The Intern

Chapter 1

"I can't do this anymore."

Those were the words that changed everything in my life, and I never anticipated that they would come out of her mouth. Honestly, if you had told me that my sister would betray me, desert me, and leave me with a half-dead mother and a monster of a father, I would have laid you out right then and there. Mikasa was the last person I expected to leave me, and the first to do so. Perhaps that's why it was such a crushing blow when I finally realized she was serious.

"Eren, are you listening?" her voice quivered around the words, and I knew then that this was really happening. Mikasa had never been scared of anything before, but she was running now.

"Why?" I had to strangle the word out of my throat, and when it finally came out it was nothing but a pitiful gasp.

"I..." her voice trailed off as she hedged on what to say next. "I can't tell you that. You don't need to know-"

"The hell I don't need to know!" my voice came out sharper than I had intended, but I felt no regrets when she flinched away from the sound. "You can't just leave me here and not tell me why! You can't abandon me like this!"

"Eren, it doesn't concern you." The finality in her voice told me that I should give up now. Of course, I was never one to give up on anything, especially not her.

"You're my sister, Mikasa!" I said this as if it could trump everything she had said up until now. She opened her mouth to speak and I hurried to cut her off, stumbling over my words, "You've been different. I've noticed it, and I didn't want to say anything to piss you off. But something's changed, hasn't it? Something's wrong. Talk to me, Mikasa."

She lowered her head and I was unable to see her face, which only angered me further. I tried to ignore the way her hand tightened around the worn leather handle of her suitcase; I tried to ignore that there was a suitcase at all. That would only solidify the fact that she was leaving and there was nothing I could do about it. There was no way in hell I would accept that.

"Mikasa!" She jumped at my cry and her eyes turned to me, wider than I had ever seen them before.

My breath caught in my throat and I could have sworn I was going to choke to death on it. At that point, I might have been glad to do so. Her eyes were hopeless. As if she had explored every other option and arrived at the only choice she had. The one choice she didn't want to make but would.

"What's happening to you?" I could barely hear the whisper myself, even though I was the one to make it.

"He's-" The front door lock clicked, and Mikasa fell silent. All of the hopelessness I had seen in her was replaced with a fear I had never dreamed I would see in those eyes.

"Mikasa, what-" Her palm slammed against my mouth so hard that I knew immediately that I would have a bruise later. My head cracked against the wall behind me, and she held me in place with her nails digging into my cheek.

"Don't say a word," her voice was a frantic whisper in my ear. "You didn't see me leave. Do you understand, Eren? You didn't see me go."

I tried to wrestle free of her hand, but she restrained me with an undeniable strength. "Eren. Please."

The desperation in her voice forced my nod before I had even realized what I was agreeing to.

And then she was gone.

I jolted upright in bed with my hand pressed tightly to my throat, as if that would somehow muffle the scream that had already escaped my lips. My pulse was erratic against my thumb, and I held my hand in its place until I finally felt my heart returning to its normal beat.