The living room has bags and food containers scattered everywhere. As I step inside, the carpet is sodden, and it looks as if one of them has dropped coffee all over the floor. But then I notice some pills scattered across the kitchen, and my heart leaps into my mouth.
I break into a run, instinctively knowing that something’s wrong. I leap up the stairs two at a time, reaching my sister’s bedroom door and bursting inside.
Annabelle is passed out on the bed. There is sweat on her forehead, and vomit all over her chest.
With shaking fingers, I dial 911, fear eclipsing the rage I feel toward my parents until the EMTs arrive. I kneel beside my sister, holding her hand and stroking her hair. She stirs, breathing loud and uneven, but she’s alive.
The blue and white flashing lights that erupt outside a few minutes later allow my heartbeat to settle somewhat. Two burly women in uniform come upstairs, moving me out of the way as they bend over Annabelle.
After they’ve assessed her and strapped her to a Gurney, I walk numbly down the stairs after them. The narrow space barely gives them enough room to maneuver. As they head outside to the ambulance, I come to a halt at the bottom of the stairs.
I have minutes only before I need to accompany Annabelle into the ambulance, but what I have to say can’t wait.
“What the hell is going on?” my dad bellows at me. One thing I can always guarantee is that when the time comes, he’ll pretend he cares about my sister more than anyone else in the world.
“She vomited,” I say. My voice is a dangerous murmur, and for the first time in my life, both my parents fall silent as they turn to me. “Did either of you think to check on her when you got home?”
“You think we have time to do that?” my mom snaps. “We have jobs to get to. Just like you. The difference is that ours means you can go off on a vacation while we head to work and?—”
“And what?” I shout and her mouth snaps shut. “What do you do at work, Mom? Because it sure as shit isn’t earning money to pay foranythingin this house.”
“Don’t speak to your mother like that—” my dad growls.
“You shut the hell up.”
The rage, the white hot fury, is unstoppable. In the time it took the ambulance to arrive, I have packed a bag for me and Annabelle. We won’t be coming back here. Not while I have breath in my lungs.
“You both shut your goddamn mouths, and you listen to me for once. I pay the rent for this house. I pay all the bills. I cleanup after you every day. I cook, I launder your clothes, and I make sure our water, electricity, and heating don’t get turned off. I started paying all the bills six months ago, working three jobs to do it. Don’t you dare tell me you work hard, that you sacrificeanythingfor my sister. She was lying up there for hours covered in vomit because you don’t give two shits about her, you just want to pretend you care.”
My mother’s mouth is hanging open, my dad’s eyes wide with shock.
One of the EMTs comes back up the driveway to hurry me along. I have to go, but I have one final gift for my parents before I do.
“I’ve earned enough to save her life, and I won’t be spending anotherdimeon the two of you. Live in your squalor. Enjoy losing both your children, because you were never parents. You haven’t been for years. And we deserve better, and we’re going to get it. Starting today.”
I walk out of the house, my heart thundering in my ears, and walk down the path for the last time.
The sense of relief is overwhelming, even as I hear my dad start hollering at me as I get into the ambulance alongside Annabelle.
I don’t have to listen to him anymore. He no longer exists.
The rhythmic beat of the heart machine is all I’ve heard for the past twelve hours. My eyes are stinging from lack of sleep, and my head is pounding.
Annabelle’s fever has thankfully gone down overnight, but her white blood cell count is not good. They’re keeping her in for another day for observation, but I’ve already started searchingfor apartments that we could rent in the area for when she’s discharged.
I called Kaitlin to tell her I was out sick, and I am fully expecting Crawford to have told Sterling House that I am no longer required at the office. When that happens, I plan to get a reference from them, but I won’t be moving on to another client.
The thought of walking into an interview with another man about to bend me over a desk fills me with disgust. Even if the money is terrible, I will try to get the best EA or PA job I can find and go from there. I have enough for the next few months, that’ll have to do.
“’ Melia.”
I look up at my sister’s glassy green eyes as they squint at me from the bed. She’s not eaten well since I’ve been in the Maldives, and that has contributed to her current state.
The guilt I managed to shake off while I was amongst blue coral seas and white sandy beaches is riding me high. I lean forward, taking her hand.
“Hey, did you need something?”
“Is there water?” she asks, and I check the jug at the bottom of her bed. “Yeah. It’s empty, but I’ll go get some more.”
