11 A sister's promise

Kristen Sanders knocked silently on Rhea's door to avoid waking their mother. But there was still no answer from the other side. She wondered if Rhea was taking a shower.

On second thoughts, she became worried about what Rhea might attempt to do to herself after the trauma that happened to her tonight.

That's because she knew Rhea might try something to put a stop to the pain she was experiencing.

These frightening thoughts triggered Kristine to bang on Rhea's door, regardless of their Mom finding out.

Her panics were evident in her actions.

Her mother's worries weren't Kristine's concern now compared to the worse thoughts of what Rhea might do to herself behind closed doors.

At the moment, all Kristine thought about was Rhea, but she wasn't opening the door no matter how hard she banged on it.

Luckily, Kristine remembered an extra key, their Mom made for them, due to Rhea's formal habit to lock herself up in her room anytime she was upset.

Rhea used to normally preferred solitude instead of throwing a temper anytime she gets upset, hence, she stay locked up in her room an entire day until she was calmed.

But when an incident in the past made Rhea lock herself up for three days, their mom got worried and had an extra key made, since Rhea didn't open the door until they had to break it, only to see her passed out on the floor.

Nonetheless, Kristine proceeded towards the key hanger by the main door to get the extra keys and she nervously opened the door.

The first thing she did after she entered was to head directly into the bathroom to check up on Rhea.

There, she found Rhea in her filled-up bathtub motionless.

Amidst tears, Kristine hoped she was not too late, as she approached the bathtub thinking Rhea drowned herself.

She first poked at Rhea's feet then move to lift her head out of the water, hoping to find her pretending and only fooling around.

But no! It was too late. Her Sister wasn't breathing!

Kristine patted Rhea's cheeks harder and shook her continuously to wake her up and bring her to consciousness.

When all her attempts failed to produce any effective results, her panic increased and she stood up to reach her phone to call 911, and inform their mother.

However, before she could move to exit the bathroom door, she heard Rhea's violent coughs, forcefully gasping from lack of air

Rhea was near suffocation but appeared alright when she opened her eyes to meet Kristine's frightened gaze. Rhea stretched her hand to Kristine, reaching out to be held.

"Rhea!...what did you just do to yourself?" Kristine landed a harsh slap on Rhea's cheeks the moment she close the distance between them.

For the first time, she had to hit her sister to get her back into her senses, and Rhea turned to stare at Kristine almost in tears.

Rhea's actions had frightened the life out of Kristine with her attempt to almost drown herself to death.

"Do you want to die? To leave me and Mom and Dad all alone?" Kristine hugged Rhea in consolation.

"Yes! Kris... I want to end it all. I am tired of getting betrayed over and over. Why was it always me who has to bear this brutality from men?" Rhea's harsh sobs pierced Kristine's heart and she swore.

She wondered what Jason could have done this time around to get Rhea this broken, even after she had already endured every hell they went through in Jason's hands in the past, after countless therapy sessions to help Rhea to pull through it.

And now, he dares to cause another havoc? To the point of Rhea attempting to end her life?

What in the world did he do again? And he even manage to crush Rhea's hopes, just a few hours after she left for their camping trip.

Does that mean all the efforts and hard work she had invested in Rhea in these three years to get her life back on track, was suddenly slipping out of her hands?

She was now done!

She just can't take these torments Jason keeps subjecting to Rhea anymore.

Why does he continue to put Rhea through these terrifying ordeals? What should she do to put an end to this for good?

Kristine's rage was building up, as her mind gathered on various revenge plots she would enjoy putting Jason through this instant.

Jason has to pay for this somehow, hopefully, but surely!

For now, she needed to find out what he had done to Rhea this time around.

"Tell me! Rhea...what really happened to you?" Kristine uttered in comfort.

"Please Kris...don't ask me. I just want to forget everything and end it all once and for all." Rhea replied through her sobs.

Kristine couldn't help her tears from her sister's broken comments, she found it hard to believe she nearly lost Rhea...again!

In the past, when Jason's atrocities happened to Rhea for the first time three years ago in the drug overdose case, using the right channel was Kristine's only option to bring down her sister's culprit to justice.

However, it seemed the right way doesn't always give you what you hope for.

Therefore, one has to result to taking the law into his own hands to get what is termed true justice.

People say it's called revenge when a person decides to take retribution against their offenders, but to Kristine, it's what she would call Justice from now on.

Moreover, she wouldn't settle for anything less than that, especially when it happened to her sister, the second time, by the same culprit, after her life was finally back on track.

Jason had finally found a way to ruin the little hope in life her sister was now holding unto, after three years in hell to forget her past.

As if suddenly coming to her senses about all the rubbish she uttered a while ago about dying, Rhea broke free from her sister's embrace to apologize to her.

"I am so sorry Kris...I didn't mean to. I didn't know what came over me. Please don't say anything about this to Mom! It will never happen again.....I promise!." Rhea pleaded as she held tightly unto her sister's hand in regret.

"That's okay...Stop crying and tell me what exactly happened at Camp. Was it Jason? what did he do?" Kristine simply wanted to hear how it all happened.

She held tightly to Rhea's shoulders in a soothing manner, but the tears in Rhea's eyes and her sobs made it harder for her to talk, regardless Kristine refused to give in and insistently questioned.

"Tell me! and I promise...He is going to pay double the price for what he did!." Kristine encouraged.

However, what Kristine just said frightened Rhea into silence. She simply didn't want Kristine to go through that trouble.

Jason was a heartless cruel soul!

It's like she never knew him before...He has no boundary to his cruelty, and he even involved Sam in his obsession...

It was still a shock to Rhea, so awful she just wanted to forget everything.

Rhea's body began to shudder from Jason's threats to never tell a soul even her sister, or else, he promised to do worse to Kristine if she got involved in his business once more.

Kristine, on the other hand, hugged Rhea tightly and comforted her until she was finally calmed enough to talk.

Rhea's tiny voice after her calmness echoed in the bathroom.

"What hurts me the most was Sam's involvement...I can't believe he was part of it. He knew about their schemes all along. I thought he loved me, and that was why I agreed to go out with him. But it turned out, he was a part of all Jason's plot from the start. He is a scheming bastard too!"

Rhea wiped her tears with her hands, then held her sister's shoulders firmly.

"You were right all along Kris...Jason had some influential big-shot behind him who always covered his crimes the entire time...I listened to one of his phone calls to his boss and confirmed it."

Rhea found a little strength from her sister's comfort to report this to her.

She extended to take Kristine's hand into hers and made her promise to never trust any Man.

Rhea advised her sister to continue her hatred and spite against Men entirely, like Kristine was currently doing till date, after her cruel betrayal from her ex-boyfriend...Caleb Donnells.

After Rhea's never-ending warnings to her sister, she became determined to make sure her sister never falls prey or end up in her shoes. She won't allow Kristine to ever go through what she encountered tonight.

In the hands of her ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend.

They came together and plotted to destroy her. She would never forget their betrayal or forgive them, ever!

Meanwhile, she has to protect Kristine from getting involved with them, even if it's to the extent of hiding what happened at Camp from her.

Her sister was all she had now, she didn't want to lose her in these meaningless battles with a cold-blooded jerk like Jason.

"Never consider dating! or give another guy a chance to make a fool out of you, or degrade your worth... like what Caleb did! Promise me, Kristine, please!" Rhea insistently pleaded.

"Okay...I promise! But tell me what exactly happened." Yet, Kristine wasn't willing to keep herself from knowing.

Kristine's insistence to know made Rhea worried and hesitant.

So instead, Rhea decided to scheme her way out of telling Kristine about what Jason did this time around.

She had to lie to Kristine to stall her, therefore, she convinced Kristine to wait until she would no longer feel any agony or pain from talking about it.

Rhea even pleaded with Kristine to understand her and not ask her about anything anymore.

"Of course...Who else would understand you if not your sister? I won't ask until you are ready to tell me. But..... I won't promise not to pay them back for putting you in this condition." Kristine threatened, very determined.

"Pl..ease... don't! " Rhea stammered! She needed to talk her sister out of her objective to seek revenge too, but she didn't know how to go about it.

Especially when Kristine suddenly reminded her of her stupid decision to end her life a while ago.

Rhea just realized she was so stupid to even think of it, but she wasn't in her right state of mind then.

"What do you mean by...Don't! I won't listen to you on this. I nearly lost you...remember? What do you expect from me as your sister." Kristine scolded.

Rhea had no option but to stall her sister in her aim to avenge her demise, so she had to pretend to agree with Kristine, and later find a way to talk her out of it.

"Okay Kris...But promise me we will both do this together when I am finally over all this". Rhea urged.

To calm Rhea's worries, Kristine also agreed to wait. But at the back of her mind, she had other plans.

She helped Rhea out of the bathtub and dressed her wounds to prepare her for bed.

The water from the bathtub had long gone cold from all their talks.

Kristine rushed to get the First aid kit and helped her sister sterilize the bruises. She plastered bandages on all her wounds and tucked her sister into bed.

She covered Rhea warmly with a blanket, then kissed her forehead before she got ready to leave her to rest.

"Promise me, you will never attempt what you did a while ago, or else I won't take it lightly next time." Kristine's final threat before leaving was to convince Rhea to never attempt her suicide mistake again.

"Suicide isn't the best way out. Instead of dealing with the enemy together, we will end up ruining ourselves instead. Is that what you want?" Kristine emphasized convincingly.

"I will never attempt it again. I was a fool to even think it. Men are not worth it...they can't cost me my life. I know that now!" This was Rhea's reply to soothe her sister's worries.

"Good! I am very happy to hear that!" Kristine hugged Rhea affectionately and then added.

"That's more like my sister talking!

They both smiled and held each other for a long time before they whispered their goodnights, and Kristine finally left Rhea's room looking very relieved about the outcome.

Meanwhile, Kristine was also relieved that their Mother didn't hear all their commotions and panics, or else she would have been so worried too.

"Thank God!" She whispered as she entered her room to prepare for bed.

A few steps behind the wall was Mrs. Rachel Sanders, the girl's mother... hiding behind a wall.

Rachel couldn't stop the tears flowing from her eyes. She heard everything outside Rhea's door, about all her daughters' conversations, and what happened to one of her daughters.

After returning to her room a while ago, Rachel doubted the excuse Kristine made about the crying she heard. She knew it wasn't the television like Kristine would have her believe.

The cries sounded familiar and they kept nagging her about something not right, so she couldn't go back to sleep until she heard loud noises from Kristine's panicked cries and door bangs.

She was preparing to come outside and find out when she saw Kristine take the extra keys and opened Rhea's door.

Then later, she heard Rhea's harsh coughs when she neared Rhea's bathroom door.

Kristine left the door open in her haste to get to her sister. So Rachel entered and stood outside the bathroom door.

She never wanted her daughters to know of her presence until there was a need to.

Nonetheless, she ended up eavesdropping on their entire conversation behind the door, and she quickly exited the room when Kristine stood up to get the first aid kit.

Her tears wouldn't stop flowing even though she felt proud of her daughters, of how they pulled through it together.

She was always proud of having raised her daughter Rhea with Kristine.

Kristine had become a solid pillar for Rhea to lean on...A brave independent girl. Soo much like her Father!

"Oh, Steven...Our girls are all grown up now!

Rachel Sanders smiled amidst tears and made her way silently toward her room, to prevent any of her daughters from hearing her.

She knew she has to investigate this incident and get to the roots of what happened to Rhea.

Her suspicion, for now, was that, that woman...Clara Johnson, definitely had a hand in whatever happened to her daughter.

Rachel finally calmed her thoughts and drifted to sleep! Tomorrow would be another long day.