'I'm going crazy,' Jess repeated as Ash drove her back to the house. 'I must be going crazy, just like Mom.'

'You're not,' Ash consoled her. 'And Mom wasn't crazy.'

'She ended up in a mental hospital,' snapped Jess before the dawning realisation crashed into her. 'You said this happened to Mom?'

Ash couldn't look at her sister. 'She had the same gift as you.'

'Gift? You call this a gift.'

'You're a medium, Jess.'

'And what the fuck does that mean?'

'It means you can see ghosts.'

But Jess started shaking her head. 'That's not possible.'

Ash laughed once, though there was nothing remotely funny about the situation. 'Then how do you explain what you just saw? It wasn't the wind that just scared you shitless.'

Jess fingered the necklace her sister gave her. 'You knew this would happen.'

'I suspected it. The women in our family come into their gift around their 21st birthday.'

'So that's why you're here? That's why you were so set on being here for my 21st.' Jess glared at her sister.

'I planned to check in on you. But you getting arrested was never on my plan. Though, as it turns out, it was a good thing. I didn't expect your gift to kick in so soon,' admitted Ash.

'But you saw the ghosts too.'

Ash shook her head, watching her sister's face fall. 'I can sense them, but I can't see them like you. I'm psychic, Jesse.'

'So all those readings...'

'All true. It's not an exact science, but I'm perceptive to people's energy. It lets me see their past, present and future.'

'And Nana?'

'A similar variation on what I can do without the visions. She could sense when people were lying. It's what made her such a card shark.'

'Where did it all start?' Jess asked in a small voice.

'No one's really sure. Nana's Nana told her that our family was given these gifts as payment.'

'Payment for what?'

'One day our ancestor woke up completely blind. Her family and most of the community shunned her. All except the travelling people. She befriended one of their children and one day saved his life. As a reward, the travelling people wanted to give her a gift, but all the little girl wanted was her sight. The next day she could see though she was still blind.'

'She could see like you?'

'And you. Both of us have the gift of sight. Able to see things that others can't. Variations of the gift have been passed to every woman in our family.'

'What happened to the girl?' Jess asked.

'I like to think she ended up happy with the travelling boy that she saved, but Nana didn't know. Our family history is fractured. Name changes. No fixed address. The gift grants us much, but it's a heavy burden.' Ash glanced at her sister as they both fell silent.

'How do I get rid of it?' Jess whispered.

'I don't think you can.'

'That's bullshit,' Jess exploded. 'There must be something we can do?'

'Medication doesn't work. Drugs don't work. Trust me Jesse, the more you run from this, the more it'll dig itself into you.'

'But I don't want this?'

'And you think I did?' Ash demanded. 'You think I want these visions that make my head ache? Or that I like the second degree emotions from the people I pass on the street?'

'You still live the life. You work as a psychic,' pointed out Jess.

'I'm doing the best with what I got. And the truth is, I can't imagine my life being any other way, but this wasn't what I wanted for you. I kept hoping...I guess it doesn't matter anymore.'

'You're talking like my life is over,' Jess argued.

'It's not, but these gifts make things difficult.'

'So I just have to wear this necklace forever. I can do that if it makes me normal.'

'Jesse, the necklace is just the start. I'm not even sure it'll work forever. Your gift is already so strong.'

'So what? I have to just accept that I'm a freak like you. I won't. I want to be normal.'

'We don't always get what we want.'

'And I don't want to go off the deep end like Mom. What if seeing these things is what drove her insane?'

Ash pulled up to the curb. Her long day was catching up with her and she still had to scrub the RV of anything that the police might be interested in. Which she admitted to herself, might be a number of things.

'Mom was already screwed up before the gift started,' Ash muttered. 'You won't end up like her.' She'd made that promise to their Nana before she passed. It was her job to watch over her sister now, and that's what she was trying to do, though no one told her it would be so difficult.

How did you look after someone who didn't want you around?

The way her sister was glaring at her cut her like a knife.

'You should have told me all this sooner,' said Jess.

'Like you would have believed me. How many years have you been calling me a liar, or a con artist? I didn't tell you because I hoped that you didn't have any gifts.'

'You should have tried to explain-'

'Jesse, you always wanted to be normal. Even when we were little, you wondered why we couldn't do the same things as other kids. Imagine if I'd told you that the things under your bed were real and that one day you'd be able to see them. I was trying to protect you.'

'A fucking good job you did.'

Ash rested her head on the steering wheel. 'I'm doing my best here,' she whispered. 'It's not like we've got a manual.'

'You're psychic,' shouted Jess.

'And I can't see your future, just like I can't see mine. All I get are snippets of your emotions. It's how I knew you were in trouble tonight, or when you were in jail.' Ash knew she'd slipped up as soon as the words fell from her mouth.

'The cops never called you, did they?' Jess' voice was unusually calm and Ash risked a glance at her face, which was not a good idea.

'No,' Ash admitted.

'Is my life just one big lie? Have you ever told me the truth?'

'Of course-'

'No Ash, don't. I don't want to hear it. Years you've lied to me. Kept secrets from me even when I had a right to know.'

'Jesse, you have to understand-'

But Jess cut her off with a deathly look.

'I don't have to understand shit. You come here and everything turns upside down. I wish that you'd never come. I wish that you weren't my sister.'

Ash reeled back like she'd been slapped, and for a second Jess regretted her outburst, but with anger ruling her, she couldn't find it in her to take them back.

'Get. Out,' whispered Ash. She felt like someone had stabbed her in the chest. It was one thing to think that Jess thought those things, and it was a wholly other thing to have them said point blank to her face.

She knew their relationship was strained, but not even on the worse days when Jess irritated her to the point of screaming would she have ever wished her gone. Ever since she was six, looking after Jess had been her responsibility, and now as she stared at her, it was painful to remember the little baby that had looked up at her with so much love. The little baby that Ash had promised to protect.

And God had surely tested that promise. Again and again, as first, their mother slowly went off the rails, and then their Nana got sick, and finally with Jess leaving for university.

Well, she was done. She had tried her best and now her sister hated her.

'With pleasure,' Jess mocked.

She slammed the car door, and Ash watched her leave with a heavy heart.

'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,' Ash cursed, bashing her hands against the dashboard. 'Nana, if you're watching, I'm sorry. I'm trying my best here. I really am, but I don't know what to do. Watch over her while I can't,' she prayed before driving away.