I Saved My Sister, So They Drowned Me Chapter 08
Lily came on the third day.
Mom had been hiding the truth from her the entire time.
But some things couldn’t stay hidden forever.
Aunt Claire accidentally let it slip in the family group chat.
She said Nina had been hospitalized after something happened to her.
Lily searched through Mom’s phone at home.
She saw the call records with the hospital.
Then she took a taxi there herself.
When she arrived at the hospital, she didn’t go into Nina’s room right away.
She stood at the end of the hallway.
Through the glass window, she looked at the person lying on the hospital bed.
Then she turned around and found Dad.
“Dad, where’s Nina’s phone?”
Dad hesitated.
“Don’t look at it.”
“Give it to me.”
Dad didn’t move.
“Dad.”
“Give it to me.”
Her voice was trembling.
But it was firm.
Dad took the phone out of his pocket.
And handed it to her.
Lily sat down against the hallway wall.
She opened the Notes app.
“Lily’s Care Instructions.”
The first note.
She read it.
The second note.
She read it.
When she reached the fourth note, she stopped.
“She’s afraid of thunderstorms.”
“Don’t turn off the lights in her room on stormy nights.”
She remembered.
There had been a night when the rain was pouring.
The thunder was so loud that the entire building seemed to shake.
She had curled up under her blanket, trembling.
The door opened.
Nina walked in carrying a cup of warm water.
She turned on the bedside lamp.
Carefully tucked the blanket around her.
Then she sat on the floor beside the bed.
Leaning against the bed frame.
She stayed there the entire night.
When Lily woke up the next morning, Nina was already gone.
Lily had thought it was only natural.
She kept reading.
The eighth note:
“When she says she doesn’t want to live, don’t try to reason with her.”
“Just hold her hand and pat her back.”
“Keep the same rhythm as her heartbeat.”
“Slowly.”
She remembered those nights at two or three in the morning.
When she said she didn’t want to live anymore, Nina never panicked.
She never cried.
She simply held her hand.
And gently patted her back again and again.
Lily had always thought it was something simple.
Something anyone could do.
Only now did she realize.
Nina wasn’t calm because she didn’t panic.
She was calm because she had swallowed every bit of her panic alone.
The twenty-third note:
“Autumn is here.”
“Lily tends to have emotional ups and downs when the seasons change.”
“Don’t leave her alone.”
“Spend more time with her and let her get some sunlight.”
The date showed that Nina had added this note while staying in the tiny room behind Aunt Rachel’s coffee shop.
At that time, Nina had already been kicked out of the house.
She had already spent half a month alone in that cramped room, unable to sleep.
She was already close to the edge.
And she was still worrying about whether Lily would have another episode when the seasons changed.
Lily turned off the phone screen.
She pressed it against her knees.
And lowered her head.
Her shoulders shook violently.
But she didn’t make a sound.
After a long time, she stood up.
She walked to the window at the end of the hallway.
Then she crouched down.
Wrapped her arms around her knees.
And buried her face inside.
The sound of her crying came from deep in her throat.
Muffled.
Like a small animal trapped inside a cage.
Dad sat at the other end of the hallway.
Both hands covered his face.
His fingers were wet with tears.
He remembered that phone call.
He remembered saying:
“From now on, just think of this family as having only one daughter.”
He remembered the ten thousand dollars he had transferred.
The note:
“Don’t come back.”
When he typed those two words, he hadn’t hesitated for even a second.
Because in his mind, Nina was the one person who would never fall apart.
Nina never cried.
Never caused trouble.
Never got sick.
She took her own exams.
Signed her own surgery papers.
Took care of Lily without ever complaining.
He had always believed she could handle anything.
So he never imagined that even someone who carried everything would eventually reach a point where she couldn’t carry anymore.
Not until she took off her shoes.
Placed them neatly beside the Riverside Trail.
The right shoelace had come loose.
And she still bent down and tied it.
Even before the end, she was still making herself look neat and presentable.
Still trying not to trouble anyone.
Because that was how she had lived her entire life.