, wait up!"

James kept walking, but he slowed enough for Jenny to catch up. "James, I have a fantastic idea for expanding the scene we talked about yesterday. I got the idea this morning from my mother. Well, indirectly from her. Anyway, what if the magic of the Fae Queen starts to spread through the kingdom and--"

James finally halted and spun around to face her. "Jenny, we ... I have to head straight home, I'm sorry."

Jenny just stared, even as he resumed walking. She jogged to catch up. "What for?"

"Because I've been told to by my mother, that's why."

Jenny's eyes widened. "You got yourself grounded?"

James stopped to face her again. "I'd be lucky if that's what I got!"

Jenny recoiled. "What happened? Why are you so upset?"

James glanced away for a moment. "I've been told to stay away from you, and the only way I can do that--"

"Stay away from me?!"

"--is to head straight home. If I spend any time at all out here, you're just going to tag along and--"

Jenny frowned. "I thought you wanted me to tag along."

"Dammit, I do!" James cried. "I want to hang out with you, Jenny. I like you. A lot."

Jenny hesitated, then slowly smiled. "A lot, huh?"

"Yes, and now thanks to your lunacy that doesn't matter anymore."

"My, what?" Jenny sighed. "Okay, fine, maybe yesterday wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done, but nothing happened. We got out okay."

James shook his head.

"What are you not telling me?" Jenny demanded.

"One of the rangers who manage the hiking trails saw us heading away from that property."

"Um, okay, so?"

"He told a cop, and that cop happens to be a close friend of the family," said James.

"Oh, you have to be kidding me. That's one hell of a coincidence."

"You still don't get what living in a small town like this means," said James. "It means that sort of thing happens a lot."

Jenny's eyes widened. "Are you saying we're in trouble with the law now?" she asked in a small voice.

"We were trespassing, so we could be, if the police really wanted to make a big deal out of it," said James. "They're more concerned about our run-in with old man Turner. Even the cops know he's a flake."

"Then we just won't go over there anymore."

"You're still not getting it," said James in a tired voice. "It doesn't matter because my Mom is convinced you did something to trick me into going over there."

"I did no such thing!" Jenny declared.

"Yes, I know that, and you know that, but I gave up trying to convince my mother."

Jenny frowned and turned away, her hair almost glowing in the bright sunlight. "Well, that's just great. Just fucking great."

James stared and murmured, "What the hell?"

Jenny spun back around. "James, we have to figure out how to get around this somehow. I've never had someone as good as you to bounce ideas off of, and, well, I have to admit, I--"

"Jenny, wait," said James. "Can you turn around again?"

"Huh?"

"Just humor me, please."

Jenny sighed dramatically and turned her back to him. "Just don't get fresh, okay? I, um, like you, too, but I'm not ready for that stuff."

If it had been anyone else, James would have been insulted that she thought he would take advantage of her. Instead, he smirked faintly; Jenny was just being, well, Jenny. He did admit he enjoyed the excuse to stare at her beautiful hair. He set aside his feelings for the moment as he sought to find what he had seen before in blond hair so light it was almost white in the sun. "Jenny, you've got several strands of pink in your hair."

Jenny spun back around. "I what? Where??"

"Um, may I be allowed to show you?" James said in a tentative voice.

"Yes, fine, go ahead."

James stepped around her and delicately grasped the hairs by the tips before bringing them around to Jenny's eyes.

Jenny stared she took the strands in her fingers. Nestled in the otherwise blond hair were several strands of bright bubble-gum pink.

"Pink," Jenny muttered. "Why did it have to be pink? I hate pink. Why couldn't it be blue, like my Dad's hair? That's my favorite color."

"You're taking this a lot better than I did."

Jenny tossed her hair back over her shoulder. "Well, if my hair is going to go all anime on me, it might as well be a color I actually like. Just so long as it doesn't curl into those stupid drills. And, frankly--"

She swiftly reached up and snatched James' hat from his head, letting locks of very green hair spill out.

"Hey!" James cried.

"--I think hiding it is silly," Jenny continued. "It's just a change in color. It's not like you're the only one it's happening to."

James snatched the hat back from her and jammed it on his head. "Well, pardon me if I'm not as cavalier about it as you."

"Let me guess: your mother thinks I'm somehow the cause of it."

"I didn't want to say anything, but, yeah. Don't try to figure out how that would even be possible. My Mom is not logical sometimes." James glanced down the street. "Look, I better get going. I'm already going to have to come up with an excuse as to why I'm late. I'm really sorry about this, Jenny. I hope we can get this cleared up soon so we can go back to hanging out together."

Jenny smiled. "So do I. Um, seeya around."

"Yeah, seeya."

---

Heather glanced over her shoulder as the purple-haired Josie was shepherded out of the office by her irate mother, still muttering under her breath. Heather frowned when she heard the word "quack."

Her gaze tracked over the remaining patients in the waiting area. Two appeared more or less relaxed, one reading a magazine and the other playing a game on his phone. The third patient sat apart, a hat covering his head. Heather caught a bit of magenta peeking out from the edge.

She headed into the back and stepped into Kevin's office. She found him leaned back in his chair, looking at a framed picture in his hands. "Honestly, I don't normally complain about the kinds of ailments we see, but we now have your fifth case of 'lurid hair syndrome' out in the waiting room."

Kevin set the picture back on the shelf over his desk. It depicted himself and a sandy-haired woman, both smiling for the camera before his old practice in Denver. "Josie's mother was not very happy with me when I gave her a diagnosis of chronic purple hair for her daughter."

Heather stepped further inside and closed the door. "I'm going to be brutally honest with you, Kevin. I think you're wasting your time."

"Come again?"

"I know you said it doesn't look like dye, but what else could it be?"

Kevin gave her a skeptical look. "And you think all these people decided to dye their hair at once? And such lurid colors to boot? And so perfectly down to the roots?"

"Yes," said Heather. "I think we've been suckered into some sort of viral advertising campaign."

"Oh, now, don't you think that's a little far-fetched?" said Kevin. "Granted, I want a down-to-earth explanation, but I want a plausible one."

"This stuff happens all the time," said Heather. "So much so anymore that it's starting to become passe. Someone invented the perfect hair dye, and they arranged for a bunch of people to use it and claim their hair magically changed color."

"But Laura Tanner of all people?" said Kevin. "I can't imagine her going for something like this. Not to mention she's underage, so I assume her parents would have to approve. I have a devil of a time seeing Sarah or Harold agree to this."

Heather smirked. "And you've never seen companies resort to unscrupulous tactics before? You need to get out more."

Kevin sighed and glanced back at the picture, but that just reminded him how much he missed Anna. He wondered idly what her keen insight would have had to say about this. He lifted his gaze to Heather. "If there is a company doing something that's jeopardizing the safety of my patients, I have a responsibility to find out. I'm still waiting on those test results from the hair sample I took from Laura. Let's see what that says before we jump to conclusions. I want to be as thorough as possible."

"I know why you're pursuing this," said Heather in a soft voice.

"Oh?"

Heather tapped a finger on the picture.

"Oh." Kevin's gaze drifted back towards it. "This is hardly the same thing."

"She's why you ran yourself to near exhaustion during the flu outbreak, too."

Kevin rubbed his eyes. "Heather ..."

"No, hear me out. Maybe you don't see it, but I think you push yourself so hard because you don't want a repeat of what happened with Anna."

Kevin's eyes glistened slightly as he stared at the picture. Five months after that picture had been taken, just before their twentieth wedding anniversary, Anna was gone, taken by a swiftly growing cancer that Kevin believed had been missed because he had not paid close enough attention.

Because he had not been thorough enough.

"It wasn't even your fault," said Heather.

"I know," said Kevin in a low voice. "I made my peace with that a long time ago. You're probably right, this is likely one big joke that's waiting for the punchline to be delivered."

Heather smiled softly, even if she didn't think that he truly believed that.

Kevin stood. "All I ask in the meantime is that we treat this seriously and professionally."

"Always," Heather replied.

---

Harold held the phone to his ear, counting rings, hoping he'd have an excuse to try again later. Yet after the fourth ring, a familiar bright voice said, "Hey, little bro! It's been forever since I heard from you!"

Harold slowly smiled. No matter how upset he was, his older sister could be counted on to cheer him up, if only with a simple greeting. "Heya, Mary, how's the life of a country hick treating you?"

Mary laughed. "Eh, it's got its ups and downs, but I do all right."

"Is the farm doing okay?"

"Okay as can be expected. Competition is fierce these days."

Harold's hand tightened around the phone. "How's the old man?"

"I had a feeling you were calling about that," said Mary. "He's as ornery as ever. He doesn't like the fact that he can't do it all himself."

Harold frowned. "He's not supposed to do everything himself. That's why you're there."

"Yeah, but try telling him that. You know he's as stubborn as a mule."

"That's not the reason he's refusing help."

"Yeah, I know. But, hey, it is what it is, and he's just gonna have to accept it. I'm here, you're not."

Harold swallowed. "Mary, be honest with me, okay? Do you regret doing this?"

"My only regret is not being welcomed with open arms," said Mary. "Other than that, you know I always loved the outdoors."

Harold rubbed the back of his neck. "I still do myself. I'd go out with Sarah on digs more often if it wasn't for having to watch the kids and look for a job. Starting to get a bit of cabin fever. I tried to interest Bob in taking walks with me, but no dice."

"And how's your family doing?"

He hesitated. "A handful, as always."

"Something up?"

"Not really."

"Liar."

Harold smirked. "Still practicing your mind-reading, I see."

Mary snorted. "No, I just know you all too well. Something wrong?"

"Eh, it's going to sound pretty stupid, but ..." He proceeded to explain the family's hair problems.

Mary paused. "Huh."

Harold turned his head when the doorbell rang. He ignored it. "What?"

"Well, the other day when I went into town for groceries, I saw this guy with streaks of cyan in his hair. Overheard him talking to the cashier when she commented on it. Said he didn't know how it happened, he just woke up with it."

"That's a weird coincidence," said Harold.

"It gets better. I chatted with him a bit myself. He had to cut short a trip to your neck of the woods after catching the flu there about two weeks ago."

"Uh, sis? Did you get the flu?"

"No, but I think I'm gonna. Been feeling kinda tired and achy today and I've been getting chills. If you had called a day or two later, I'd probably sound like death warmed over."

Harold's mind raced. He mentally calculated when his family came down with the flu. Laura had been first, then Sarah and himself, then Jenny, then Bob. And now Laura had orange hair, Sarah's hair was turning red, his own blue ...

No, that was stupid. Hair changing color was not a post-flu effect.

Mary coughed before saying, "Little bro? You still there?"

"Yeah, sorry," said Harold. "Wrapping my mind around the axle over something dumb. Look, the real reason I called is to find out if you know anything about Dad returning my letter."

"Yeah, I do," said Mary in an unusually solemn voice. "I pleaded with him not to do it. I was so angry with him that I was tempted to open the letter and read it out loud to him."

"Does he hate me?"

"No, I don't think so," said Mary. "I mean, he talks a good game, but I think he still loves you. He just acts like a total dumbass sometimes."

Harold wanted to believe her. The last thing he wanted was his father hating him, because it would make it far too easy to hate him in return. "Thanks, sis."

"Hey, I got an idea," said Mary. "After I get over this impending flu, we should get together, just you and me, okay?"

Harold smiled. "Yeah, let's do that. Take care of yourself."

"You, too. Love you, little bro."

"Love you, big sis."

---

Sarah stopped her furious typing in wake of the chime from her phone only after concluding the paragraph she had been working on. She snatched up the phone and tensed when she saw it was from Greg. She relaxed only after reading the message: got those pics u wanted.

Sarah quickly responded: thx. what took you so long?

Stupid accident on state highway before turnoff. Overturned trailer. Took forever to clean up.

Sarah frowned. Plz secure those pics.

Will do.

Sarah set aside the phone and called up her browser. After a few searches, she found a news report about the accident. A trailer carrying bleach and other caustic cleaning fluids had indeed overturned and required a hazmat team to clean up. It was located right at the point where the access road down to the dig turned off the highway.

"That's a hell of a coincidence," Sarah muttered.

Yet if the site had been disturbed, wouldn't Greg had mentioned that? She shook her head when she realized she was starting to think way too much like old man Turner supposedly did. Maybe Harold was right that she was letting herself get too spooked.

Sarah brought her document forward and was about to continue working on it when the doorbell rang. She turned around and was about to call out to Harold when she heard him in the next room talking to his sister.

She got up and headed to the door. She glanced out the peephole, did a double-take, and yanked open the door.

"Good afternoon, ma'am," said the police officer standing on the front porch.

"Um, afternoon," said Sarah. "Is something the matter?"

"I'd like to talk to you for a few moments about an incident the other day concerning your daughter Jennifer ..."

---

Jenny hummed a tune to herself as she skipped along the walk like a girl half her age, all the while imagining herself as one of the colorful characters she had conjured for her latest story idea. She tried not to let herself worry over what to do with her budding relationship with James. She tended to think that things had a way of working themselves out given enough time.

Yet when she turned the corner and her house came into view, she realized she had more to worry about than she had realized.

A police officer emerged from her house, turning to tip his hat at her parents before heading back to his patrol car. Jenny took a deep breath. "Okay, stay calm," she whispered. "Maybe it has nothing to do with me."

She headed to her house and quietly let herself in. She heard her parents arguing in Sarah's office as she crept towards the stairs.

"Jenny?" Sarah suddenly called out.

"Um, yeah!" Jenny replied as she bolted up the stairs. "Got tons of homework! Better get straight to it! Bound to keep me busy all--"

Sarah erupted from her office. "Jennifer Penelope Tanner, get down here this instant!"

Jenny cringed before she reversed course. A livid Sarah met her at the bottom step, a sad-faced Harold bringing up the rear. "Mom, look, if this is about what happened yesterday--"

"I don't want to hear it," Sarah declared. "Absolutely nothing you can say can excuse this. Never mind the fact that you trespassed on private property, you could've gotten yourself and your friend killed! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Mom, I--"

"I'll answer that for you. You simply weren't thinking!"

Jenny frowned and glanced at her father, who often jumped in at times like this to calm her mother down. Instead, he gave her an uncertain look and folded his arms. Jenny looked back to her mother. "I resent that."

The front door opened, and Laura walked in.

Sarah stared. "You what?"

"I resent being told I wasn't thinking," Jenny snapped. "I was thinking. I thought it would be okay. Maybe I was wrong."

Laura clutched the strap of her satchel more tightly.

Sarah gaped. "Maybe you were wrong?? How about completely flat-out insanely wrong!"

"Stop making it sound like I had a death wish or something," Jenny said. "I honestly didn't think he would ever hurt us. He could've shot us, but he didn't."

"That's not the damn point," Sarah said. "You shouldn't have been there in the first place!"

Laura cleared her throat. "I'll, uh, just go to my room now."

"Laura, wait," said Sarah. "Stay here, I'll want to talk to you after this."

Harold raised an eyebrow.

"Um, okay," said Laura warily.

"I won't do this again," said Jenny in a more contrite voice.

"I wish I could believe you," said Sarah. "Go to your room."

Jenny blinked. "Huh?"

"Do as I say."

"Well, okay ... but ... you're not going to ground me or something?"

"No."

"No?" Harold said. "But I thought that's what--"

Sarah held up a hand to silence him. "Jenny, go. You'll learn soon enough what I have in mind."

Jenny gave her a wary look, then glanced at Laura before heading upstairs.

Harold frowned and stepped forward. "Sarah, what's this about?"

"You'll find out right now." Sarah turned to Laura. "Laura, I have a favor to ask of you."

Laura tensed and nodded.

"I want you to supervise your sister."

Laura flinched, her eyes wide. "You what?"

"Whenever she's outside and not in school, I want you to be with her at all times. If she wants to do something before coming home, she's allowed to, but you accompany her and don't let her do anything that's obviously unsafe."

Memories that Laura wished would remain buried swirled in her mind. "I-I'm not sure this is such a good idea, Mom."

Sarah placed her hands on Laura's shoulders. "Hopefully this won't be for long, just until Jenny learns from this. Maybe when she sees how responsible you are, she'll understand."

Laura's heart raced. "Are you sure you want to trust me with this?"

Sarah smiled. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Just ... the last time ... um ..."

"What?"

Laura shook her head. "Nothing, never mind. I'll do it."

"Thank you."

Laura simply hoped that neither of them would regret it when it was over.

Comments

[newhope0722]

Sarah ： I told you that you should supervise your sister, and why does she become a pony?
Laura： I..I don't know.
Jenny ： Because the evil Fae Queen starts to spread through the kingdom.

[badninja]

Jenny is nothing more then a human CMC. Send her to the family farm to get all this silly nonsense out of her head pronto.

[an1979]

Tiny typos

"Y-you're hair ... there's a big streak of red through it!

Your

Eh, it's got it's ups and downs, but I do all right.

its ups

[SweetCaptain77]

It's spreading man, find the plastic airtight bubbles!!

[Tethered-Angel]

Classic parenting! Punish everyone but the culprit! Haha.

Oh no, this is going to become a real pandem- Aaaand I just got the title. Here I was thinking it would be limited to one small town

[Celefin]

"That's how it started with me," Laura said in a hollow voice. "Streaks up the back that spread."
Sarah stared as if she were still trying to convince herself what she was seeing.
"Mom, what the hell is happening?"
"I have no clue," said Sarah in a toneless voice.

This could be out of a horror movie. Nice!
And it's spreading. Someone turn this story into a scenario for Plague Inc.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Harold held the phone to his ear, counting rings, hoping he'd have an excuse to try again later. Yet after the fourth ring, a familiar bright voice said, "Hey, little bro! It's been forever since I heard from you!"

Harold slowly smiled. No matter how upset he was, his older sister could be counted on to cheer him up, if only with a simple greeting. "Heya, Mary, how's the life of a country hick treating you?"

Mary laughed. "Eh, it's got it's ups and downs, but I do all right."

"Is the farm doing okay?"

"Okay as can be expected. Competition is fierce these days."

Harold's hand tightened around the phone. "How's the old man?"

"I had a feeling you were calling about that," said Mary. "He's as ornery as ever. He doesn't like the fact that he can't do it all himself."

Harold frowned. "He's not supposed to do everything himself. That's why you're there."

"Yeah, but try telling him that. You know he's as stubborn as a mule."

[Conflicting views]

7866752 I did not do anything wrong, I just followed her exemple like you told me!

[Alondro]

7867026 We got a swatted when we were bad, and then grounded. And there was no early parole.

As a result, none of my siblings or I have a criminal record!

Clearly this small sample set can only mean that beatings are the best solution!

[Conflicting views]

7867026 Is it going to be a real pandemic though? Unless this is caused by a magical virus (mutated earth born or equestria born), it won't. At this point Mary may just have a real cold. And the men who she met was just at the wrong place at the wrong time for too log. And people will just think it's contagious beacause of the cold-like symptom and of the original epidemy...
The title may be a red herring!

I'm also kinda curious about those who did not catch the cause.

[ferret]

Seven months later I'll still be here, sitting at my computer and shouting to the sky, "Curse my unnaturally strong immune system!!"

I admittedly would really like to see this move beyond hair. I winced when they heard it already leaked out of the town. They need to know how serious this is, so they can start setting up quarantines and restricting travel. Also because it would be hilarious to see these poor people freaking out over it.

[bluemoon1996]

Oh good gravy, that sounds like something my mom would do

[Undead Equestrian Writer]

I'm so interested... The "flu" is going to spread further due to people getting it and leaving with it and spreading it to more towns and cities, then one person with it is going to go to another country or continent and then everyone is infected... and why I put "flu" in quotations is because I don't believe it's a flu and more like a long sleeping magic spell... I wonder if Celestia rolled a 9? Did Luna roll an 11 or higher to cast magic missile? I know Starlight rolled a 17 and cast magic missile but did Luna?

[DivinePanzer]

I have a theory, but unless time dilation is involved I don't know why this flu wouldn't have taken effect 20 years ago.

Also not a fan of Xenolestia.

[badninja]

8109550

I do not know where you are yet, but the author did confirm that there was no time distillation going on and Xenolestia is not in this story just a very speciest Sunset Shimmer.

[Holydude]

Yeah the Jenny situation is going oh so well. I bet she is going to be all drama queen about her sister having to watch her. I picture something about her peasant girl persona being under lock and key and being oh woe is me about it

[TerranceJet]

Yeesh. This is getting more ominous by the paragraph. I should not have taken the title lightly.

[FridayPie]

Sarah is such a plothole

[Skittlebug]

I've been kicking myself trying to remember where I heard a plot like this before, and it's one of the most famous stories on the goddamn site:
Five Score Divided by Four.

[avidreader07]

Is anyone else getting a Louise Belcher vibe from Jenny? Not quite sociopathic enough yet, but still.

[a pony in a man suit]

7866809
My god, DON’T ever let Jenny meet the CMCs.

[Derpy_DragonV1]

Came back to read this story again and, my fucking god, I forgot how much of a dumb bitch Jenny is.

My hopes of her "peacefully" disappearing were gone when I didn't see dark, violence, or death tags in the story.

[nukestar]

9203927
There's also Chaotic Touch of Harmony, which I think is a better story than 5 score.