AllFreeNovel
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Crazy, huh? It’s as if we live a thousand miles away from each other, but we’re not. We could have met every weekend if we wanted, but we never saw eye-to-eye.
As she shakes against me, thin and barely taller than me, I wonder if it was really her or me, putting distance between us. I put distance between myself and everyone who reminded me of my childhood, the rules and constraints I did my best to leave behind.
“Let’s go inside,” I whisper, and together we walk into her apartment and close the door. “Are you all right? Did something happen?”
“I’m okay. So happy to see you.” She sniffles, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her robe.
She looks terrible. Her hair is limp and knotted, her face blotchy as if she’s been crying for a while.
I lead her into a tidy little living room and seat her on the beige sofa. The place is like a page from a furniture catalogue—bland, neutral colors and basic shapes, black-and-white posters of flowers. Nothing personal in sight.
That’s not how my sister used to be when we were little. But I rebelled and did my best to keep my true colors. She faded away.
Now she looks like a shadow of my older sister. A see-through ghost.
“How are you? You look good, Kay. How’s the studies?” But she keeps shooting nervous glances at the door and picking at the hem of her sleeves.
“Allie, what’s going on?”
“Nothing. Nothing, I just…” Another nervous glance at the door, then she folds her hands in her lap and gives me an over-bright smile. “Just don’t feel so good today. Must have caught a bug. But I’m okay. Tell me about you.”
So not convincing. She’s a terrible liar. “Everything’s good. You should really come visit. I love my classes, and I have good friends. And there’s this boy—”
She starts, gaze darting around, as if she heard a noise I didn’t notice. “Kay, you should go.”
“Go?” I gape at her. “I literally just arrived, Allie.”
&nb
sp; “You don’t understand. I told you.” She shifts on the sofa, and that’s when I see the bruises on her thighs and her wrists.
Oh fuck.
“Allie, what the hell?” I’m on my feet, tugging at her robe to see what else she’s hiding. My voice is going up, turning hysterical. “Who did this? Oh God, don’t tell me it’s your asshole of a boyfriend?”
“Let go.” She tugs her robe out of my hands and glares. “It’s nothing. I told you life isn’t a fairytale. This is how—”
“No.” I shake my head, livid, and grab her hand. “No, this isn’t okay, Allie, and that fairytale thing is total bullshit, and you know it. Is he coming back here? We need to leave.”
“He went out to buy cigarettes. He won’t hurt you, Kay. He’s not like that. He’s a good guy when—”
“Are you frigging kidding me right now? Look at you! He’s beaten you black and blue. Jesus.” My pulse is filling my ears. I feel light-headed. This is my sister. And that asshole beats her. “How long has this been going on? How long has he been beating you?”
“Mom said I should give him a chance. Relationships are like that.” She’s letting me pull her up, though, and her voice is growing unsure. “She said we can’t tell what someone is like unless we give them second chances.”
“Does Mom know he beats you?” She shakes her head. “No. Let me tell you something, sis. We can tell what someone is like, most of the time. When a guy hits you? That’s a big fat clue that he’s a violent douchebag and that you should put at least a state or two and maybe an ocean between you, got it?”
“Please, Kay…” Her voice is choked, and I stop in the process of looking around for her clothes and purse.
“Please, what?”
“You’ll be hurt. Please go.”
“Not without you.” Isn’t that what Ocean told me what feels like ages ago at the bar, before he took me home? I smile at her. “We’re going together.”
“Okay.”
Relieved she agrees, I finally locate her long coat on a hook and drag her toward it. I’m not sure what I’m doing, I only know I’m not leaving her here with a guy who might kill her in a fit of rage at any given moment.
