Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
All of a sudden, I feel weak again. Like I did right after everything had happened. I feel like I could crumble any second. And while crumbling and falling apart and sobbing are all okay things to do, I can only do them when I’m alone. I can’t let my sister know I’m going through something, and I can definitely not let my mother know. I need my mom to leave, which is why I ask, “How much do you need this time?”
If she needs help, it can only be one thing, and I’m right. She says she needs three hundred dollars because she’s short on rent. Jeremy got fired again and he hasn’t been able to find anything new. It’s a lot of money for someone like me, even without the debt, but I still give it to her. Because I always lend her money, even if it meant picking up extra shifts at the strip club. Because she’s my mother, and even if she doesn’t love me, I love her. And now as it turns out, everything wrong in her life is because of me.
Finally, my mother is leaving three hundred dollars richer, and I decide to go check on Snow first. Except when I call out for her from the hallway, she doesn’t answer. And when I find her sleeping in her bed and try to wake her up because it’s not really bedtime, she doesn’t wake up. And I realize I don’t have to wait to fall apart in the shower because I already am falling apart as I call 911.
Chapter Fifteen
Transplant rejection.
That’s what’s wrong with my sister. That’s why she won’t wake up even after twenty-four hours. That’s why her fever came on quickly and spiked so high that now she needs help breathing. Apparently, there’s some swelling in her extremities as well that we never saw. That I never saw. If I had, she wouldn’t be in such a dire situation. A situation of life and death. For the second time in her short seventeen-year-old life.
But the doctors are saying it’s not really my fault. Sometimes symptoms aren’t clear or drastic enough for us to notice. Sometimes things just happen. While there’s always a chance of rejection, most patients show symptoms within the first six months after surgery. So I couldn’t have known. No one could have.
What do they know, though?
I’m supposed to be looking out for her. I’m supposed to be the one taking care of her, protecting her, making sure she’s healthy and happy and living. And now because I didn’t do my job, she might…
No, I can’t think like that. Not right now when I have so much to do. When I have to climb a whole freaking mountain.
So apparently, this time around she needs bone marrow. They said her blood is unhealthy, and she needs new blood, a new source for her to combat this and live a long, healthy, happy life. And of course, just like a heart transplant, you need a match for a bone marrow transplant too. Siblings are always the best bet.
Here is where the mountain climbing comes in, because I’m not a match. Probably because I’m only her half-sister. But she has other siblings, doesn’t she? And yes, they’re half-siblings too but I can’t not take the chance. If there is even the slightest possibility they can save her, I have to take it.
So I am. I’m going to tell them who I am. I’m going to tell them who Snow is and that she needs their help.
It may not be easy. In fact, I think it may be very close to impossible, given all the lies I’ve told. Not to mention, I remember what he said to me that night. He told me he’d ruin my life if I didn’t stay away from him and his family, from Callie. And honestly, I have. I’ve been dodging her calls and texts for the last three weeks. I’ve been dodging all of my friends’ calls for the past few weeks. I’ve been making excuses when they ask me to hang out.
Which is why I think Tempest is both surprised and relieved to hear from me. When I tell her what’s happening with Snow and what I need to do, she tells me I’m doing the right thing. She tells me she’ll help me if I want. She can ease my way in, prepare Callie and Ledger for what’s coming. But I tell her I don’t want her to. This is my doing, all the lies, and so this is my battle. The time has come anyway for them to know. I can’t keep lying to them for the rest of my life. I just hope they don’t hate me so much that they refuse to help my sister.