Heal

Chapter Twelve

𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱. 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝘀.

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Willow stared at her brother with swollen eyes as he took his medication.
"Why were you with with Kevin?" She asked.
Noah looked everywhere but at Willow.
"Weren't you supposed to be at Ma'am Rosa's house like I said you should be?"
Noah kept quiet. "Answer me." She said calmly but in a stern tone.
"Kevin came to fetch me."
"Fetch you? Fetch you where and you let him?"
"At Ma'am Rosa's house. He said you said he should fetch me and Ma'am Rosa let him. I tried telling her he's lying but I feared he would hurt you. I was trying to look out for you." He said in a low voice.

"Since when was it your job to look out for me? Were you looking out for me when you had an attack last night. That's my job, Noah. To look out for you, that's not your responsibility because I have to take care of you. What if I hadn't come back earlier? What do you think would have happened because you were being irrational?"

"No one's looking out for you, Willow! You treat me just like everybody else. A freak and a burden. You make me feel as if I'm some type of chore. I feel so useless, and you make me feel way more useless because you think I'm small and powerless.
But I can take care of myself. It's hard, too hard to not to get sick when everything around me is a trigger. I'm old enough to take care of myself and to help you Willow, stop carrying me like I'm a burden."

Willow watched her brother rant on as tears streamed down his face. She pulled him into a hug. Then pushed him away from her.
"You think you're grown huh? You're old enough to carry half of the responsibilities I have? Then you're going to live with Ma'am Rosa as of tomorrow. You feel as if me taking care of you makes you feel oppressed then I'll let you take care of yourself. You have no idea how hard it is to be a mother and a sister to you and I'm not even complaining, Noah. I'm hurt." Willow said as she stormed over to the chest of drawers that had Noah's clothes.
"Pack your clothes."
"What?"
"I'm carrying you like a burden right? Pack your clothes."
"What about mom?"
"That's a problem that I will deal with. I'll call Ma'am Rosa. You're leaving." Willow stormed out of the room leaving her younger brother crushed and hurt more than ever.
She's disowning him.
"She's getting rid of me." Noah whimpered.

***

Waking up felt more than a chore, more than a must, much more than a responsibility. Her eyes were heavy and her weighing heart increased the guilt she felt.
She shouldn't have said all those things to her brother. She was really getting rid of him.
She really got rid of him. Ma'am Rosa had taken all her brother's belongings with her as the two siblings took the bus to school.
Willow had watched her teary eyed brother walked out the bus and take a look at his cold hearted sister.

Willow stared at her bandaged arms and she couldn't help but feel responsible for her brother. She has taken his ability to be happy because she was selfish. Extremely selfish. She thought medicating her brother like she did to herself would end all the pain and misery he had. She thought he would be able to fit in with her peers and keep him sane.
She was wrong. So so wrong.
She didn't see that she was killing the only person she cared for.

***
"Willow! Willow! Willow!" Han-eun called over and over for the girl but she did not budge.
Han-eun sighed and jogged after her. She saw how down she looked.
"Will?" Han-eun said carefully.
With not much effort to move and face her.
"Hey." She forced a smile.
"Are you okay?"
"Never been better."
Han-eun looked at Willow with sorrowful eyes, matching how the shorter girl felt.
"Hey, talk to me." Han-eun pleaded and not a second later, Willow engulfed Han-eun in a hug a let out small whimpered against the tallers ear. The taller girl held Willow close. Feeling her and trying her best to comfort her.
"Let's go to talk somewhere quiet."
The two girls rushed to the bathroom and looking themselves in a stall.