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“Jesus.” I mumble and Auden shoots daggers at me with her eyes before we both take off after her, screaming her name.
It’s Auden who gets to her first, she’s more practiced at running than I am, probably from all the soccer drills. She led us to the cliffs, the dark waters splashing against the rock walls beneath us, and for a second I think we’re too close but it’s not the most pressing thing on my mind.
“Mikaela!” she shouts, grabbing onto her sister's shoulders. “What’s going on?”
Mik lashes out, swinging her arms frantically. She’s not herself, not seeing things clearly. Tears roll down her cheeks as she shouts, something about them chasing her.
She pulls out of Auden’s grasps and then she grabs her shoulders, holding onto her sister tightly. Before I even have a moment to inhale a breath she spins them, pushing roughly and sending her sister flying.
“No,” I scream, but the word is lodged in my throat.
I hear her body crash against the waves as I stumble to the ledge, looking over to see nothing but the dark water sprawled beneath us.
“No!” Mik shouts, a finger pointed at my father, as if it could push him back or protect her.
She’s too close to the edge, and memories from that night replay in my brain. I swear if Mik goes over that edge I’ll follow after her.
My father only chuckles, the sound is painful to my ears, he is amused by the whole thing. This is entertainment for him, a fucking sport.
He drugged her, I remind myself as I replay that memory again. She was so erratic, so afraid and paranoid. Now I slip all the pieces into place and all my questions get answers. She was drinking, taking edibles from Beckett, plus all the pills she takes to keep the anxiety at bay. I spare a glance at her small frame, maybe 5’5 and 130 pounds, how much can she take? How many drugs, how much liquor unt
il she spirals out of control?
No wonder the paranoia had taken over. She was spouting nonsense, and at the time I thought it was another symptom, another facet of depression I wasn’t aware of.
How fucking stupid I must be to not realize.
To not know what was happening right under my eyes.
How many times has my father done this? How many women had he hurt like this?
“Why?” I ask him, a slight sadness in my tone.
He shrugs. “You want to let her into this family, that means I get a taste.”
Bile rises in my stomach and I hear Mik sobbing behind me.
“You asshole.” I say, my anger back in full force.
“What are you going to do about it?” he asks, a smile stretched across his face.
“I’ll tell the police, the media, everyone. I’ll tell them how you like to rape young fucking girls and think you can get away with it.”
My father chuckles, his hands tucked away in his pockets. He brings his dark gaze to me. “Good, get the police here. I have an interesting video I’d like to show them. One where she,” he lifts a finger to point at Mik. “Pushes her sister over that cliff.”
Fuck.
I glance up, my eyes meeting the video camera. We have them all over the property, surveillance everywhere. He’s had a video this whole time, evidence that I was innocent but couldn’t share for fear of her getting arrested. He told me he erased it.
That night, after everything happened, he was the only person I told. I rushed Mik away, locked her in my room hoping she’d pass out and then I told my father everything. Exactly what Mik did.
I run a hand through my hair. I’m out of cards, I have nothing left to play here, to protect us.
Mik is sobbing behind us, her knees on the rough dirt and stones. The truth I’ve been trying to protect her from is exposed now, everything is out in the open. I’d been trying to save her from this pain. I didn’t want her to know what she did in her drunken state. I thought I could help her, could fix her.
But I was wrong.
I couldn’t protect her from this truth.
