Revealed

36. Sharon Pierce

*Picture of Sharon Pierce*

"Thanks again Sharon. We really appreciate your help," Candice says with a smile.

I wave her and the rest of the elders goodbye. It's that time of the year again. The time where  I have to go back home. Home to my mother. I always make sure to take my sweet time in getting there. There's no need to spend any more time at home than I have to. I can't wait for break to be over and for me to get back to college.

About 45 minutes later, when I reach my house, I open the door and quickly make my way up to my temporary room where I put all my bags down. My mom is sitting in the living room couch watching TV drunk... again. I stand in front of her and greet.

"Hello mother. I'm home. I won't be in your way too long. I'm going to clean the kitchen." I don't even wait for her to reply before I leave.

My mom is a mess. She's been doing this for as long as I can remember. She use to be so kind and loving. I remember every morning she would wake up very early to pack lunch for me. She use to read my sister and I bedtime stories and sing us songs. And my dad would take us to the carnival where I would be too short and couldn't go on any of the bigger roller coasters. While my sister, on the other hand, was a baby, so she couldn't go on either way. Our mom was loved by our whole neighborhood. But ever since my dad died, her whole life turned around. She became cruel and demanding. She started drinking to the point where she had been in the hospital twice. I had to take care of my sister and I all by myself because my mom couldn't care less if we died too.

But I will never forget the worst thing she ever did. She took me and my sister to the beach one day. Seems innocent right? After that, we drove a long way to a small restaurant basically in the middle of nowhere. She said she was going to use the bathroom, but instead, she took the car and drove away. I was only 5 years old, stuck in a place I didn't know, with a two year old child. My sister was on the smaller side. How was I going to take care of a baby on my own when I didn't even know where I was?
"Stay right here," I said. "I'm going to go get us help from the people behind the desk." My sister just laughed. "Bring food?", she said in the sweetest little voice. I nodded my head and lifted her onto a seat before running to the front desk. I couldn't leave her there alone for too long, but if I had taken her with me, then she would have run around and I might have lost her. By the time I had gotten help and returned to the table where I left my little sister, she was gone. I panicked. She was only alone for less than three minutes. I should've known that she wouldn't comply with my one rule.

I began to cry. My eyes were balling. I yelled my sister's name as loud as my voice would go. That's when Candice, the lady I got help from, held my hand and lead me to her car.

"No! We can't leave! My sister is in there!" How much more could I take? Not any more than the distance between my eyes. Candice tried to force me into her car. At the same time, I kept trying to get away from her and back into the shop. My sister couldn't have gotten far.

When Candice realized that I wasn't going to stop fighting her till we found the only person I really had left in my life, she gave in and helped me search. One whole hour went by and we found nothing. My whole body shut down. My dad died, my mother hated me, and my sister was gone. I was alone. How else was I supposed to feel?

All I can really recall from after that moment was Candice driving me back to my mom and threatening to get her arrested if she tried anything like that again. Candice also moved near my home so I wouldn't feel so empty inside.

Eighteen years have passed. My sister is probably dead. I use to cry every night over her. I can't even remember her name. Life is so unfair and miserable.

I rinse all the dirtied plates and the glasses half full with drinks ranging from beer all the way to Vodka and place them neatly into the dishwasher.

Sometimes, I like to imagine names I think my sister might have had. Faith, Sarah, Jannet. So many possibilities and to my realization, I've probably never guessed her name right once.