Sister Mother

Chapter 24

Addie

Two hours after Brennan and Vance left, Gabe picked me up from Starbucks. He opened the passenger's door. I scooted to the edge of my chair and carefully pushed my body upwards, into the car. I slammed the door shut, all without putting a single pound on my legs. Gabe drove my wheelchair up the ramp and climbed into the driver's seat. I opened my mouth to tell him all about Brennan and Vance, but saw his pale and wet face.

"Gabe, what's wrong?"

"Everything," he whispered, wiping his face with his hands. "I know we hate this, but can we go visit Mom and Dad before we pick Bea up from school?" His face was soaked with tears.

I reached over so that I could grab his hand. "Calm down before you start driving. Do you want to talk about it?"

Gabe shook his head. He took a few heavy and unsteady breaths, clenched the wheel and started the car.

Neither of us spoke until Gabe pulled up into the parking garage at St. Vincent's Hospital. He brought my wheelchair to my side of the car. As I transferred out, he drove his scooter out of the car.

"What happened?" I asked

He shook his head and turned the keys of his scooter with so much force, that for a second, I thought he broke the keyhole.

"Nothing new. I'm just tired of this whole thing. I can't take it anymore." He shook his head, staring at the roof of the garage. "Did you know that it was Mom's birthday last week?"

I blinked. "It was?"

"We all forgot. I was swiping through my calendar and it popped up. We didn't do anything for her. For Dad's birthday, all four of us threw a small party in the ICU, but we completely forgot about Mom."

"Dad's birthday was only a month after the accident. It's different." I looked away from my brother. It wasn't different. A month after, ten months after, it was all the same. "Do you want to pick up Beatrice and call Uncle Jason? He could get a cake like he did for Dad."

"What's the point?" Gabe asked as we both started driving towards the elevator. "How many birthdays are we going to celebrate like this? Their anniversary is coming up. They didn't get to see me graduate high school. Beatrice is going to start high school this fall if she doesn't get taken away from us and there's no point of anything!" He punched the elevator button, got out of his scooter and kicked the elevator door. Wincing at the impact, he kicked the door repeatedly.

My brother was the calmest of all of us. The one who kept his head on his shoulders. Even with him being away at school for so long, one of the few things that comforted me was knowing that Gabe held himself together.

He kicked the elevator door, slapped it, turned around to kick and punched his scooter basket. He grunted, moaned and collapsed onto his knees and sobbed.

I drove my chair up behind him, and put my hand on his shoulder. Comforting Beatrice was easier than comforting Gabe. Beatrice depended on me more than Gabe did, so I simply had to be strong for her. I didn't know what to do as my brother shut down.

"I-I hate this," he stuttered. "I hate waiting. I feel like we're waiting and hoping for them to die. It feels like they're dead but Mom just had a stupid birthday!" He leaned forward, pressing his hands against his thighs.

I sat there with one hand on his shoulder and tried to think of something to say to him.

Anything. Come on, Addie. Be Sister Mother to Gabe too!

Nothing came from my mouth. I rubbed my brother's shoulder until he stopped sobbing. By that time, the elevator had already come and gone.

He rose from the ground with tears stuck to his face. He sniffled and wiped his nose.