Love in Death

Chapter 10

The shrill ringing of my phone interrupted my fitful sleep. I groaned and reached over to my nightstand and picked it up. I brought the device to my ear, not even looking to see who it was.

“Hello?” I said, my voice thick with sleep.

“Nora? I’m so sorry to wake you, honey, but we finally found your sister.” I sat up, feeling a bit more alert with this news.

“Where was she? Is she ok?”

“She’s home and that’s all that matters.”

“What does that mean?” I rubbed my eyes and turned on the small light on the nightstand. My roommate was once again AWOL so I didn’t have to worry about waking her.

“She’s high as a kite, honey. I’m still trying to figure out what happened exactly, but she’s safe now.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. I knew that boyfriend was bad news, “your father and I are discussing options right now while Jamie sleeps it off.”

“Ok, well call me later. Thanks for letting me know she’s ok.”

“Of course, honey. Go back to sleep. I love you.”

“Love you too, mom.” I hit the end button and threw my phone on the bed. My baby sister came home high, which wasn’t too shocking. I’m just surprised that my parents let it get to this point. I obviously don’t have any children, but I would’ve taken more drastic measures to make sure something like that didn’t happen.

I looked at the time and realized I wasn’t going back to sleep. I pulled on some sweatpants and a hoodie and left my dorm. Everything was still and quiet in the cool February air. I stuffed my hands in the front pocket and walked with no destination in mind. I just needed to clear my head and work some things out.

I wondered what my parents were going to do with Jamie. Does she need rehab? I hoped it wasn’t that serious. Maybe she just needs a job or some other extracurricular activity. Her boyfriend definitely needs to go. If I ever see that boy again, he’ll be sporting a black eye and bruised testicles.

I shook my head, wanting to keep my anger at bay. That wouldn’t solve anything. My thoughts turned to Trevor and my weird discovery yesterday. I didn’t even know how to bring it up, honestly. I usually don’t beat around the bush and he’ll probably think I’m crazy no matter which way I approach it.

The sun was just beginning to rise when I walked back inside my building. The world was slowly waking up while all I wanted to do was sleep. Life, however, refused to stop because I was tired. I had classes to attend and projects to work on.

Once I got back to my dorm room later that afternoon, I just wanted to collapse. It felt like all my energy had been completely zapped from me and I didn’t feel like doing a thing. My mom had called again and said Jamie was cooperating for the most part. She told them what happened, how some of her boyfriend’s friends had come over and pressured her into snorting some coke. She kept refusing but they started threatening her so she felt she had no choice.

My parents told her to break it off with her boyfriend, which she didn’t like very much. They are still trying to figure out how to help her and I hope they keep a close eye on her until they come up with a solution.

I felt helpless in that moment and a failure as a sister. She should be able to come to me about these things but because of this riff in our relationship, I feel completely closed off from her life. Tears stung my eyes but I quickly blinked them away. Maybe I needed to do something about that; fix it somehow.

My phone vibrated, signaling a new text. I looked and saw it was from Trevor.

Wanna hang out?