Chapter 2 Stubborn Mule

"Leave." I turned back to my house. "My sister's gone."

Charles strode into my yard and grabbed my wrist with enough force to make me wince. "I'll ask you again. Where is she?"

"Let go."

"I'm not leaving until you answer me!"

I stared at Charles' hand. That was the same hand that tenderly wrapped itself around my sister when she and Charles took their wedding photo. That was the same hand that throttled my sister while pinning her against the wall.

My sister had told me how it felt. She told me those hands nearly strangled the life out of her. "I saw black spots on the ceiling when he did that."

"Let. Go," I enunciated, barely reining in my temper.

Rachel was behind him, tugging at his sleeve. "Don't do this. She's just a kid. Maybe we should go inside and talk it out."

Charles finally loosened his grip, but he inhaled deeply in an attempt to keep his rage under control.

"My sister is dead," I repeated.

Something in his expression cracked, but not with sadness. It was with rage.

"Rachel nearly died because your sister ran away, Helen!" He lowered his voice to a hiss. "I've forgiven her the last time she ran, and now she's doing it again. Now she's even teaching you how to lie.

"Does she think I'll care about her just because you lied to me? That I'd go back to her?" He stepped forth and looked at me with overflowing arrogance.

"Tell her to kill her dreams. She's nothing compared to Rachel. I'd never have married her if her blood and marrow weren't a match for Rachel."

I met his eyes. My sister told me that this man used to love her. In the first year of their marriage, he would dry her hair and keep vigil throughout the night when she was sick. He would drive her all the way to the other side of the city just for a snack she wanted.

Everything changed when Rachel came back.

She would bring up how my sister went out with another guy for a meal, seemingly innocent. She would inadvertently expose her chat history with Charles for my sister to see.

She would understandingly tell Charles that my sister was perhaps feeling lonely in his absence.

Things would've been fine if it were just once, but she struck at the same spot again and again, day after day. Sure enough, he snapped.

Suspicion crept its way into Charles' heart, seeped into his mind, and took root in his soul. It grew into doubt and resentment.

All the love he had for my sister turned into hatred intense enough to take her kidney for another woman.

"I'm not lying," I said flatly.

Charles sneered and turned to Rachel. "Get back in the car, Rachel. I'll talk to her."

Rachel nodded obediently.

When she passed by me, she stopped for a moment and huddled closer. Then, she whispered in a voice so quiet that only I could hear, "I pity your sister. She'd rather hide than actually kill herself."

My nails dug into my palms hard enough to nearly draw blood, but I ground my jaw and said nothing.