My Sister's Keeper

Four.

"I'm real sorry for what you had to hear yesterday, Man."

Though he knew his uncle couldn't actually see it, Damien shrugged and said, "It's cool, Unc. Don't worry about it," as he stared ahead at the wall.

It was midday, and the determination he'd had to figure out the truth of his sister's passing had vanished the moment he'd woken up to an empty room. While his father had decided to return to work, Damien's mother had chosen to remain at home to keep a close eye on him.

And she'd left no room for anyone to try to talk her out of it.

"Still, you were right about what you said...Nisey never liked to see us argue. And she would've hated to see us arguing then...But how are you feeling today? You doing alright?"

Swallowing the pain he'd felt at hearing his uncle's nickname for her, Damien nodded again and said, "Yeah, I'm alright."

"You eat yet today?"

He knew the question would come. It came from everyone. And his answer never changed, so Damien saw no point in them even asking anymore...but he knew that they still would. Just like they knew it'd be a while before he said yes on his own.

But just before he could utter the word, the door to Damien's room opened to reveal his mother as she walked in with a breakfast tray(or lunch since it was way past noon) and a soft smile on her face.

"Hi, love bug," Regina said with a smile. "You haven't come down today so I thought I would come up! You getting hungry?"

Damien forced a smile onto his face as he sat up on the bed while saying, "Hey, Ma...Yeah, I could eat."

"Ginny's in the room? Let me speak to her."

Damien rolled his eyes and handed his phone to his mother after she placed the tray on his nightstand.

Regina furrowed her brows.

"Uncle Lou," Damien said and watched as his mother's smile brightened and she took the phone.

"Hey, Lou! How're you doing today?"

Damien smiled lightly before it fell as he looked away and focused his attention on the food tray, which caused the smile to return slightly as his gaze caught the star-shaped turkey sandwich on the plate.

It was a long-running tradition they'd had since they were kids. His mother had always had a thing for being creative when it came to their food. "What? No one wants to eat ugly food!" was what she'd always told them whenever the twins would burst into laughter at the crazy shapes placed in front of them on their plates.

And suddenly, the little hunger that Damien had forced himself to feel was no longer there as he blinked away the unshed tears and moved his gaze away from the plate to focus back on his mother.

"Okay, Lou, I'll talk to you later...Mhm, tell Eric I said Hi!... Okay...Love you too. Bye," Regina said before she hung up the phone and smiled at her son.

Her smile then slightly fell as she noticed the untouched plate still sitting on the nightstand. "You're not going to eat, honey?"

Damien shrugged as he avoided looking at the plate and shook his head as he said, "I'm not that hungry."

"But baby, you haven't eaten anything all day," Regina said with a frown. "Is a sandwich not what you want? How about we order a pizza instead? Or maybe I can cook you up some-"

"Ma, I'm not hungry," Damien said.

He then sighed at the hurt look that flashed across her features and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that...but I'm honestly okay Ma. I just don't feel like eating anything right now. That's all."