the breath before

March 2088. Dakota and Delphie Deppiesse are 17, Shannon Brett is 16, Eric Powell is 16, Jacob Collins is 15.

soundtrack: “Closer” by Tegan and Sara

previously: Delphie and Dakota's last story on the LH blog // Shannon and Jake flirt in church

Shannon was bored of being Shannon. Good little southern belle, made of sweet tea and peaches, singing in the church choir, basically betrothed to the preacher’s grandson since she was two. Sometimes she wanted to strip off and step into an entirely different life.

For now, a little makeover would have to do.

No, not little. Bigger. 


It had been a slow afternoon for wedding dresses. Anyone who wanted a gown for wedding season already had one. And her manager was also her godmother, so trying on all the cosmetics in the bridal salon was no big deal. 

“You’re so lovely,” she said. “You’ll make a beautiful bride some day.”

Shannon laughed. “Me? A bride? Thanks, I guess.”

Perhaps one might assume that a girl who took an after school job at a bridal boutique might be interested in weddings. No, Shannon wasn’t. But she recognized a beautiful gown when she saw one and this place was the closest you got to fashion in Fort Palmetto, South Carolina.

She still felt too mousy. “Can you cut my hair? Like, all of it?”


So, they sat down and got to work. They didn’t stop until Shannon felt completely transformed.

Her face in the mirror was unrecognizable. Exactly what she wanted. 

“Whoa! Shannon?” Dakota Deppiesse crashed into the quiet bridal boutique, a shockwave of noise and rebellion.  

“Aw, did you come all the way out here to see me? Unless you need to buy a wedding dress.”

Dakota chuckled. “Not likely!”  

Shannon struck a pose. “Well, what do you think?”

“It’s rad! I hardly recognized you,” Dakota said. “Hey, the concert tomorrow. You going?”

“Probably won’t be much fun. Jake’s dad is chaperoning.”

“I know. My mom is, too.”

“But your mom is cool,” Shannon said. “She hardly watches you guys.”

Dakota shook her head. “Since Eric will be there, she’ll be on my case all night.”

“Then you’ll just have to ditch Eric and hang out with me.” Shannon flashed her a smile that promised trouble. 

“Ha. Maybe,” Dakota said. 

“Promise me we’re going to have fun?”

Dakota shrugged. “Sure, I promise.”

—

Delphie Deppiesse was in a mood, doing her homework on a Friday night, watching her twin sister come home from hanging out with friends, practicing in her band, and probably making out with her boyfriend. 

Delphie was a model student, class president, kindness ambassador, and leader of the church youth group. She was going to college in the fall to become a doctor, or something. She had her entire life planned out from here until med school. That should have felt comforting, but it wasn’t. It felt smothering and boring. 

“Uh, I feel like nothing exciting has ever happened to me and never will.” 

“Let loose a little,” Dakota said. “Skip your homework for a night. Maybe find a boyfriend?” 

“I can see the future, I’m going to be alone for a very long time.” 

“You can’t see the future,” Dakota said. “That’s crazy.” 

“Med school?” 

“I’m pretty sure med students are allowed to have boyfriends. You’re being dramatic.” 

Maybe Delphie couldn’t see the future, but she could see four years of college, four more of med school, then several more years in residence for her specialty. Delphie liked school as much as any queen dweeb type, but she didn’t know about spending the next twelve years of her life doing it, after spending thirteen years of her childhood already. 

Did she really need to save lives? Weren’t there enough people doing that already? 

But she already applied and was accepted to Sierra Nova as a biology major with a pre-med focus. She earned a scholarship for it. It felt too late to change her mind now.  

—

The concert was held at a state park a short drive west near the mountains. Shannon hitched a ride with Dakota’s group. She hadn’t seen her boyfriend at all since her transformation, but when she met up with Jake before the concert, she could guess that he wasn’t enthralled by it. 

“What do you think of my hair? Is it hot?”

“It’s … pretty, I guess,” Jake said. “Susie used to have a Barbie doll with hair that color.”

“Fucking Barbie? Ha ha, you’re such a clown, Jakie.”

“But… does it wash out?”

“No, it’s permanent,” she said. “It doesn’t wash out.”

“Oh,” he said. “But it grows out?”

He was a little bit of a bore sometimes. Well, most of the time, if she was going to be truly honest. 

But whatever. The concert was starting and Shannon intended to have the best time ever. 

— 

 

—

The concert festivities promised an exciting “open mic” opportunity after the main event. Yeah, well, that definitely wasn’t everything Dakota hoped for. If you played piano, maybe, but Dakota wanted to shred some metal. 

Nobody stuck around to watch—not her friends, not her boyfriend—but her mom stayed, saying, “That sounds lovely, sweetheart,” which made Dakota cringe and feel particularly un-edgy. And some stranger tossed her a $2 tip. 

Dakota might have harbored a little dream that tonight would launch her musical stardom. But nope, no, that is not what happened at all. 

But her friends had a bonfire going down by the creek. That sounded fun, too. So she packed up her guitar and her dreams for another day. 

—

After the concert closed up and rolled out, the older teens split off from the group and found a secluded space to hang out. As expected, Mrs. Deppiessee was hardly concerned about their lack of supervision, only asking, “Is Delphie going?” Because somehow poor Delphie had become the group mom, and if prudish Delphie was there, then it must be okay. 

“Yeah, come on, Delphie,” Shannon urged. 

Probably their mom didn’t know that Delphie was super stressed out about being perfect all the time and having a bit of a mini breakdown. If they had been able to secure any beer tonight, it wouldn’t have taken much coaxing to get Delphie to try some. Fortunately for their parents, and maybe themselves, none of the concert vendors would serve them. So probably nobody would fall into a camp fire or get themselves drunkenly pregnant tonight. 

“A third of teen girls will get pregnant before the age of twenty,” Delphie announced. 

Dakota said, “Oh my God, you guys remember Melissa Fortney? She was like three grades ahead of us. Dallas told me that Lucy told him that Sarah told her that Melissa got knocked up by some rando. He’s old! Like forty or something. But she’s twenty-one now, so I guess she doesn’t really fit the statistic.” 

“Whoa,” they all said and turned to stare at Devon and Aldous.

“What, you guys?” Devon squealed. “That’s not fair. Why would it be me?”

Jake was invited to the bonfire only if he promised to leave baby Susie behind. It was quite fine by Shannon if he decided to stick with his family. She wouldn’t hold it against him, because she had been having an incredible conversation with Dakota anyway. 

But, as it turned out, Dakota snuck off to be with Eric, and Jake did manage to show up after all. 

There was a lot Dakota liked about Eric. He was chill, creative, a little edgy (but not edgier than her), and the only other person she knew with even a sliver of musical talent. 

It was probably silly that Dakota ever hoped they might end up together in the long term. He was two grades behind her and she was absolutely excited about going off to college. She was going to live her life in college, too. Not sitting around, chaste and loyal, pining for some boy she left back home. Dakota remembered Lucy that year Dallas went off to college and it was painful for everyone to endure. 

But still, Eric probably didn’t think about how terminal this was. She didn’t know how she’d ever break it to him. 

Sometime around eleven, Delphie rounded up all of the wandering teenagers and sent them back to camp. “Goodnight, Eric,” Mrs. Deppiesse said. She needed the boys all accounted for and in bed because she wanted to turn in herself.

Shannon was still hanging around the fire, poking at it. She was supposed to be putting the fire out, but poke, poke, and poof—flames rekindled and grew.


“Oops, looks like it came back to life.”

“I’ll help her put it out,” Dakota said.

“Just don’t stay up too late,” Mrs. Deppiesse said. “You know how cranky you get in the morning when you’re tired. We expect you to help pack up camp.”


It was no accident that the fire surged back to life. Shannon still felt riled up. How could she sleep? She felt electric. She was glad to have some company, someone to bounce all this energy off of. She was glad that someone was Dakota. There was something she’d been dying to ask her all night. 

“So, did you guys go all the way in that tent earlier? I saw you sneak off during the first performance.”

Dakota blushed. “Uh, well, not quite?”

Shannon giggled. “Have you ever?”

“No, have you?”

Shannon shrugged. “Sure.”

“With Jake?”

“Yeah, who else?”

“I dunno,” Dakota said. “He seems like such a good boy.”

“He is,” Shannon said. “His family wouldn’t have been happy about it when it first happened, but we just didn’t tell them we were dating until this year.” She started to sing, “The only boy who could ever reach me was the son of a preacher man.” Which was funny, because Jake’s grandpa was actually a preacher.

Someone from the tents hissed, “Shhh!”


Shannon burst up from the ground then. “Ah-ooh,” she howled at the sky.

Mrs. Deppiesse’s voice called out from the tent, “Time to settle down, girls. Is that fire put out yet?”

“Man, sometimes I wanna just explode,” Shannon said, quieter this time. “I would shoot up to the fucking moon out of this place. You know?”

“Fuck yeah,” Dakota said.

“But you’re going to college in five months. I’m so jealous.”

Shannon got quiet then just as suddenly as she’d gotten loud. She was thinking about Dakota’s lips. They were such an icy blue color, and she was never sure if Dakota wore blue lipstick or if that was just her skin. She wore so many clothes—Shannon wondered, what about the rest of her? Was she blue all over? Was she cold or warm? Was she rough or smooth? Some kids said her family were aliens, but not like the scary ones that came during the war. Dakota was scary to Shannon sometimes, but not in an alien way. She was scary like the great wide unknown. Scary and exciting. She was feisty and bold and intriguing, unlike anyone Shannon had ever met. Unlike Jake. Especially unlike sweet, precious Jake.

“You’re fun,” Shannon said.

“You’re fun, too,” Dakota said.


Shannon leaned forward and pressed her lips to Dakota’s lips, which were surprisingly warm for as icy cold as they looked. 

Dakota’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t push her away. She didn’t stop her, either.

Shannon giggled and bounced away, twirling and grinning at the sky.


Dakota wasn’t expecting the kiss. She couldn’t have predicted it if she had a thousand guesses. But she didn’t exactly regret it, either. She felt like maybe she should have.

“Hey, uh, Shannon? We left the fire burning… Um, never mind, I’ll get it.”

Dakota grabbed a bucket of creek water and doused the flames. 

—

footnotes: when Dallas went off to college and left Lucy behind

gameplay notes & outtakes: Delphie can see the future // library lot craziness // silly kids and their engagement whims // the rumors about Melissa are true (except that Hudson is not forty, lol!)