Chapter 4

Pain drove through my chest and breathing got hard.

I wiped the tears off my face anyway.

I looked at Jocelyn.

"I'm going to die soon regardless. You can have all of them. I don't want any of it."

Then I turned and limped away.

Behind me, Marcus asked Nathaniel urgently, "What does she mean, she's going to die?"

Jocelyn answered through tears. "Rosalie told me a few days ago that she was getting better. Maybe... maybe she only said it to make everyone feel guilty."

I didn't explain. I took a rideshare out to Sunmeadow Memorial Park and picked out a plot as far from the Whitcomb family ground as I could get.

It was full dark by the time I got back to the house.

Everyone was in the living room. Theo was there too.

A thick stack of medical reports sat on the coffee table.

I ignored all of it, went into the small bedroom they'd given me, put my bank card and what few valuables I had into a bag, and came back out.

Marcus caught my arm and dragged me in front of the others.

"So now you're faking medical records," he shouted.

Theo spoke up, desperate. "They're real. She really doesn't have any time left."

"That's garbage. I haven't looked at her chart in a year, but she's been on expensive specialty medication the whole time. Her numbers can't have dropped that far. You've got some nerve, helping her forge this."

Nathaniel came up out of his chair swinging at Theo. I stepped between them, and his fist caught me in the face.

Blood came out of my mouth, and two teeth with it.

Theo caught me and started to say something, but I got hold of his sleeve.

My eyes went to Jocelyn, curled up against my mother.

"The treatment fund my family sends hasn't covered my medication in months. Jocelyn would know that."

Panic went through her eyes.

Before she could get a word out, Miles stood and put himself in front of her.

"That's enough. Your family asked Jocelyn to handle the bills. Don't stand there and accuse her of stealing the thirty thousand dollars they send every month. She'd never do that."

Nathaniel backed him up. "Jealousy's rotted your judgment. You lie about everything now."

Jocelyn got to her feet between Miles and Nathaniel and took both their hands, crying. "Please stop fighting. Rosalie hates me, so I'll go. Don't say anything else to her. She's sick. She can't handle this."

She covered her face and ran for the door.

This time I stopped her.

"I'm the one who should go."

I said it without any expression at all, and then I limped out of the room with Theo holding me up.

The second I got into his car, the blood started again and wouldn't stop.

Streetlights streamed past the window while my mind went dim.

I knew I wasn't going to make it.

In the emergency department, Theo called Nathaniel.

Nathaniel picked up only to shout, "Enough with the act. Don't bother coming in tomorrow."

With nothing else to try, Theo started a video call.

The blood across the resuscitation bay finally silenced everyone on the other end.

Then several sharp voices cut through the phone.

"How much longer are you going to keep this up?"

Listening to them shout, I closed my eyes.

Fine.

Let it end like this. Nobody in this world needed me.

What difference did it make whether Rosalie Whitcomb existed at all?