My Sister's Keeper

27

With the help of my brother, I was able to avoid being placed into foster care for the majority of my life. He took care of me and taught me enough to survive on my own. That being said, I did spend a little time in foster care. I met a girl. She'd lost both her parents when she was young. She'd spent her whole life running. Running from child protective services. Running from anyone who wanted to love her because it had never worked out. Running from anything that would crack open the hard shell she had built around herself. She felt like she was all alone. She'd ran towards drugs to escape.

She'd met a cross country runner at the high school we had all gone to. She started running. I guess the runner's high had helped her to feel a little bit more free. She told me that she had learned that you need to run away from the person you were towards the person you want to be. You have to run from the darkness into the light. You need to stop running from all the things that scare you and face them.

Months went by. Alex wanted to take a leave of absence but couldn't find anything other than work that distracted him. He'd failed her. He'd failed her, and she was suffering for it.

He'd eventually moved back in with Jo per her persistent begging. Meredith seemed unusually fine with that decision, even Cassie. She muttered the 'I just want you to be happy' line and hugged him goodbye.

It was like they all knew something he didn't.

And then April 24th rolled around. It was unusual how, for the longest time, Alex wouldn't even think twice about this day. He'd assume she was fine. Not great, but not terrible either.

He wanted to stay home and lay around sadly all day. Of course, he went to work instead.

Meredith strolled up to him later during the day. She'd looked at him and smiled sadly. "I'm sure when the time is right, she'll come back to you. Hasn't enough disaster happened for you to know that everything happens for a reason, even if it's a dark and twisted one?"

"Today is her eighteenth birthday. And I don't know if she's dead or alive or in a ditch somewhere. She ran because I couldn't protect her. That was my job, and I failed." He walked away from Mer, not angry, more confused by the fact that she didn't get it.

Jo walked up, "he's going to hate us once he finds out."

Mer nodded. "We did the right thing."

It was hours later when Jo and Alex were watching tv in the loft. Jo was nervous; she knew what was coming to some extent in the near future. It would all blow up in her face. She knew Alex wasn't going to hurt her, realistically, but years of a life he could never know about still rang fresh in her mind.

She was afraid of what would happen when he found out that she had known. If she found out, that was.

There was a knock at the door. Alex growled in displeasure from where he sat cuddled on the couch with Jo. He hadn't wanted to go outside today, not that anyone blamed him. He'd taken the 'acceptance' thing as well as could be expected. At least he hadn't begun throwing punches.

"Come in!" The couple shouted, knowing that Meredith had said she would come by.

The door slid open, but it wasn't Meredith. It was a now legal, now free Amber. She felt alive, she felt better than ever. She felt like since she'd survived, there was possibility. The possibility for a new life and a career and a dog and a family. "Alex."