Fragile #Wattys2015

Chapter 8

"Hey, Evelyn."I hugged her gently.

"Indigo!" Her voice was raspy.

"How're you doing?"

"Really good!" Hey eyes lit up, I could see she was being honest.

"Aw, I'm so glad."

It was so nice to see Evelyn awake and happy. I decided to not tell her about Cass right now, better keep the vibes good. At that moment, Benji came
in too. They said their hellos and then we spent the rest of the morning playing board games and watching The Little Mermaid.

After Evelyn's tube-fed lunch, she fell asleep. Benji and I quietly went home, where we knew Cass was waiting for part two. Ugh.

Of course, we were right and she was sitting on our couch with our parents. My father looked like he hadn't shaved or changed clothes in a few days and my mother looked like she was high on something. Cass seemed to notice, but didn't say anything until Benji and I had made ourselves comfortable.

"Hello Peterson family." Cass smiled warmly. "Today we will be completing part two. If you managed to forget what that is, it's private interviews. Now, let's start with Sarah."

My mom twitched and followed Cass upstairs. The rest of us sat in silence for a while. Eventually, we heard my mother shriek something about assholes and ungrateful brats. I'm assuming she meant us.

Cass came to get my father a few minutes later. She was visibly shaken. I almost felt bad for her. Almost.

My father stormed downstairs no more than two minutes after the questions started. He began throwing empty beer bottles at the wall. The sound of glass shattering made me cringe, it made everything about us seem even more fragile.

Cass got Benji and I was left alone. Twiddling my thumbs, I waited and waited and waited. Finally, Benjj and Cass came down to get me. There were tears in his eyes and he was trembling. Damn, she must ask tough questions.

I followed her nervously. We both sat down and she stared at me for a moment before she began speaking.

"Before we start, I just want to say that I'm sorry that you've had to go through all this. No one deserves this."

I nodded appreciatively and waited for her questions.

"These questions are kind of rough, just a warning. Have you ever been deprived of food purposely or starved?"

"Sort of. They didn't feed us much, but I doubt it was intentional."

"Would you say you've been neglected?"

"Yeah..."  

"Have you ever been beaten or sexually assaulted?"

I nodded, not wanting to talk about it.

"Which one?" She gently touched my arm.

"Mostly sexual assault." I wiped away the tears that were about to fall.

"When was the last time?"

"I was 12."

"I'm so sorry, Indigo. You can leave now. I'm going to go home and do some paperwork. Tomorrow you'll know the results."

I walked downstairs, feeling numb. Benji came and hugged me. We said nothing. Not that it matters, we both understood how the other felt. When we heard the sound of Cass's car leaving, we pulled apart.

I made us some dinner, the silence in the house making everything seem more painful. It was as if sound didn't exist anymore. It made the air seem more vulnerable, it made me feel more vulnerable. Our lives seemed to ache for a moment of peace, but I suppose that's impossible in a fragile home.

Neither of us even ate our dinner, we just went to bed. I hugged Benji gently, afraid he would break into thousands of tiny glass shards. The metaphor seemed to cloud my perception of reality. Maybe because to me the metaphor is a reality. It's my reality. My painful, fragile reality.

I sighed and climbed into bed, but sleep never came. I heard my mother stumble in with my father. They were drunk. I heard them decide to sleep on the floor instead of try the stairs. I heard them have drunken sex on the kitchen floor. I heard Benji cry himself to sleep. I heard another crack form in our fragile home.

As the sun rose, I felt the pain in our house leave. A new day signified new things, better things. I stretched and went to get my sleep-deprived self some coffee.

I added too much creamer and raised the warm, white-ish drink to my chapped lips. Just then, the phone rang. I sighed and put down the coffee. Who needs energy, am I right?

I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Is this Indigo Peterson?"

"Yes."

"Indigo, this is the hospital. Your sister is not doing well, you need to come immediately. She may not live much longer."

I hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Sprinting, I pulled Benji out of bed and hurried us to the hospital. I'm not a religious person, but I prayed the whole drive there.

We arrived at the hospital and I felt like I was going to vomit as we approached Evelyn's room. I gripped Benji's hand and opened the door. I took one look at Evelyn and began to sob. Benji just stared.

How could this have happened so quickly? She was fine yesterday. Without thinking, I ran.