Page 17 of Borrowed
My twin sister didn’t make any expression, but tears slipped from her eyes, and it broke me.
“I’d rather burn for you,” I whispered.“Then let them lay a single finger on you.They can’t love.But I can.And I promise no matter what, I always will.”
And I meant it.
Even as my skin crawled.
Even as the scent of our Mother still clung to me like perfume and guilt.
I will always love my twin sister.
We were all each other would ever have.
The knock was soft, but it still made me flinch.
“Rise and shine,” the voice said, chipper like sunshine through a wire screen.“Cafeteria time.Let’s go.”
I didn’t move.I was still curled against Mila’s side, her skin cooler now, stiff in places where softness used to be.Her hair smelled like vanilla and antiseptic.
Toby stood by the door.He didn’t open it.Just watched.
The handle clicked.
The nurse’s white sneaker appeared first, then her hand around the edge of the door.Her smile was already in place.
Bright.
Fake.
Routine.
“Come on, Now.Breakfast isn’t gonna wait forever?—”
She stopped.
Dead silence.
I blinked up at her, my fingers tangled in Mila’s hair.
“She’s not hungry,” I said calmly.“She likes cats.”
The nurse stared.Her eyes jumped from me to the bed at the way Mila’s eyes stared at the buzzing lamp.Her clipboard slipped from her hand and hit the linoleum with a plastic crack.
Then came the gasp.
Sharp.
Wet.
And the next sound, my name, wasn’t chipper anymore.
“T—Tabitha…what did you…what happened?”
I frowned.“Nothing happened.”
She was already at the call button, pressing it as if the world was on fire.
Voices crackled in the hallway.
