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I unlatched the door as quietly as I could and closed it behind me before ordering an Uber from wherever the fuck I was.

The sun was already nice and warm on my skin, and I sat in the stranger’s gutter to wait, turning my face to the sky to soak it all in.

Hopefully, the brutal rays of the Australian sun would cure my hangover and give me the energy that I would require to get through the day.

* * *

The driver dropped me at the front gate of Val and Ren’s house, and I stood there pressing the buzzer over and over again until it eventually opened.

The clanging and grating noise of the automatic heavy gate felt personally offensive, like my sister had woken in the early hours of the morning and loosened some bolts or something to make sure it would be as loud as possible.

I stomped my way up to the front door and flung it wide open, looking around and rubbing my temples.

God, I needed to stop going out on Saturday nights ifthiswas to be my Sunday.

I kicked off my shoes and called out, “Hello?”

The sound of tiny footsteps pounding from the floor above let me know that the twin devils were indeed home.

A curly mop of light brown hair appeared through the baby gate at the top of the stairs, and her chubby legs worked to climb over the thing that was supposed to be a safety measure.

“Zaza!” she yelled.

Another mess of curls appeared, nearly bounding her sister out of the way to stick her fat cheeks against the bars.

“Hello my demons,” I cooed, running up the stairs to free them from their prison.

“They’re not demons,” Valerie scolded as she came out of the kids’ room.

“Of course they are,” I sang again, scooping up Eliza and blowing a raspberry on her cheek. She let out a high-pitched giggle and attempted to push me away. Evie pulled at the hem of my shirt, feeling left out, and I bent down to scoop her up too.

The twins were identical, of course, but the small birthmark under Eliza’s right eye made it easy to tell them apart. Also, Evie had always been a little taller, a little chunkier, and had a little more demon soul in her dark green eyes.

They had only just learned to walk and had been terrorizing their mother ever since. All the plastic gates and rubber cushioning that had consumed Valerie’s home since they learned to move independently had proven to be a necessity.

Though my sister would defend my nieces’ innocence until her last breath, they were, indeed, demons.

Even during the split second of attention I had given Eliza, Evie had pulled a laundry basket from the hall andyeetedit down the steps with a gleeful squeal.

“You’re late,” Val said, crossing her arms and leaning her head against the wall, choosing to ignore the now unfolded laundry.

The dark circles under her eyes were proof that the twins still weren’t sleeping through the night—and all around, she looked a mess.

“You look like shit, Val,” I said, looking her up and down.

“Thanks,” she huffed a laugh. “Though you don’t look much better. Something to do with why you’re so late?”

“I don’t know what your mummy is talking about,” I whispered to Eliza, rubbing her nose against mine. “Aunty Zaza is never late.”

“Aunty Zaza needs to get her shit together,” Val scolded.

“Okay,Mum,” I rolled my eyes. “You’re the last one who should be giving this lecture.”

“Zarina,” she sighed. “I’m just… worried.”

“About what, Val? I’m having a good time. I’m young. It’s not like you never did anything crazy.”

“Yeah, but?—”