I furrowed my brow. Alise was up to something. “Good—I’m remembering little bits more and more every day.”
She nodded, even though it was obvious that the news made her uneasy. “Oh, good.”
I snorted. “Did you poison us, Alise? You’re being weird.”
She shook her head violently.
Dad looked at her suspiciously. “Alise, I agree you’re acting very odd. This is the moment to confess if you know anything about this, even if it was a joke.”
She started to cry. “I never did this to you, Aimes.”
I was taken aback; she barely cried when our mom had died, and there she was sobbing.
Our dad grabbed her by the arms, not moved by her display. He'd seen it before. He looked deeply into her eyes, examining her. Then he nodded. He pulled her into him and stroked her head. I looked around, wondering if anyone noticed the circus I called family.
“You just don’t take things seriously, Alise. You do things so recklessly.” Dad soothed her as she cried into his shoulder.
If I was being honest with myself, it wasn’t a stretch for me to believe that my sister had drugged me. It would have been done innocently, to be funny.
Her face poked out of our Dad's armpit where she whispered, “I kissed Blake.”
My stomach lurched forward, threatening to escape my mouth. I felt a small crack in my heart as I processed the words. My sister had tainted the one guy I had always thought of as mine. Even if he wasn’t my boyfriend, he was mine. He was my best friend, my rock in it all. He was there when all of the extra-crappy things that seemed to seek me out ruined my life.
I screamed, "MINE! BLAKE IS MINE!"
Still hiding in our dad's armpit, she cried harder. “I was drunk and I never thought about what I was doing until it was too late. I’m so sorry.”
I closed my eyes. I was desperate to push the pain down.
She had let go of our dad and knelt at my bedside. Dad looked uncomfortable. But at least Alise’s guilty behavior made sense, as did Blake not being at my bedside. I felt sick for myself and Shane, who was no doubt heartbroken.
After a momentary struggle, I felt my natural instinct kick in and the bad feelings were pushed down. It was like swallowing acid.
I felt a bitterness fill me. “Well, you have everything else, Alise. You have looks, friends, and everyone loves you. Every boy in school is in love with you, or her.” I pointed at the sleeping Giselle. “So, I guess, why not take the one boy I thought I had.”
Dad sighed, disappointed. “I will leave you to apologize to your sister properly. Aimes, I love you kiddo, and I’m really glad you’re going to be coming home tomorrow. We will bring you something tonight to eat later. Try not to worry about boys, Aimee; your health is what's important right now.” He kissed my forehead and left the room.
My sister’s eyes shimmered with the tears.
She grabbed my hand desperately. “I am sorry. I have never been this sorry in my whole life. It just happened, and it will never happen again. I didn’t know he had been in love with me all these years.” The words came spilling out before she could dam up her mouth. I watched the regret cover her face.
"He said that?" My heart was breaking. No wonder he was always at my house. No wonder he was always making excuses to be around us. I had thought it was me. The foolishness and pain was bubbling around inside of me.
"I'm so sorry. I won't ever see him again. It was a mistake."
I pulled my hand away from my sister and nodded. “It’s not your fault. You can’t even help yourself. You ooze sex and punishment, which is something boys seem to want. I don’t care what you do.”
Alise nodded along, not comprehending what I said. Then something happened, something I never expected.
Alise snapped and lost it. "I'm, like, so jealous of you. You’re so smart, you’re still a virgin, and you are funny in a way only... like, smart people get.”
“Witty, and I don’t think the entire hospital needs to know I'm a virgin.”
“Whatever, you know what I mean. Aimee, you are the kind of girl that every MAN dreams of, and I am the kind of girl that every boy dreams of. This is my time to shine and it's going to be nothing compared to yours when you finally stop being, well, what you are.”
It was the kindest and most loving thing my sister had ever said to me. I knew she was trying to be nice.
I should have responded back lovingly and we could have had a moment, but I was still too angry. I couldn’t help myself; I was so furious, defeated, and embarrassed. “You have Shane. How could you do this to him, Alise? You've already cheated on him with every popular guy.”
She waved her hand. “I only dated him because it seemed like the right move, like we should be together. I honestly don’t think he even likes me. He doesn’t even kiss me. It's been like nine months and nothing. I get it though. His parents have a lot going on, but come on—nine months and no sex. We hold hands like we're ten-years-old.”
I blocked out her ramblings. I felt tears escape my eyes. I was trying so hard to rein them in, but they were rebelling and streaming down my cheeks.
“I love you, Aimee, and when I find out who did this to you, I will make them pay.” Her stare became malicious and sinister and she sounded like Batman. It was a weird moment for me.
As quickly as it had all started, it was over. Alise stood up and left my room, waving goodbye to me. I understood her less, it seemed, than I had thought. Oddly enough, I felt better from the weird moment. She truly did have a magic about her; being angry with her was near impossible.
I didn’t know what to do about Blake. I felt betrayed, but for some reason, it felt like I knew this would happen.
I looked at Giselle, who smiled from her fake sleep. “Okay, that was, like, weird."
"I know, right? What was the whole 'I will make them pay.' Who does she think she is? What will she do? Whack them with a stiletto?"
Giselle laughed. "She is so crazy sometimes."
I laughed, feeling the same about it all. I felt like a truck had hit me. “I’m sorry for the nuttiness. My family has been a little freak show lately. I really didn’t see that coming, though.”
“Yeah, dude, your sister has never cried in front of me, except at, like, your mom’s funeral. She didn’t even cry as many tears as she should have then. So, you like that Blake kid?” She switched channels on me too quickly.
I nodded my head slowly. “Yeah, I did, and she knew it. I thought I did. It just seemed like the way things would go, a natural progression, I guess. We make sense to be together. We're both smart and easy going but passionate about things we believe in. I’m a vegetarian and he doesn’t eat red meat. Sort of like her and Shane, I guess.”
She laughed. “That is the dumbest thing I've heard a smart person say. You can’t make a relationship out of math and science, you weirdo. Aimee, it’s safe to say that you’ve never been in love. Dude, your sister is right; you will have an amazing love when you find it. You’ve held out for so long, that when it happens, it’s going to rock your world.” I laughed more at Giselle than with her. Alise and Giselle treated me like a spinster, because I had yet to fall in love, at eighteen. They acted like I was thirty.
I shook my head. “I think I will probably end up the lonely old Miss Havisham, with cats and craziness.”
She frowned. “I don’t know this Havisham lady, but I doubt you will be lonely. A little makeup, some hair product, and maybe gain a little weight—girl, you wait and see.”
I didn’t have time to respond. The doctor came into our room, his eyes looked off.
“Girls, do you want your assessments alone or together?”
I looked at Giselle and shrugged. “I’m good with together. We're in the same boat.”
Giselle agreed. “Yeah, go ahead.”
He swallowed hard. “Not the same boat, unfortunately, but if you want your parents here let me know now. You're both eighteen so they don’t have to be here, unless you want them here.”
“So, Aimee, your liver appears to be on the mend. I wouldn’t recommend drinking again for a long, long time. You may not ever be able to tolerate fatty foods, drugs and alcohol ever again. But we are seeing a reduction in ALP levels and your symptoms are diminishing rapidly. We have every reason to believe, you will make a full recovery over the next few months. But very limited exercise and a lot of sleep.”
I nodded. “Okay, I’m a veggie anyway and I never do drugs or drink. So, basically, live my life the way I do anyway and avoid parties. Yeah, I’m good with that.” I could feel the clean bill of health, just around the corner.
He smiled at me. “Yes, that’s excellent that you’re already used to this because there is some permanent damage to your liver's bile ducts. You are lucky, though, that at this point, you seem to be having some regeneration.”
He cleared his throat again and shook his head, staring down at the floor. “Giselle, your body seems to have had something we almost never see. You’re going to be transported to the main Children’s in Portland. You seem to have had an allergy to the drugs you were given. This is not something we see often. Your liver is reacting, like it has cirrhosis of the liver—liver disease. We have found your ALP levels are very high and your direct bilirubin is normal, so we think it's a cirrhosis-type of reaction. Your symptoms are not decreasing at all. I am so sorry. Do you have any questions?”
Giselle looked at him and then at me and shook her head. “What? What does that all mean? I'm sick still? No, no this isn’t right. Your tests are wrong. I feel fine.” Tears sprang from her eyes and then mine.
“Giselle, it means your body needs a larger center with better care than we can provide. We are heli-transporting you within the hour to Children’s, because we want those tests to be wrong. I have left messages at your home, but no one has returned the calls. Are your parents away? We haven’t been able to reach anyone for you. Your friends handed in your medical information from your purse when they checked you in, but no one is answering the numbers we have on record.” His voice was soft. The news was so bleak it bothered the heartless doctor.