My Mom Told Me to Die on My Sister’s Celebration Day Chapter 05

My Mom Told Me to Die on My Sister’s Celebration Day Chapter 05

The next morning, the sun was bright, spilling gold across the living room floor.

I drifted weightless in the air, wanting one last good look at this home before I left.

Mom was already up, her eyes shot through with red. She clearly hadn’t slept a wink.

As she packed Sienna’s backpack, she talked with Dad about taking Sienna out for the day.

Then a pencil pouch slipped out and fell.

When she bent to pick it up, several crumpled sheets of scratch paper spilled out.

I floated closer.

The pages were covered with messy calculations.

Between them were a few lines of shaky handwriting. Mine.

The words I’d forced myself to write during the exam while my body refused to cooperate.

Stop shaking. Please. Just let me finish this one problem.

Mom will cry. Dad’s so tired. Corbin and Sienna will be let down too.

I don’t want to drag them down anymore…

I want to get better. I want to go to college. I want to see them smile.

It hurts. It hurts so much.

Dried blood and tear stains marked the corner of the page.

“Garrett…” Mom’s voice broke.

She covered her mouth as tears splashed onto the paper.

“Eira never wanted to be sick. She couldn’t control it.”

Her sobs grew heavier.

“Were we… too hard on her yesterday?”

Dad dropped the cigarette he’d lit only minutes earlier.

He hurried over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

He stared at the pages for a long time. Without saying a word.

Yet somehow, he looked even older than before.

“Don’t cry, honey,” he sighed.

“What can we do? She’s our daughter.”

“I yelled at her too last night…”

He wiped away Mom’s tears with trembling fingers.

“Eira will understand.”

“We only snapped because yesterday was supposed to be Sienna’s day, and everything fell apart.”

“How about… when she wakes up, we take both girls to the mall? Get them some new clothes.”

Mom nodded through her tears.

Just then, the doorbell rang. It was Corbin.

Dark circles shadowed his eyes.

He was still wearing the same white shirt from yesterday.

In one hand, he carried a container of vanilla rice pudding from the old diner on the corner, where he’d waited in line for two hours.

“Mr. and Mrs. Vance.”

He stepped inside, changed his shoes, then pulled a document with an official stamp from his pocket.

A leave of absence request form. For one year.

“I went back to campus last night.”

“I got my advisor to sign off on it.”

He looked toward my bedroom door. His eyes were steady again.

“I thought about it all night.”

“Right now, I’m the only one who can be there for Eira.”

“I promised I’d help her get better.”

“Sienna shouldn’t have to wait her. And you two can’t keep living like this.”

“I found a place. Hollow Creek Wellness Center.”

“They have an excellent treatment program.”

“For the next year, I’m putting everything aside. I’m going to be with Eira.”

I floated above them.

Mom clutched the leave of absence request form as she cried.

The love in Corbin’s eyes hadn’t disappeared.

My tears dissolved into the air before they could fall.

Why are you still so good to me? Why?

I’m already broken. A mess that should’ve been thrown away.

Time slipped by. The clock on the wall crept toward noon.

One after another, they knocked on my bedroom door.

No answer. Just silence. The door stayed shut.

At last, Mom let out a weary sigh.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the appointment slip for Dr. Navarro.

It had been carefully taped back together. She slid it beneath my bedroom door.

A sharp pang went through me.

No wonder the light in my parents’ room had stayed on all night.

After comforting Sienna, they’d spent the rest of the night piecing that appointment slip back together.

“Eira. I’m sorry. I lost my temper yesterday.”

“Look—we fixed your appointment slip.”

“We’re not giving up on you. We’ll get you through this.”

Before she could finish, Corbin suddenly froze. Something shifted in his face.

As a medical student, something about the silence instantly felt wrong.

No matter how shut down I’d been before… whenever they talked outside my door, I’d at least shift in bed or let out a small sound.

But now… the silence behind that door was absolute. Like death itself.

“Mrs. Vance…” Corbin’s voice went tight. “Did Eira take her medication yesterday?”

Mom froze. “Yesterday… after we left, she was here alone. I—I don’t know if she did or not.”

All the color drained from Corbin’s face.

He lunged for the doorknob. Locked.

“Mr. Vance! The spare key! Hurry!”

Panic tore through his voice.

Dad rushed to the coffee table and yanked open the drawer.

His hands shook so violently he could barely hold the tiny ring of keys.

A second later, the lock clicked open.

Corbin burst in first. Mom, Dad, and Sienna were right behind him.

Sunlight streamed through a gap in the curtains, falling across my bed.

Then—the bowl of vanilla rice pudding slipped from Sienna’s hands. It shattered across the floor.

“AHHHHHH—!” Her scream ripped through the quiet afternoon.