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“Hey, I heard you and Mom fighting.”
I sigh when I hear my sister’s voice and turn to face her. She really does look deathly pale. “Oh… Christ. Are you okay? What happened?”
“Nothing, I’m fine. I just miss you.”
“Yeah,” I agree, zipping up my school skirt at the side. “I miss you too.”
“I heard what you said to Mom.”
I look at her and hesitate. This is my sister. My twin. My life. My best friend. “Can we talk about this later? I have to get to school.”
“You don’t have to get anywhere,” she bites back, sounding and looking angry.
“Look,” I say firmly. “I promised four weeks; it hasn’t even been two. Both of you get off my fucking back.”
“Five days,” she answers petulantly. “I’m not waiting anymore. I’m giving you five days.”
“What?” I breathe, feeling angry and shaky. “Do you think this is a fucking game, Willow? This that you’re making me do.”
“I’m not making you do anything!”
“YOU ARE BECAUSE IF I DON’T YOU JUST DO IT ANYWAY!”
We stare at each other, glaring, until she breaks down crying and falls to her knees. She’s wheezing, she’s weak and I immediately feel guilty. I move to her side and pull her frail body into my arms as she struggles for breath.
“MOM!” I yell. “MOM!”
Mom doesn’t come. Of course she fucking doesn’t; I bet she’s gone already.
“Fuck.” I help my sister get in her bed and tuck her in, placing her mask over her nose and mouth. “I’ll be back, okay?”
“Okay,” she rasps, holding the mask for dear life.
I race down the stairs and slip on my shoes, crushing the back of them under my heel. I yank open the door and run to the truck where Nok is waiting patiently.
“I’m sorry, Nok,” I say after opening the door. “I have to stay with my sister. She’s ill and my mom just fucking bailed.”
He looks concerned. “You want me to stay with you?”
“NO!” I panic, feeling my heart race but when I see a flash of hurt in his eyes I quickly calm myself. “My sister doesn’t like new people. You’ll just distress her. You’re hot and she’d hate for you to see her like she is.”
“Okay.” He climbs from the truck and pulls me into his chest. “I’ll see you later?”
I nod and push him against the truck so I can kiss him. “Maybe. If not, it’ll be tomorrow.”
“Damn, I was really hoping for more of this morning,” he jokes and grabs my ass with his hands. “I’ll call you later.”
I step back and give him a wave as he climbs back into his car. Then I head upstairs after searching the house for my absent dickhead of a mother and sink into bed with my sister.
“I’m all yours,” I whisper, and we face each other. “What do you want to do?”
“Let’s watch horror movies?”
“My life is one massive horror movie,” I mumble and her smile fades.
“Seriously?”
“No, I’m kidding… kind of. But… I guess I just don’t want to do this anymore.”
She frowns, her dark blonde brows pull together. “You know we don’t have a choice. I don’t have a choice.”
“Maybe we can stay.”
“No, we have to keep moving… Mom…”
I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling. “Mom can go fuck herself.”
“We need her. I need her.”
“No, we can get you help…”
“I’m beyond fucking help, Lilith, I’m dying, remember? Do you want me to spend the rest of my days locked away? You promised.”
“But… we can’t keep doing this. It weighs so heavily on me.”
She glares at me and sits up, pulling the blanket from my body and letting it fall from hers. “We have to. I have to. And I’m not leaving Mom.”
“Mom doesn’t want to be here,” I grit, climbing from the bed and stomping to the window. “We’re tying her down. She’s shackled to us and she’s miserable.”
She doesn’t respond, because she knows it’s true.
After a moment though, she sniffles, and I turn away from the rain-splattered window to find her crying.
“Hey,” I murmur softly and rush back over to her. “What is it? Why are you sad?”
“You’re going to leave me soon, for him, aren’t you?”
I stare into her eyes, so full of longing, love, and sadness. “What?”
“You’re falling for him. I can tell. I can feel it.”
I roll my eyes and laugh a little bit, until her scowl forces me to stop. “I’m not falling for him. I hardly know him.”
“But you want to stay,” she points out, pouting petulantly.
Growling, I move back to the window and stare out across the street. “I’m fucking tired, tired of moving, tired of life, tired of school, tired of helping you do what you do.”
“I need it. You know I do.”
“You don’t need it,” I snarl, gripping the window frame. “We need friends. We need our lives back. You need to get out of this fucking house again and experience it all.”
