My Sister's Keeper

Three.

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF DEATH AND MENTIONS OF SUICIDE⚠️

Damien's mind was blank as he sat on his bed and stared ahead at the wall.

No one had come up to say a word to him, and he hadn't moved an inch to go downstairs and say anything to them. In all honesty, he'd hated the way Denise's death had put a strain on his relationship with his family.

How it had put a strain on himself.

Though both twins had made names for themselves around town, it was no secret that Denise was the most outgoing of the two. With big brown eyes that grew even bigger with excitement and a heart that showed kindness to everyone she met, it was practically impossible to not love Denise Bryant. She lit up every room she stepped in, and that was what he missed the most.

It was what they all missed the most.

And now, in the midst of her sudden absence, they had been left with her empty, heartbroken twin. Her empty, heartbroken twin who could barely find it in himself to smile anymore. Her empty, heartbroken twin who wished desperately that the roles had been switched, just so his sister could live out her dream of becoming a pediatric oncologist. Just so his sister could live out her dream of becoming a mother in the hopes that she'd be as great as her own.

Now she would never get the chance to live out either.

A lone tear fell down Damien's cheek before he sniffed and wiped it away.

He was so sick of crying. It was all he did now. Every minute. Every second. There hadn't been a day yet that had passed without him having tears in his eyes. She was on his mind constantly, even when he didn't want her to be, and the aching in his heart had increased its intensity with every Denise-filled thought he had.

He wished desperately that he could go back in time. That he could change the way things turned out between him and Denise before she left the house, or better yet, change it so that she wouldn't have left at all. He hated the fact that the first time she'd ever called him by his first name in the almost twenty years they'd been alive was the last time she would ever do so. It was the last time they'd ever seen each other again, and the moment was spent with her taking her anger out on him because he just couldn't bear the sight of his sister in such a bad mood.

She never answered his texts.

Never answered his calls.

Never even bothered to let her own twin know that she was alive and safe...Because she hadn't been alive and safe at all.

"Why'd you leave me?" his raspy voice asked with a sniff. "You weren't supposed to leave. You were never supposed to leave."

A broken sob left his mouth before he swallowed and shook his head.

"I just wanted to help you," he said. "I just wanted you to talk it out with me...Why didn't you talk it out with me, Nise? Why?"

Damien looked up at the ceiling as more tears formed in his eyes.

"Now you got me crying every day. Wishing you were here, just so I can see that little ugly face of yours again," he laughed shortly and sniffed again, "This ain't fair, man. Why you ain't tell me what was going on with you? We were supposed to tell each other everything. You wanting to die isn't everything, Nise."

A single shot to the head is what he was told had killed her. With no note in sight and no phone in her pocket, the police had ruled it a suicide.

Denise Bryant had left the world with no proper warning, and no explanation to her friends and family.