“Uhm, it’s 263 Crane Court, the last house on the right.”
“Emergency services are on their way, they’ll be there in five minutes. You’re doing great, I’m going to stay on the line with you, okay?”
“Okay.” I lean down, pinching her nose and tilting her head back. I breathe into her lungs, watching her chest move up and down with the breath. “Claire I swear to god I’m going to kick your ass if you don’t live through this. I won’t ever forgive you.”
Sirens come down the street, and I hear the front door swing open, “hello?” A man calls out.
“I’m up here!” I yell down. “Emergency services just got here” I let Sheila know.
“You did great Chris” she replies.
A man with broad shoulders and a med bag comes walking into the bathroom.
“Please, save my sister” I sob. He pushes me out of the way and starts working. He injects her with something, then attaches a defibrillator onto her chest.
I curl up into a ball in the corner, holding my legs to my chest as I watch him shock my little sister back to life.
* * *
Claire stirs in her bed, and any sort of fatigue I was feeling before melts away as I watch her open her eyes. I jolt forward, collapsing on top of her and hugging her tight while tears of relief drip onto her hospital gown.
“What’s going on?” She asks. Her voice is gravely, raw from the tube that’s been down her throat for the last couple days.
“My sweet Angel” I whisper, “you came back to me.”
Her entire body goes rigid at my words, and when I pull back to look at her, she starts to shake. Her eyes well with tears, and she breaks down.
“No! No this isn’t how it was supposed to go. I don’t want to feel anymore, I just want it to stop.” Claire claws at her chest, trying hard to force air into her lungs while I watch helplessly. “Please just make it stop, I don’t want to be here anymore.”
The heart monitor next to us beeps uncontrollably, and doctors rush in to see what’s going on. The nurse puts an oxygen mask over her face, while the rest of the staff shove me out of the way to asses my sister.
“You need to breathe” one of the nurses says. “Deep breaths, just like me.”
My heart breaks as I watch my sister spiral, screaming at doctors to get away, begging them to let her die. She scratches one of the nurses, drawing blood, and they finally inject her with something to calm her down.
Claire’s body slows, she looks towards me, “please just let me die.”
The staff collectively take a breath when she goes unconscious, able to relax now that my sister is out of harms way. Though, I feel like my lungs have ceased function as I think about my poor little sister who want’s nothing more than to leave this earth.
“Has she ever shown symptoms of depression before?” The doctor asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I shake my head, walking towards Claire and grabbing her hand. “She’s always been so happy, I didn’t even know anything was wrong until-“
Until I found her laying in that tub.
“Are you her legal guardian?”
Again, I shake my head no. “My parents are at an event, I think they should be back in a couple hours.”
I can see the judgment in his eyes. He’s probably wondering what kind of parents leave their sick child to go to an event, and I’m thinking the exact same thing.
My parents should be here.Theyshould be the ones holding her hand right now… not me.
* * *
“Sir, I really recommend that you allow us to place your daughter in psychiatric care. She’s just been through an intense trauma and is showing signs of severe depression. It is not safe for her to leave this building, she could try to harm herself again.” The doctor has spent the last ten minutes trying to convince my parents that Claire needs to stay, but they aren’t having it.
I sit next to her, one arm wrapped around her shoulder while we watch my mother pack all of Claire’s things in a bag. She looks up at us with no hint of remorse, then continues to fold clothes while my sister stays silent next to me.
