I Died While They Saved Her
My little sister Celine was six years old when hunters caught her.
They kept her in a silver cage for three days. By the time our parents found her, the damage was done. She came home with seizures and PTSD. The healer said any loud noise, strong smell, or sudden stress could trigger an episode and put her life at risk.
So my entire life was rearranged around her silence.
I learned to walk quietly, speak quietly, cry quietly, so that nothing about me would ever reach her.
Whenever I broke down from the exhaustion of it, my parents would hold my face in their hands and say the same thing.
"You're the strong one, Iris. This family needs you to be strong. Can you keep this to yourself, just unt