We Are All Strangers by Nicole Sobon

Jumper as I was.
    She believed that the Association of Jumpers would come for her if she did something wrong, and they would; they never turned down the chance to capture problem Jumpers. But while fear stopped Kristina from following her heart, fear only pushed me further. It made me more desperate, and there was nothing deadlier than a desperate person.
    I could extend my time here. I could give myself another hour or two with my grandmother. But it would upset the balance. It would alter life from here on out – it wouldn’t go unnoticed by the Association of Jumpers.
    I was sure that they’d be here by morning to take me.
    But I wasn’t so sure that it mattered enough to stop me.
    “Are you girls ready?” My father asked, unbuckling his seat belt.
    We followed his lead, no one uttering a word.
    As we walked through the crowded parking lot, I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. I wanted to turn and run, to force myself into thinking this was all a terrible dream; that this wasn’t actually happening because surely, I couldn’t be saying goodbye to my grandmother. Not like this. But this was real.
    There was no escaping the truth any longer.
    The automatic doors opened as we neared the entrance. The white halls gleamed under the florescent lighting. “Can I help you?” a woman behind the help desk asked.
    “We’re just here to see my mother,” my mom replied. “She’s on the third floor – room 304.”
    “Have you been here before?”
    “Yes.” My mother pulled me in front of her. “But she hasn’t.”
    “May I have your ID?” she asked, extending her hand.
    I rummaged through my duffel bag, which I’d refused to take off on the way here, and pulled out my ID. “Here you go.” I tried to offer up a friendly smile, but I couldn’t do it. My lips pulled closed in a tight line.
    “Can you stand before the camera please?” The woman handed me my ID and instructed for me to move to the side. I nodded and stared into the small black orb. “Here you are.”
    The woman handed me a rectangular visitors badge with my photo on it. I waited while she printed badges for the rest of my family, before moving closer to the elevator. “Are you ready?” my mother asked.
    “Not really,” I said, honestly. “But I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”
    “No one is ever ready to say goodbye, Soph.” She tucked a lose strand of my hair behind my ear, and leaned in to plant a gentle kiss on my forehead. “But it’s time.”
    And it was time. For what? That remained to be seen.
    As the elevator doors opened up, my father led us inside. He pressed the “3” button on the panel and leaned against the elevator wall until the doors opened back up.
    Hesitantly, I followed behind him, unsure of where I was going.
    The third floor was quiet, and it smelled like moth balls. Lovely. From what I knew of my grandmother, she was probably annoyed to be stuck here.
    “Come on,” he threw his arm around me, nuzzling my head against his chest. “It’s going to be okay, Sophie. I promise.”
    I wished that he wouldn’t say that.
    He couldn’t promise me anything – not right now.
    We walked inside of her room and found her sitting up in bed. Her gray curls, the ones I’d remembered from the last time I saw her, had been shaved off. The tall, healthy woman from my memories? She was gone. She’d fasted away over time, all while I lived my life in Florida, completely oblivious.
    My heart race increased, and I felt as though I was about to pass out.
    “Sophie!” She cried out. “My precious Sophie, oh, how I’ve missed you, kiddo.”
    The corners of my lips tugged up into a smile at the words I’d remembered her reciting when I was a child. She always used to call me her precious Sophie. A stray tear slid down my cheek. Oh, gosh. Not now. I couldn’t afford to break now.
    “Come here!” She threw her arms open. “I’m so happy you came!”
    Slowly, I made my way to her bed and allowed her to wrap