Little Ladybug

One night last week I barged into my apartment and turned my lights on. I had my jacket draped over my arm and as I attempted to hang it up in my closet, I noticed a ladybug on it. I literally freaked out because all I could think of was "BUG!!!!!!!!" but after calming down I saw that it was a ladybug. It wasn't the traditional black-and-red spotted ladybug, this was a light pink, almost translucent, ladybug. I gently brushed her off my jacket into the hallway, and then, she vanished. As suddenly as she appeared, she was gone. Nancy loved ladybugs. She loved them so much that every time I see one, I immediately think of her. In that moment all I could think was that was there, with me, letting me know that she could still scare the crap out of me whenever she wanted.
Many years ago I went through an online tetris addiction. It was bad. Really, really, bad. I was still living at home with my parents, and my dad would get SO friggin pissed that I would stay up late WASTING my LIFE on the computer, playing a STUPID game and wasting ELECTRICITY, instead of READING or SLEEPING (his angry words, not mine). Nancy was living at home at the time also. She had moved down from New York and was planning on staying home with us for a while to help take care of our mom, who was scheduled to have surgery to remove an acoustic neuroma (benign tumor on her right acoustic nerve). It was around this time that Nancy began experiencing the crippling migraines. Unbeknownst to us, she had a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball (yeah, we're all about the tumors). She began hating not only bright light, but light in general. One night, as usual, I was up late playing tetris in my parents office wasting both my dad's electricity and my life, when my sister decided to use the bathroom right next to the office. As she was a tiny little bird, she made no noise, and because lights would aggravate her tumor-induced migraines, she didn't turn any lights on. I needed a tetris break, so I went to the bathroom, the same bathroom she was in. The door was wide open and she was sitting on the toilet in the dark. She was wearing a nightgown and had her long hair draped down the sides of her face, in front of her shoulders. When I saw this, when my tetris-gorged brain absorbed this image, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Do you get it? Do you know why?! Because she was sitting, she appeared rather short. Her long hair was parted down the middle and draped forward, covering her face. She was wearing a light-colored nightgown. In that moment, she wasn't my sister. She had become the little girl from The Ring. THE RING!!!! I screamed out of sheer FEAR that the little girl from The RING was in MY bathroom, not only sending the message that I would die within seven days, but also totally fucking up my tetris program, and MY screaming caused the little girl from The Ring Nancy to scream also. She was probably thinking, 'What the hell is wrong with this girl?!' It must have been around 2 am, and we woke up scary-dad Papa Carlos, because he hauled ass over to the bathroom and proceeded to yell at us. After a few minutes of SCREAMING, Nancy and I began laughing hysterically. Papa Carlos was still NOT amused. I guess he didn't appreciate being woken up to the sounds of his two daughters screaming bloody murder? Some people.
Anyhow, this is one of my favorite memories of my sister. I know it sounds completely ridiculous, but it was Just. So. Funny!! First she scared me so I started screaming, then my screaming scared her, then she started screaming at me, then our screaming woke up our dad, then he must have gotten scared, then he started screaming at the two of us, then Nancy and I started laughing hysterically, which angered our father, which caused him to scream even more. It was all so slapstick and silly, but I always think of that incident fondly and laugh to myself. You know, I just thought of something. I haven't seen The Ring since before that night. I wonder..... If I watch it now, do you think I'll find it funny? OMG. I need to put The Ring on my Netflix. I love a good comedy!!!!