My Sister's Keeper

Thirteen.

"I don't know what to do, Nise. I'm sorry."

As soon as he opened the door to his bedroom, Damien was met with the sight of his glaring sister as she sat on his bed with her arms crossed. He had managed to lie to his mother when asked questions about his outing with Xavi while watching the movie, but as more time passed, the anxiety increased in Damien's body. He didn't know where it had come from. He didn't know why it had suddenly decided to show up. What he did know, however, was that it had everything to do with the boy he had spent his afternoon with, and the girl he so desperately wished was still living.

Even then as she sat with anger in her eyes and an attitude displayed in a way only she could show it.

Denise sighed. "You think I'm mad at you about Xavi? I'm not mad about Xavi, Damie Bear."

Damien furrowed his brows as he walked further into the room while asking, "You're not?"

Denise shook her head silently.

"Then why you still looking at me like that?" he asked while sitting down on the bed. "And why you still sitting like Ma when she 'bout to ground us or something?"

Denise rolled her eyes. "Cause you hard-headed like Daddy," she said. "And we need to come up with a plan."

Damien frowned. "A plan for what?" he asked. "And we not gonna talk about what happened at the park?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Denise mumbled. "It got your attention, didn't it?"

Damien frowned even more, not liking the amount of attitude in his sister's tone as she got up from the bed. It reminded him too deeply of the day she left, and in turn, the question that had been bugging him since came popping back up into his mind.

"Why were you so mad that day, Nise?"

Denise paused at the question, tilting her head slightly as her back was faced towards her brother.

"What?" she asked.

"Why were you so mad, Nise?" Damien asked again. "I know you heard me the first time. Don't play. Why were you so mad when you left the house? Why did you...Why did you call me Damien?"

"I," she shook her head while turning around to face him, "I wasn't mad at you if that's what you've been thinking."

"So why did you call me that then?" he asked. "Why'd you yell at me so much? Why'd you leave me when all I wanted to do was help you?! That's all I wanted to do, Nise!!"

"I'm sorry, okay?! I didn't mean it, I was just angry!" Denise tearfully exclaimed. "You don't think I regret it?! That I don't regret everything that happened that day?! That's why I want to fix it! You need to know what happened to me!"

"So why can't you tell me?!" Damien asked. "Giving me all these fucking riddles and shit, showing up out of nowhere and making me look crazy but you can't tell me when I ask? Why can't you just tell me, Nise?"

"Because it shouldn't be me that tells you, Damie Bear," Denise said. "Do you think that's fair to me? That I have to tell you but he doesn't? No. You need to find out from him."

Damien stood in silence as he listened to her, hearing the anger come back in her tone as she spoke.

"He took everything from me," she said. "And now he gets to live while I don't. He gets to pretend that everything is fine and that he doesn't have my blood on his disgusting hands. He is a monster and you need to take care of him, Damie Bear."