Chapter 5 - MY SISTER KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG
My older sister, Rachel, arrived at the hospital that night.
Marcus hated her.
Now I understood why.
She looked at my face and immediately started crying.
Then stopped herself.
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
“I don’t want you taking care of me right now.”
I laughed despite my split lip.
That was Rachel.
Even grief came with boundaries.
She sat down.
Then said:
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Marcus called me last week.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether mental illness runs in our family.”
I stared at her.
“He what?”
“He said you weren’t sleeping and were becoming ‘fixated’ on Noah.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“I called you afterward.”
I remembered.
Marcus answered my phone.
He said I was sleeping.
“He told me you needed space.”
Of course.
Rachel continued:
“He asked me whether you had ever been depressed.”
“What did you say?”
“The truth.”
She looked at me.
“That you were overwhelmed after Mom died but had never been hospitalized, never been dangerous, never been anything like what he was implying.”
My throat tightened.
Then Rachel said:
“He sounded disappointed.”
There.
He had been gathering witnesses.
Not help.
Evidence.
He wanted the people closest to me to give him language he could use later.
May you like
Rachel had refused without even knowing what she was refusing.
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