You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 129

RALI

'Happy anniversary!'

The words rang like gunshots in my skull, so loud I dragged my nails against my scalp as if I could scrape them out.

"How much further?" My voice broke as I glanced at Void, my tears glassing the view of his knuckles strangling the steering wheel.

He didn't look at me, didn't even blink in my direction, but I felt the tension rolling off him.

'You two have been an amazing couple. Everyday, I look at you and pray to God I get to experience your kind of romance.'

The cheers and applauds. The jokes and laughs God, they wouldn't stop replaying.

"Can this car move any faster, please!?" My voice split between a sob and a snarl.

Three long seconds later came his ice-edged answer, "We're almost there, Rali."

Fuck. I buried my face in my palms, my tears soaking through the cracks in my fingers.

'My husband has been the best one so far. So, you all should pray for a man like him!' Her teasing laughter. A louder one from the guests.

'I love you, babe.' Dad's voice was proud and tender. 'Meeting you in that library has been the best detour my legs ever made.'

And Mum had giggled to the crowd. 'You see? That is why it pays to be intelligent!' more laughter. So much laughter.

Then the words that gutted me now: 'I love you, Tasmin. And I can't wait to continue life with you.'

Void finally pulled up in front of Oasis Health Retreat. I didn't wait for the car to settle. I bolted out, leaving both men behind.

The moment I entered, the building clawed at me. My chest cinched so hard it felt like my ribs were being cranked shut.

The lobby looked like a warzone in scrubs. Patients flooded every seat, their pain painting the walls in moans and sobs. Stretcher after stretcher wheeled past, bloodied gauze and trembling hands dangling off their sides. Nurses barked orders over the cacophony, doctors rushed with clipboards, someone screamed down the corridor, and in the middle of it all was the stench—antiseptic and blood, disinfectant and death. It seeped into my clothes, my lungs, my bones.

I stumbled to the front desk, swallowed by the crowd of frantic voices who were as desperate as mine.

"M—Mrs. Hayes. T—Tasmin Hayes." My voice shook, strangled as it pushed past my throat.

The receptionist who didn't even look at me, her fingers hammering a keyboard.

It wasn't her fault, there were too many people for her to answer to. But at that moment, logic was far from me.

I was ready to repeat my question—louder this time—when I heard my name.

"Rali."

I spun around and practically hurled myself at Veronica.

"H—How's she? Where's she?"

Void and dad finally caught up.

Veronica sobbed out the explanation: "She's in the theater. They rushed her in for an emergency surgery to try to get the remaining debris out."

My stomach pitched. "B—But it can be gotten out right? And she'll be fine?"

"I don't know, Rali. She was under it for too long. B—Before help could come she was—"

"She'll be fine! That's why they took her in. If she wasn't going to make it, they wouldn't be operating." My voice shook so hard it barely counted as voice.

Fuck I was shaking too bad.

"I feel so terrible," Veronica said between sobs. "I went to the other plaza for a dress. I told her I'd be quick. I was on my way back when it—when it happened. I shouldn't have left her."

That didn't make sense. If she'd stayed, she'd be in a hospital bed too.

Dad stood a few feet away, forehead braced to the wall, fists pressed beside it.

I had no idea I was crying so terribly until my knees dipped.

A hand came around my shoulder, cold and familiar. I closed my eyes and tried to relax. It wasn't working.

So, I prayed to the god of repetition. "Mum will be fine. I know she will. She—She just left home this morning. She'll be fine." I said it until the words frayed and the meaning bled out.

......

"I'm not thirsty." My voice rasped like I'd been drinking dust. I didn't look at the coffee cup hovering in my face.

"You need it, Rali."

"Void, please. You'd keep that from me if you don't want me throwing up on this floor."

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