Chapter 18
Trevor was listening to everything that was going on from his room. He silently exited his room with so much anger directed towards Zander. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Zander curled up in a ball in front of his sister's door, looking at his phone and a paper in his hand.
He approached him and crouched to his level, all the initial anger dissolved away. " Why did you do that?" He questioned and Zander didn't reply, instead, he showed him the note that he meant to give Scarlett. Trevor looked at him with confusion and then proceeded reading the note. His eyes nearly popped out when he was nearing the end of it.
" Why did you tell her that you didn't love her when you do?" He whispered, afraid that his sister might be able to hear him. Zander didn't reply again and just directed his phone screen to Trevor.
As soon as Trevor read the message he understood what was unfolding. A painful plan made by Zander to let his sister live. He looked at Zander with pity and made him get up." Let's go somewhere before she walks out." Trevor suggested and Zander nodded. He was broken, shattered that he said those things to Scarlett. He would have never hurt her or used love against her, but he was compelled to do it.
They walked out, not before earning angry and confused stares from Scarlett's parents. " What was going on? Why were we hearing loud voices?" Scarlett's mother asked in a constricted voice. " Mom, I'll explain later. We have to go now." Trevor covered up and left with Zander before another question would stop them.
Zander looked at Scarlett's window when they were outside and saw her back was against the window and her body was shaking. She was definitely crying. He wanted to run back to her and take back all the words he let out and tell her it was all a hoax. But he walked away from her, got into the passenger seat of his car since Trevor wanted to drive and pressed his head against the headrest.
" Will she ever forgive me if she comes to know about all of this after the surgery?" Zander asked Trevor. " I hope she will if she knows the reason you did this." " Was she the same before the accident? " He asked and Trevor applied a sudden break. Zander let out a humourless laugh " She wasn't huh?" " No," Trevor answered. "Tell me about it. I want to know. " Zander said, his eyes closed and head still tilted back. " You can't... I...No." Trevor stumbled upon his words.
" I have to know, Trevor. I feel like I'm living a lie. You need to tell me. I have to know." He looked at Trevor, but Trevor looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze. It was intimidating him.
" Fine. I'll tell you." Trevor took a deep breath and looked at Zander. He leaned forward a little, concentrating on what Trevor was about to let out.
" She... She isn't my sister. I mean like, she's my cousin. My parents took her under their wing when she was 14. I don't know what happened to her parents, they just disappeared one day and she was all alone. She was almost the same as she is now before her parents disappeared on her. But then she changed. She started locking herself up in her room once she moved in with us."
" But why does she resemble your parents?" Zander cut in. " That's because her parents and my parents are siblings. She inherited her parents' look, but my parents look similar to them as well, so we all look like siblings." Trevor explained.
" So yea, she started building a thick wall around her, not letting anyone next to her. She wanted to be alone, she never joined us for dinner, she didn't talk to my parents. In short, she didn't want anyone or anything, she was happy with herself. Then it happened when she was a little over 17. She used to go to school like a normal kid, but the only thing was that she didn't have any friends because she didn't need any.
She was one of the brightest students in the school. But that started going down. Teachers spoke with my parents about her reducing grades since they were the legal guardians. We had no idea why she was falling back. I tried to approach her but stopped when she slapped me and asked me to mind my own business. Marie was still getting used to having her around since she was the youngest.
One day I was walking back from the supermarket when I heard someone crying in one of the dark alleys. I followed the voice and was shocked to see that it was Scarlett. She was... She was lying on the floor mindlessly saying things. I ran up to her and noticed that her eyes were rolling backward often and she was mumbling incoherent things while looking at me. I didn't know what was wrong with her, but I knew that I had to get her home. I loved her like my own sister even though she wasn't very responsive.
I let her lean on me and took her home. I thought that she was drunk because of the way she was behaving. I was surprised that she was letting me help her. Once we reached home I stood outside while I was balancing her on one side and the shopping bag on the other.
Marie was the one who answered the door. As soon as Scarlett laid eyes on her, she pounced on her, holding Marie by her throat and trying to choke her. I was too shocked to act fast. Marie was screaming with fear. Mom and dad tried to pull her away, but Scarlett was holding her in a death grip. " You can't live happily with your parents when I can't! Go away from here!" She yelled and I tried my hardest to pull her away. By the time Marie was out of her grip, she had marks of Scarlett's fingers around her throat. It was bruised so badly and she was crying as she looked at Scarlett who was lying on the couch. She passed out and that was when dad told me what this was.
Since he was a lawyer, he had dealt with people who were into drugs. Scarlett was taking drugs." Trevor stopped and looked at Zander who looked shocked. " So she was a drug addict?" He asked and Trevor nodded. " I'm pushing her into an unhealthy life again. What have I done?" Zander whispered and Trevor stayed quiet. " But she must know as well." Trevor reasoned out.
Zander was feeling more pain than he did. " Do you still love her?" Trevor asked without looking at him. Zander looked at Trevor like he was being stupid. " Of course I do! Love will not change, Trevor. I love her, even more, seeing how much of pain she was in. I do feel sorry for Marie and your family. But when your family disappears on you, you're prone to something like this. I don't say that drugs were a wise decision at all. I'll bring her back to normal." Zander had a promising look in his green eyes.
" I'm happy that she has you in her life." Trevor looked at Zander with a smile. " I'm glad I found her. She is my finest treasure." He said and looked in front of them.
" Was that the only time she hurt Marie?" Zander asked suddenly. " No. It happened many times. She used to hurt only Marie. I think it was because she couldn't stand another girl having a family that she didn't." Trevor shiver, remembering everything.
" In fact, the accident was because she used drugs while she was driving. I don't remember an instance of her being sober, well, maybe just a few. The money she used was the money her parents left for her. They were pretty rich and left everything for her before vanishing in thin air."
Zander bobbed his head but his heart was breaking for the sisters. Marie was abused by her own sister, but she was hurting too. He ran his hand over his hair.
" I need to talk to Eduardo. I want him to handle the surgery himself." Zander said and Trevor nodded at him. It was a good idea that Eduardo was going to handle the surgery. " Are you going to be there when she is, you know-" " No. I don't want her to be hurt anymore before she forgets me." Zander answered. It was understandable.