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Chapter 20
Eric, 18 years old
San Diego, California
“Hey Elle. How are you doing today?” I asked my sister, even though she couldn’t hear me.
“It’s just me again today. I hope you don’t mind. You must be getting sick of hearing my voice by now.” I sat down by her bedside and took her hand in mine while she slept and recovered.
My parents did not take what happened to Elle well. My mom had to be heavily sedated when she saw the state my sister was in after they rescued her.
As for my dad, he couldn’t take the guilt and drowned himself in work. The only time he came to see her, he fell apart. He stayed until my sister was operated on and left after. I tried phoning him, but he wouldn’t take any of my calls.
It fell onto me as the next of kin to see to her.
“Mom is getting better, I think. She should be able to come see you soon.
The doctors tell me you’re getting better. They might decrease the medication keeping you in that coma. So that’s good news, right?”
Sarah stayed with me as much as she could without arousing suspicion. She was there when they examined my sister and held my hand while doctors performed surgery on her. She also kept me from smashing everything in sight when they told me what the extent of her injuries were. I was so grateful to her and to all her friends.
“I’m sorry Elle. I’m so sorry this happened to you. This was all my fault. I should have protected you better,” I sobbed.
Seeing Elise like this killed something in me. Knowing there was nothing I could’ve done. That I couldn’t have protected her even if I’d been there. My parents were right. I was a useless human being. I couldn’t help Elise. Just like I couldn’t save Sarah.
“This was on me. All of it. And I’ll make it up to you, even if it takes the rest of my life. I just want you to be all right. Please, Elle, be all right.”
“Moose?” I was startled when Gabe’s hand touched my shoulder and I furiously wiped away my tears.
“Hey, Winthrop. How did your appointment with the scout go?” I asked, embarrassed that he caught me like this again.
Gabe stepped up during this entire ordeal. He stayed with me and made sure I ate and slept. When I was too exhausted to keep my eyes open, he sat by my sister’s bedside and sang her a song.
This didn’t mean we liked crying in front of each other, though.
“It went fine. How is Elise? Have the doctors given you more news?”
“Yeah. The surgery was a success. The swelling in her brain has gone down almost entirely.”
“That’s good news. What about the rest?”
“Not so good.” I got up and stalked away from my sister to make sure I didn’t jostle her.
“They raped her, Gabe. Not only that, but they also injected her with drugs. The doctors think she will go into withdrawals when she wakes up.”
I was too busy staring at my sister to notice Gabe’s body shut down at the word rape.
“I’m sorry. What can I do?”
“You can tell me who was behind this and don’t even think about leaving me out of this.”
Winthrop remained silent.
“Was it the Guild?” I prodded.
“Are you sure you want to know? There’s no turning back once you open that door.”
“I’m positive.”
