Rise of the Super-Sis

You are Audrey Blackbourne, and, for the first four years of your life, you were an only child. Then, three months before your fifth birthday, Poppy was born.

You should have seen it coming, really. Poppy had never been ordinary. She came out of the womb completely silent. Not because there was anything wrong with her, she was practically perfect healthwise, but she simply didn't cry. She was too busy taking in the world with her big, green eyes. When she was placed into your arms, she immediately burst into the brightest smile you'd ever seen. Even as an infant, she shone brighter than the sun.

When she was seven, the first signs of her being different really began to show. You, being eleven at the time, were trying to teach her how to play chess. You could see she already had some talent, and encouraged her to nurture. "Maybe one day you'll even be better than me," you said with a wink.

Within the month, Poppy beat the best chess grand master in the world.

While no seven-year-old should be able to do that, you still wrote it off as a fluke, a one-in-a-million chance. The next time your sister did something odd, you couldn't ignore it.

It was a normal day, and you were making packed lunches for the both of you to take to school. Your mother always stored the peanut butter on the highest shelf, just out of reach of your hands. Poppy entered the kitchen, and you offhandedly asked her to grab it for you, thinking she'd grab the stepladder. But when you turned around to see how she was going, you found your 13-year-old sister had instead stretched to 6 feet tall, just to reach. For the first time in your life, you looked up at your younger sister, as she handed you the jar with a smile.

The strangest thing about it all was, it was as if she'd always been that way. Your parents didn't notice, all her furniture adjusting for the height difference, and her entire wardrobe increasing several sizes.

That was the day you realised that your sister could alter reality.

You moved out of the house just a year later, closer to your university, and for the most part you didn't worry about your sister's mind-bending powers. You graduated with a degree in teaching, got a job, and life was going well. Then, came that fateful phone call.

"Hey, Audrey, how are you?"

"Fine," you mumbled in reply. Any other response would get you smothered by your mother in an instant. "What's up?"

"Well, it's your sister's 19th birthday in a couple of days, and we were wondering if you would be home for it?"

You sighed. "Of course."

"Great!" she chirps. "There's also something we'd like to discuss with you, but we'll do that when you get here. Have a good day!"

You put the phone down with a sigh. Discussions were never a good thing. And especially on your sister's birthday... it would always be something to do with her, wouldn't it? The perfect, overachiever of the family.

You sighed again. There was no use fighting it, your parents could be awfully persistent when they wanted to. No, you'd just have to wait and see.

And that brings us to today. You stand outside your parent's front door, gift in hand. Bracing yourself, you knock.