2: 2
2
The next morning, I woke to Brian shaking me. He was already in his delivery uniform.
His face was pure panic.
【Edna's brought in some old herbalist doctor. He's downstairs right now!】
【Sis, what do we do?】
He'd barely finished when Edna started knocking at the door.
Brian spun in a circle, wringing his hands, and blurted out the worst idea he could think of:
【When he checks your pulse, pretend to faint!】
【I'll carry you out on my back, grab a fake chart on the way, and we'll stall for now!】
I reached up and clapped a hand over his mouth, too lazy to even open my eyes.
Compared to the concrete floor that used to dig into my bones, the mattress under me was soft as a cloud. I could have happily died in that bed.
So the whole time he'd been chattering, not one word had gone in.
Then the smell of food drifted through the air, and I shot straight up.
It took me exactly three seconds to get downstairs and lock onto the table.
Edna trailed after me, her voice soft and wounded.
【Sis, I stayed up all night to bring in a famous doctor for you. He'll figure out exactly what's wrong and treat it properly.】
I ignored her, grabbed a glass, and gulped down a big mouthful of milk.
It really had been too long.
Long enough that I'd forgotten milk even tasted like this.
【Sis…】
She wanted to keep the act going. I raised a hand and cut her off.
I picked up the other glass of milk on the table, tipped my head toward the second floor, and called up:
【Brian, you're heading to work, right? Mind if I finish this one for you?】
Brian gave an awkward nod, then just sat down and started peeling breakfast sandwiches for me.
He peeled one, I ate one. We had it down to a rhythm.
Edna was probably used to being the center of attention. She couldn't stand being ignored.
She turned and threw herself at Thaddeus, tears welling up on cue.
【Thaddeus, does Sis hate me? She won't even see the doctor I brought.】
【Could it be that… Sis isn't sick at all?】
I'd just swallowed five of them in one go, and I answered around the mouthful I was still chewing: 【That's right.】
The air froze on the spot.
The whole family turned to look at me at once, every stare weighing me.
After a moment, my own brother Thaddeus spoke first, his voice a few shades lower than yesterday.
【What's that supposed to mean? You don't like Edie, or you're not sick at all?】
I let out a slow, satisfied belch, wiped the corner of my mouth with a napkin, and admitted it without a flicker.
【Both, obviously. I don't like Edna, and I'm not sick.】
The sixth breakfast sandwich Brian had just finished peeling snapped in his hand.
He turned to stone right there, eyes firing signals at me like mad.
As if to say, Sis, how could you just come out and admit it like that?
Exactly as I expected, the Masons blew up on the spot.
Thaddeus was the first to start sneering at me.
【I'd almost forgotten. Lying was always this sister of mine's specialty.】
【How else do you think she survived over there.】
Dad, silent and closed off as ever, was even angrier. He smashed a cup and shouted at me to get out of the house.
Edna tucked herself smugly into Mom's arms, waiting to enjoy the show of me getting thrown out.
But I wiped my mouth and asked just two questions, and they sucked in a cold breath.
【I'm not sick. Are you disappointed?】
【Or is it that seeing me come home alive terrifies you?】
