My Sister's Keeper

Eleven.

The next morning, Damien sat at the kitchen island mindlessly moving his fork around his plate of scrambled eggs and French toast as his mother busied herself with cleaning. Truthfully, he knew it was her way of keeping a close eye on him, but he said nothing as he sighed softly and took a sip from his glass of orange juice.

He couldn't stop thinking of Denise. He couldn't stop hearing the conversation they had repeatedly replaying itself in his mind and it bothered him. Could Carter and his crew really have been a part of what happened to his sister? Damien couldn't wrap his mind around the possibility. Sure, growing up he and Carter had their differences and would often bump heads, both literally and figuratively, but could Carter have that dark of a spirit to go after his sister? Damien hadn't ever been that close to Zane, and he couldn't recall Denise ever bringing him up in conversation whether good or bad. That, of course, hadn't cleared Zane's name at all, but he couldn't deny it made it harder to put a reason behind why he would want to hurt Denise.

Then there was Xavi. Damien knew in his heart that there couldn't have been any possible way that Xavi would ever do that to either of them, but his mind still wondered the opposite. He thought back to the day when Xavi had come over to see him after his breakdown the night before. He thought of how Xavi had been quick to comfort him both times and stayed until he was told to leave. Could it have all been a front? Some kind of cover-up to hide the disgusting truth of what he had inhumanly done? Damien was confused, and quite frankly, a little sick to his stomach as he thought of it all.

"Damien, honey? Are you alright?" his mother's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

Damien blinked and cleared his throat as he nodded and looked at his mother, who had stopped her sweeping to look at him.

"Yeah, Ma. I'm okay," he said and shrugged. "You know I just haven't been that hungry lately."

"Yeah, I know," Regina said with a nod. "But I see you started eating a little bit of your food, is that not what you want? I can fix you up something else-"

"Ma," Damien cut her off with a small laugh. "I'm good. I don't need nothing else right now...I think imma go chill in the living room."

Despite her initial worry, Damien could see the bit of brightness that formed in his mother's eyes as she smiled a small smile.

"Yeah?" she asked him. "Alright, baby, you can go on. Maybe I can join you in a little bit and we can watch a movie? Since we didn't get to last night."

Damien shrugged again as he picked up his plate and stood up from his chair. "Yeah, Ma. Sounds good."

Regina's smile grew in size as she watched him put his dishes away and leave the kitchen. Damien sighed as he walked into the living room and lay on his back on the couch. After turning on the TV so his mother could hear the sound, he turned his head to look out the window, frowning as he went back to his earlier thoughts.

Out of everyone who could have possibly been behind his sister's death, it hurt Damien the most to think that Xavi would be the one to do it.

The sounds of laughter and talking filled the classroom as the children all socialized amongst themselves since their teacher had been momentarily called out of the room. Though she had only stepped outside the door, the students took that as their chance to let loose since their desks had been moved into the letter U and made it easier for them to do so. Sitting side by side, Damien and Denise giggled amongst themselves as they played a game of thumb war.

"Okay, students! I know this is kind of sudden, but we've gained ourselves a new friend today!" Ms. Greene, their teacher, announced after walking back inside. "Can we all say hi to Xavier and give him a warm welcome?"