Chapter 5 - “I DIDN’T WANT HER LABELING HERSELF AS SICK”
I shut the family waiting-room door.
“The school called you.”
Thomas went pale.
“Rachel.”
“Twice.”
He looked away.
“You told the nurse Eliza had already been evaluated.”
“I was going to make an appointment.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I thought she was stressed.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Silence.
“You lied to the school.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I didn’t want everyone treating her like something was wrong with her.”
“Something was wrong with her.”
“I know that now.”
“No.”
My voice shook.
“She knew it then.”
That stopped him.
For weeks, Thomas had insisted he was protecting Eliza from anxiety.
But the person who had actually understood something was wrong was the fifteen-year-old girl living inside the body everyone else kept explaining away.
Thomas whispered:
“I didn’t want her labeling herself as sick.”
I stared at him.
“She wasn’t labeling herself.”
Pause.
“She was reporting symptoms.”
He sat down.
For the first time, his confidence disappeared.
Not softened.
May you like
Collapsed.
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