What She Heard

 

I do not know how long I lie there. Minutes. Maybe longer. The pain is a dull roar, a constant hum that makes it hard to think. Eventually, I push myself up onto my hands and knees. Every movement sends fresh agony through my ribs. My lip is still bleeding. I taste salt and copper.

I crawl to the door. I reach up, fumbling for the handle. It takes three tries, but I get it open and drag myself inside.

The apartment is dark. Quiet. I close the door behind me and lean against it, breathing through the pain. I need to clean myself up. I need to think. I need to figure out what to do.

"Riri?"

The voice is small. Scared. It comes from the corner of the room, from the shadows near the mattress.

My heart stops.

Emery is awake.

She is sitting on her mattress, her knees pulled up to her chest, her dark eyes wide and wet. She has been crying. She has been crying for a while.

"Riri, what happened?" Her voice trembles. "There were men at the door again. I heard them talking. They were saying mean things. They said—" She chokes on a sob. "They said they were going to take me away. They said they were going to sell me. Is that true? Are they going to sell me?"

She heard. She heard everything.

The weight of it crashes down on me, heavier than the blows, heavier than anything. My little sister, my tiny bundle of joy, the only reason I am still alive—she heard those men threaten her. She heard them beat me. She heard them talk about auctioning her like she was cattle.

I crawl across the floor to her. My body screams in protest, but I do not care. I reach her mattress and pull her into my arms, and she buries her face in my chest and sobs.

"Hey," I whisper, stroking her hair. "Hey, it's okay. It's going to be okay."

"Is it?" She looks up at me, her eyes searching my face. "You're bleeding, Riri. You're hurt."

"It's nothing. Just a scratch."

"Liar." Her voice breaks on the word. "You always say that. You always say it's nothing, but it's not nothing. Those men were scary. They hurt you. They said they were going to come back and take me." Her small hands clutch at my shirt. "I don't want to be taken away. I don't want to be sold. I want to stay with you."

"And you will." I hold her tighter. "I promise, Em. I will never let them take you. Never."

But even as I say it, I know the promise is hollow. I cannot protect her. I could not protect myself. I made everything worse. The debt was already impossible, and now I have added a claiming bite from a stranger and the wrath of men who view us as property. There is no way out of this. No escape. No solution.

Unless.

The thought surfaces slowly, like a body rising from deep water. At first, I push it away. I refuse to look at it. But it keeps coming, persistent and cold and strangely calm.

If we did not exist, the debt would not exist. If we were gone, the men would have nothing to collect. If we disappeared—truly, permanently disappeared—Emery would never have to grow up in a world that wants to own her. I would never have to watch her become what I have become. We would be free. We would be nothing. And nothing cannot be hurt.

I hold Emery against my chest and feel the tears sliding down my face, hot and silent. She is still crying, but softer now, exhausted. Her small body is warm against mine. She trusts me. She trusts me to keep her safe.

And I am going to. I am going to keep her safe forever.

"Em," I whisper into her hair. "Do you want to go on an adventure with me?"

She sniffles. "What kind of adventure?"

"The kind where we go somewhere far away. Somewhere peaceful. Where no one can ever bother us again." I press a kiss to her forehead. "Just you and me. No more scary men. No more debts. No more pain. What do you think?"

She is quiet for a moment. Then she nods against my chest. "Okay, Riri. If you're coming too."

"I'm coming too." I close my eyes. "I'll always be with you. Always."