The Sisters You Choose by Natasha Karis

Author:Natasha Karis [Karis, Natasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Diamond Roads
Published: 2023-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Texts

Abbie

‘Maureen never told me about the crash. This is the first time I heard my mother lost her family.’

Sadie’s face was a question: why would you think any differently?

‘All these years, I wondered why my mother’s family weren’t in the picture. I can’t believe I didn’t know. How come I didn’t read about it online?’

Sadie bit the inside of her lip. ‘Don’t know. It was there. The headlines covered it for days after your mum died, making out like it was a family curse or something. Maybe we don’t see what we aren’t looking for?’

‘Someone should have told me. Someone should have let me know what happened to them. They were my grandparents, my uncles, my aunt, and I didn’t even know their names. Up until last week I didn’t even know they existed. And now I find out I lost them too. When I read about Darren and Lily and Sam, I kept thinking, kept hoping there might be this whole other family out there that you were going to hook me up with, that they might have had kids and I’d discover long-lost cousins hidden somewhere and just like that, they’re gone too.’

‘It sucks,’ Sadie said, looking out the window.

‘How can you be sad about people you never met?’

Sadie didn’t turn around. ‘It’s still a loss. Still your loss. You thought you were gaining a family and now you’ve learnt it isn’t to be. No shame in feeling that.’

Abbie wiped away a tear before Sadie turned.

‘She lost everyone, like me. My mother lost her father and mother too. How could she hurt my dad knowing what that loss felt like? She knew how lonely that would make me.’

There was a pause before Sadie spoke, as if she was thinking of what to say.

‘She did lose everyone. Your mother often spoke about the other side of pain, about how loss can make you appreciate what you have. She swore the pain made her a better writer. Losing everyone meant she wasn’t afraid to speak out or hurt anyone’s feelings. The pain helped her go deep into her thoughts, made her question the big questions, made her take chances, made her want to record the moments. Have you read any of her books?’

Abbie shook her head. ‘Even seeing the covers make me angry. And anyway, where would I read them? They’re banned in Maureen’s house and she’d cut my hands off if she saw me holding one outside. In the library or a bookshop, it’s too public. Everyone knows who I am, so it’s like I can feel them holding their breath waiting to see if I’ll pick them up. If I order it online, Maureen will see the package.’

‘You’ve thought about it then.’

‘One time I even took the bus to town and went to a bookshop but even seeing them on the shelf made me break out in a sweat, like I was going to get caught, full sure someone from Knockfarraig would see me, as if I was stealing or something.

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