The girl behind the window

Chapter 3 - packing

"Hello Lily. How are you?"

The look on her face was deceiving. I had no idea if she had bad or good news and I just hated that. Being put in the dark. It made me feel childish, out of control. Not knowing whether she was just checking in on me or if she really had something to say.

"I hate to break it to you but you cannot live with your sister."

Silence. I was too afraid to talk back and tell her that me and my sister would do fine on our own and that she had no business coming in and messing up our lives.

"We found traces of alcohol and drugs in her system and the main committee thinks that she is not eligible to look after you. I'm sorry but since you have no other close family we will have to put you in foster care."

My sister had never been the 'good girl' and instead had always done anything in her power to piss off our parents. Drinking, smoking, partying. She did it all. I had hoped and wished that maybe some miracle could happen and that they wouldn't find this out about my sister because no matter how reckless she was, we were family and I was not prepared to be separated from her. But what could I do? If I didn't even dare to speak to relatives that I met with annually, how was I going to challenge a stranger on something that she was an expert on, taking care of children?

She left the room and left me thinking. I still had a month left in the hospital to recover from the injuries but after that, it was off to foster care.

We weren't really that close. When we were young, it was as if we were joined together at the hip. She got in with the wrong crowd and me, my mum and my dad couldn't stop her. I'm not one to dwell on the past and instead get on my laptop to watch some youtube.

My sister sat on the bed across from me. After this, she would be going to rehab. The doctors said that they'll let her take me if she gets better by the time I get out. "She's leaving tomorrow," they say and the rest of the words are murmurs as my head spins trying to process those words.