For the next two weeks,Nathan took me for morning chemo sessions
In the afternoons
,he said we’d pick a burial plot.

Seeing the six-figure prices,I stared at my $100 and felt deflated.
Nathan read my mind and patted my head.
“Like it?”
I nodded eagerly.“Can we?”
He teased,“Call me brother, and I’ll buy it for you.”
I blinked,standing on tiptoes and tugging his sleeve

,voice sweet.“Brother,please buy it?”
He turned away,ears red,coughing.“Swipe…swipe the card!”
I laughed,clutching my stomach.
Nathan’s adorable.

Back home,Mom kept showing up,leaving cookies I loved as a kid.
She’d watch me,red-eyed,leaving them at the door.
I never ate them and gave them to neighborhood kids.
Michael locked himself in the hospital,studying my reports.
Ethan bought dozens of gifts to make up for missed birthdays.
I threw them all in the trash.
“I don’t want them!Too late!”
Ethan trembled,scared to upset me.“I was wrong,Emily.I was blind to your pain.Hit me,anything,just let me stay and care for you.It’s dangerous out here.”
I wiped my cold hands.
“Fine.Pick them up,and I’ll forgive you.”
I tossed a priceless necklace into the sewer.
I walked away.
That night,rain poured.
From my window,I saw Ethan,soaked, kneeling, and digging for the necklace.
He never found it.
Months later,Nathan and I moved.
Life grew quiet.
But the Harpers went mad searching for me.
“Your eldest brother,the doctor,became obsessed with your case
,got sick,and was diagnosed with a rare disease.He may never hold a scalpel again.
Your second brother tracked down your school bullies,got evidence,and sent them to prison.
Your younger brother,learning what Grace did to you,locked her in the basement.No one knows if she’s alive.
Your parents are scouring for your whereabouts…”