She video called me and I picked up almost instantly. Her overly familiar face filled my screen. It was the first time I’ve really seen her in 10 years.
I’ve seen her in my dreams frequently since I left, but just her when she was younger. Not 17 year-old her.
And just as I assumed, she’s gorgeous. From her striking eyes, to her shiny brown hair, she was so beautiful.
“What’s up, sis?” she said, nonchalantly.
I started to tear up. Her voice has aged beautifully, too. I heard the pain, and it was heartbreaking.
I raised her for almost seven years of her life, and it hurt for me to see her again.
“Oh, Betty,” I whispered.
“Ok, I don’t want to hear how you’re so sorry you left, I don’t care anymore. Don’t worry, I’m fine. Mom hasn’t been home in months. She was only home for 10 minutes last time. She came up to me, and said ‘Rebekah, sweetie, do you have any money for me?’ She called me Rebekah. I told her that you had been gone for 10 years, and she didn’t even remember you leaving. I told her that I was her other daughter, Betty, and she didn’t even remember who I was. She didn’t know that she had another daughter. So yeah, she doesn’t care about me because she’s too high to remember I’m alive,” she said, sarcastically.
I shook my head.
“I'm so sor-” I got out before she cut me off.
“I already told you I don’t wanna hear it. See you in another ten years,” she said as she hung up.
That hurt so much more than it should have.
I know that she was in a lot of pain, and that hurt me too.
That part about our mom calling her Rebekah hurt so much. That must have made her feel awful.
I have been so bad to her, and I feel terrible about it. When my grandpa sent me off to boarding school in St. Louis, I was so happy to finally get out of tere. But now, I wish I’d never left.
I missed her so much. All I wanted to do was mend the broken relationship I had with my sister.
I felt terrible doing it, but I texted Bill asking him to come home. He immediately texted me back, telling me that he would leave now.
I sat there in silence on the couch for 15 minutes until he opened the front door. He quickly threw his shoes off and set down his briefcase. He rushed over to me and put his hands on mine as he sat down.
“Babe, what’s wrong? What can I do?” Bill asked.
I threw myself onto him and just laid on him for a few minutes, letting his presence and warmth comfort me.
After a while, I built up the courage to tell him.
“I have a sister,” I told him.
He looked down at me with shock lighting up his face.
“What? Since when? Why haven’t I known?” he asked me.
“Well, since seventeen years ago. She’s seventeen, probably almost eighteen by now, and yeah. I never told you because you know how bad it was for me growing up, but she had it so much worse. I didn’t want you to hate me if I told you that I left her to live by herself when she was seven, “ I said.
“Oh my god. Is she okay?” Bill said.
I sighed. “Well, she’s alive if that’s what you meant. But no, she's not ok, she’s in an awful mental spot and going through a lot of shit right now. I talked to her today for the first time in ten years. I found her on Instagram, I sent her a DM, and we talked on video call for a minute,” I told him.
He sighed.
“She’s gorgeous,” I replied.
“Does she look like you?” my fiance asked.
I nodded.
I opened my phone and opened Instagram, typing ‘thatgirlbetty_13’ into the search bar, her account popping up.
I went to her latest post, which was a gallery of pictures of her, four other girls, and a boy.
That boy is probably James.
I showed Bill the pictures, while I studied all of the girls in her pictures. When I got to a picture of just my sister and James, I felt a pang of pain in my heart for her. They looked so happy and comfortable with each other.
“That’s James,” I whispered.
Bill nodded.
“Is that her boyfriend?” he asked.
“Ex boyfriend,” I said. “He cheated. She found out today. She’s heartbroken. It sounds like this guy was a real jackass though.”
“That’s terrible,” he said.
I nodded.
“You’re right. She’s beautiful,” he replied.
I gave out a heavy sigh.
“Yeah, she does,” I said, a single tear escaping from my eye.
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