"One Shot" short story

Lara shuffled backwards and pulled the door towards her, unconsciously holding her breath until she heard the click of the latch falling into place. Out of habit she twisted the knob and pushed in, just to double check, as she turned to face her Shadow.

“When did it come on?” so softly Mae had to watch her lips. She tapped two fingers to her wrist where a watch would be when she took over for Lara in two years. Watches that actually kept time were rare and reserved for people who actually needed them. Mae didn’t yet and had counted the seconds the way Clover had taught her; steady, like a heartbeat, but subject to the same environmental interference's. Her sister had talked like that. Like she had spent most of her life in the books that were too few and far between. Mae caught herself talking like that too. Lara talked like that. Lara also approved of Mae’s knowing how to take an accurate pulse without a watch and Mae thought that’s what led to her selection in Undership despite her advanced age. Lara had a Shadow that had started at the proper time, not her own sister of course, but they had been close. Mae had seen the signs of grief Lara had tried to hide when the girl had been exposed. The exposure and release left Lara with a very narrow window in which to train her replacement and having a new Shadow with any knowledge, even someone who would usually be excluded having aged out of selection was more important than the fact that she was already seven years old. Even if it meant Mae could have to start training her own Shadow before Lara’s dismissal. It really only depended on the new inclusions.