The sister

Questions

I heard a gun shot and instantly fell to the ground. I looked around, trying to see who got shot. It looked like Sophie was the one who got grazed. She was barely bleeding, but still: a gun was shot.

" What the hell?" I yelled. I couldn't even comprehend this situation.

"Liam! Put the gun down!" My mom yelled. He glared at her. She walked over to him and grabbed it. The bullets fell to the ground. I was still frozen in place. I looked behind me and saw Ben standing beside his car, shook with fear. 

I felt horrible.

I forced my legs to work and walked over to him. I put my arm on his and that seemed to revive him.

"Get out of here." I whispered. He started to object, but I stopped him. He sighed and got into his car. Once he was out of sight, and danger, I turned back to my family.

"How did you get out?" My dad asked Sophie. She rolled her eyes.

"I don't belong in there. I belong with a family that will welcome me back. Clearly I'm in the wrong place." She said. She seemed to use sarcasm in everything she said. I looked at my sister, trying to see the resemblance between the two versions of her I knew.

I saw none.

"You are not mentally stable." My dad yelled at her. "You could hurt somebody. Is that what you want?" He grunted.

She crumbled when he said this. I saw her eyes shift. What had she done?

"Liam, please." My mom said quietly. Why was she being treated like this?

"What is going on?" I asked. They all looked at me for a moment. No one said anything.

"Seriously? Dad just tried to shoot you and your not going to tell me why? Or maybe why you were sent away without contact? have you been in that Asylum for eight years?" I said angrily. Once I opened my mouth, the questions kept coming.

Again, silence.

"Why aren't you telling me anything?" I cried out. I felt suspicious and scared. If they treated Sophie this way, they could do it to me.  I was sobbing now. My mom came over to me, trying to comfort me.

"Hija," She said. Child

"Stop!" I shook her hand off. The person I wanted to comfort me was Sophie. I wanted her to tell me it was fine. That she wasn't being treated horribly by our parents, that this was a big misunderstanding. I looked up to her. 

I think she knew what I needed because she started to walk towards me. Her arms were open and she was smiling.

"Get away from her!" I heard my dad yell. I winced. Sophie completely ignored him and hugged me. My dad grabbed her immediately. I heard her groan and saw his back as he walked into the garage. I broke down again, falling to the ground.

"Hailey," My mom whispered. I didn't answer. I couldn't.

I ran inside the house and found my keys. I went straight to my car and drove out of the driveway. I found myself in front of Ben's house again. I'm sure he was worried, but I didn't want to bother him. I was still in my car when I saw him walking inside the garage. He had a whole system of computers in there. It looked like an FBI office. 

He saw my car and waved. I got out skittishly. 

"Hey, please tell me no one got shot?" He asked. I smiled slightly and shook my head.

"What happened?" He asked me. He gestured for me to sit and I followed. His brown eyes moved back and forth as I tried to explain what happened. His brownish black hair was matted down on his head and he looked nervous.

"I asked all three of them what was going on and nobody told me anything. My dad couldn't even tell me why he tried to shoot her or why he pulled her away from me." I muttered quietly. Ben just sat there listening to me, while I filled him in.

"We don't need your parents. Trust me, I will figure this out with you. Okay? I will find out the reason why they sent her away and we will fix this mess." he said wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

"No, I already put you in danger. I won't do it again." I objected. I saw his face when the gun fired. He was absolutely terrified.

"Then who will keep you out of danger?" He asked, not letting go of me.

"Myself." I said quietly.

"you will need help." He pointed out. I knew that, but I didn't know where to get it. At least not without putting people in danger.

That night we started researching again. We didn't find much. I mostly focused on the Asylum and how it worked. The type of people that were locked up were nothing like my sister. Unless there was more that I didn't know.

 His mom came in close to midnight.

"Hey, what you guys up too?" She smiled as she came in. Ben hit a few buttons and the screen changed to a game about coding. 

"Just teaching Hailey how to code." Ben replied. Great cover. He can lie easily. I noted to myself.

"Oh, sounds fun. Looks like she's learning a lot." She laughed, seeing that I wasn't touching anything.

"Not at all." I said, forcing a smile. 

"Well, have fun you two. And Hailey, you can stay anytime you need." She patted my shoulder and went back inside. She knew about my dad's anger issues. Everyone in this small town knew about that.

"Sorry about that." Ben mumbled, with red cheeks. I laughed, remembering all the times I came here as a little girl. 

"No problem. I have always loved your mom." I answered. He gave me a stern look, as if I was getting special treatment.

"What?"I asked. 

"Stop saying things like that." He said with a smile.

"Things like what?" I wondered.

"My mom keeps saying that you're the daughter she never had. Don't add fuel to that fire." He smirked. 

"Oh, I see. Well then, that changes things." I smirked. We continued to tease each other and reminisce about our childhood until late in the night.

I stayed the night there again, but knew it would only be a matter of time before I had to go back home.