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Chapter 2: Swear

"You'll be fine without me, you know that, right?" Vanessa tells me. She kneels down in front of me, running her fingers across my cheek, while I sit on the edge of the bed.

I sigh.

"We need you, though." I whisper. My voice trembles.

"They need me. The world needs me. I could save the lives of so many people, sis!" She smiles. A single tear falls down her cheek, and I look away.

"But I need you more. You're my sister." I say. She touches my chin and moves my head so I'm facing her again.

"Hey. I know this is hard for you. But I gotta do this. It's the right thing to do. And I know you know that, Sarah, because if you were me, you'd do the exact same thing too."

"You don't know that." I shoot back. Vanessa chuckles a bit.

"Really? So, you'd let a lot of people die when you know you could help save them? You'd let them die so you, one person, could live, even though in you dying, you could save the lives of soooo many others?" She scoffs. I shake my head. "That's what I thought, because that's not the Sarah I know."

"But this isn't about me, okay? This is about you. Mama and I need you, and Daddy, he-"

"Dad hasn't been there a whole lot lately." Vanessa interrupts.

And she's right. He's been too focused on trying to run Spes (he works in the city council), and they've argued over a lot of things for a while now. They're not as close as before.

"Don't matter. He still loves you. You're his daughter. That's his job, you know?"

"Let's talk about something else." Vanessa says, standing up and sitting next to me.

Just then, Mama comes in, panting.

"Mama? What is it?" Vanessa says, rushing over to her. I remain seated on the bed, but I am just as concerned as my sister.

"I need to talk to you." Mama says. "Now. In private."

"Me too?" I ask. Mama shakes her head.

"No, baby, just Vanessa. This may be too much for you to handle." She looks down.

I slowly stand up, but Vanessa rests a hand on my shoulder. I sit down again.

"I'll be right back." Vanessa says, without looking over at me. She walks out the door behind Mama.

I sit there, sigh. I can hear them talking.

I close my eyes and start to sob a little. 

I don't want my sister to die. She can't die. How do we know that her dying to be tested on to find a cure will actually work? 

But I know that it's the right thing to do.

My eyes flutter open as I hear someone rapidly tapping on the window behind me. I spin around.

"Jackson?" I whisper.

Jackson is fifteen, and he's tall with curly brown hair and brown eyes. He is one of my closest friends.

I open the window. "Jackson, you can't be here, go away. My mama and sis are having a pretty important conversation, I don't think right now is a good time t-"

"I have to talk to you. It's urgent."  He says.

"But-"

"Sarah, please. It's about our dads."

I look around. "Can I stay right here?"

"I don't want your mom to hear..."

"Whoa, whoa. Are you saying what I think you're saying?" I ask. Jackson raises an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Is my dad cheating on my mama with your dad?" I ask, confused. 

"NO! That's the exact opposite of what I was going to say, actually? Anyway, just come out here, now!"

"All right... Make it quick. Mama'll be back any minute."

I climb out the window, Jackson helping me. 

"Okay, so uh..." He starts.

"Yeah?"

"You know how there's another community out there, with survivors... Right?" Jackson asks. I nod. "Well, they... We couldn't manage to get along, I guess. They wanted our food and some of our supplies, and we don't have much, barely enough to function. They're planning an attack."

"What? How do you know this?"

"I heard our dads talking over it. I'm sure that's what your mama is talking about to your sister." Jackson looks down.

"What... Kind of attack?" I ask. Jackson looks back up at me.

"I don't know. That's what they seemed most worried about." 

"Bombs?"

"I doubt it. But, then again, I don't know."

"Oh God..." I whisper. I throw my head in my hands.

"What's wrong?" Jackson asks, putting a hand on my back. I shiver as his hand rubs up and down, trying to comfort me. He pulls away.

"What? What do you THINK is wrong?" I say. Jackson raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, take it easy. I doubt anything too bad will happen, maybe just a... I don't know. But we'll be fine. We've managed to last sixteen years so far, right?" Jackson smiles. I nod.

"I guess. I'm sorry. It's just..."

"Hmm?"

"That's why my dad has been gone so much... And with Vanessa planning to do the procedure-"

"What procedure?" Jackson interrupts. I gulp.

I don't think Vanessa planned to tell anyone, I should not have said anything.

But it's too late now.

"Okay, Jackson, you have to promise not to tell anyone." I say.

"All right, I promise. You know me, Sarah."

"You swear?"

"I swear." He smiles.

"Okay... Vanessa is planning to die so the doctors can test on her, to see if they can possibly find a cure." I say. Jackson looks down.

"Well shoot, that's pretty..." He stops. "I'm sorry, Sarah."

"Me too..." I whisper.

"Sarah? Sweety?" I hear Mama calling me.

"I gotta go. I'll talk to you later?" I say. He nods.

"See ya."

And I climb back through the window into my room.