Broken.

CONTENT WARNING: Contains brief mention of family conflict and physical harm.

Sadie didn’t know how her older sister Margot was going to react to her amazing news, but she had at least expected her to be excited. Instead, Margot was…weird. Which seemed to be the norm for her lately. Just yesterday when Sadie knocked on her bedroom door and opened it, Margot nearly jumped out of her skin and slammed her laptop shut. The laptop had been placed on her lap but as soon as Sadie walked in, Margot practically threw it across the bed. Then all last week, Margot was constantly falling into daydreams and losing her train of thought. Sadie assumed it was stress. After all, with the kind of household they lived in, how could one not be stressed? But that was why Sadie had been so excited to share her news with her sister. She thought for sure that it would break her out of her funk and get her ready for their future together. But a few minutes ago when Sadie showed Margot what she had found, her sister only frowned and looked confused. “What’s this?” she asked, staring down at the computer before her. Sadie laughed and rolled her eyes. “Um, it’s a listing for an apartment?” She said in a duh tone. “But not just any apartment, the best apartment! The area it’s in is perfect and this one had a washer and dryer!” Sadie waited for her sister to jump up and squeal with happiness. For the past year, the two of them had been working on a plan. After dealing with their parents and their constant fighting that lasted long into the night and often woke them up first thing in the morning, they had had enough. Well, actually, they had had enough the night their father hit Sadie and their mother did nothing but tell her that she deserved it. That was the last straw.

That very same night, Sadie and Margot made a pact. No matter what it took, no matter what they had to do, they were going to get the hell out of this house and away from their parents for good. Naturally they thought college was going to be their ticket out since Margot graduated high school last year and Sadie having done so just a few months ago, but that was way out of the question. Their family couldn’t even afford milk half the time let alone college tuition for both daughters. Sadie and her sister both had jobs and did have a decent amount of money put away, but not nearly enough for college. So they came up with another idea. College may be too much…but an apartment might be something they could handle. Especially if they both chipped in. The two of them started doing the math right away and as soon as they realized that this just might work, they got right down to business. They promised each other that they would continue to save money and look for a nice place and once they found the perfect one, they were finally going to get away. Together. Over the past few months, they had found some pretty amazing apartments. But someone else had always managed to snag it before they could. But earlier that morning, Sadie found a listing that sounded almost too good to be true. The apartment was definitely in their price range, looked incredible, and it was far away from home!

It was perfect! But for some reason…Margot didn’t seem to think so. Sadie’s face fell as she watched her sister scroll through the pictures of the apartment with distaste. “What?” Sadie asked. “What’s wrong with it?” Margot looked up at her and gave a fake smile. She’d been doing that a lot lately. “Nothing. It’s great!” Sadie nodded. “Yeah, it is. So…why don’t you like it?” She could see in her sister’s eyes that she didn’t. But how could she not like it? Margot laughed and shook her head. “Hey, I didn’t say I didn’t like it. It really does look like an awesome place!” Sadie smiled. “Great! So if you’re on board, I say we fill out the application for it right now and pray that nobody beats us to it this time!” She took the computer back from her sister and started typing. But Margot grabbed her arm to stop her. “Wait,” she said nervously. “Uh…maybe we should wait a little while longer before going through with this. I mean, shouldn’t we at least consider some other options?” Sadie frowned in confusion. “We have considered other options. For like the last six months. That’s literally all we’ve been doing. Come on Margot, this apartment is everything we’ve been looking for.”

Her sister sighed. “I know, I know. I…I just think we should sleep on it.” Margot gave her a hopeful look and Sadie felt her heart sink. Forget daydreams and weird behavior. Those were normal for everybody from time to time, and Sadie had just thought her sister was worried about finding a place for the two of them to live. But she could see now that that wasn’t the case. Something else was going on. Something more serious. Setting the computer aside, Sadie turned and gave her sister her full attention. “What’s the matter?” She asked gently. “You’ve been acting pretty strange lately. If something is going on Margot, you know you can talk to me about it, right?” Margot’s eyes began to water but she refused to cry. She nodded and took Sadie’s hands in hers. “I know. And I appreciate that.” Sadie waited for her to say more, waited for her to explain what was happening. Margot knew that she had to. She knew she had to be honest and tell her sister the truth. But she didn’t know if she could. Just thinking about it made her break out into a cold sweat and caused her hands to start shaking. Which was exactly what happened now.

Seeing her reaction, Sadie’s eyes widened and she looked at her sister worriedly. “Hey, it’s okay.” She told her. “It’s okay. Whatever is wrong we’ll figure it out together. Just like we always do.” She gave her sister’s hand a reassuring squeeze and that was what made Margot lose it. She couldn’t take it anymore. She had to tell her sister the truth and she had to tell her now. Straightening her shoulders and taking a deep breath, Margot gathered her courage and pushed her words out. “I can’t get an apartment with you.” She said at last, her words breaking along with her voice as she spoke. Sadie stared at her blankly for a long time, confused. But then she slowly nodded her head. “Okay…is it because you’re worried about what Mom and Dad will do if they found out? I told you before that we can--” “No.” Margot said, cutting her off. “It’s not that.” “Then what is it?” Sadie said, her words a bit sharper now. Margot lowered her head and whispered, “I haven’t been saving money. Well, I have but I’m going to need it for something else.” “What do you mean?” Sadie asked, stunned. Her sister sighed. “I’m going to California.” She said.

Sadie felt like her sister had slapped her across the face. “What? What do you mean you’re going to California? When? For how long?” She tried to keep her voice calm but it was hard. Margot lifted her head and looked at her, her eyes full of guilt and regret. “My old English teacher from high school moved there a while ago and she got a job at USC as a professor. And…she reached out to me saying that she talked to a few people who are pretty high up over there.” Margot stopped there, her breath catching. She took a deep breath before continuing. “She said she told them all about me and my work ethic and my essays that got published in the school newspaper and all of my extracurricular activities. And…they were apparently really impressed. Because they want to offer me a scholarship. Full ride. The people at USC said that I have my old teacher to thank for speaking so highly of me. Otherwise they might never have considered this.” All the air in Sadie’s lungs instantly abandoned her. And when her sister was finished speaking, she felt like she was going to throw up. She shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around all of this. But she couldn’t. She just couldn’t. “So…you…so what exactly does this mean?”

Margot couldn’t even look at her sister as she said, “It means that I’m going to USC. I’ve already filled out all the paperwork and the application and I leave in a few weeks.” Sadie immediately jumped up and exploded. “A few weeks? You’re leaving for California in a few weeks?” Her sister nodded and Sadie scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. “And what? You were just never going to tell me this?” “I was going to tell you.” Margot said, the tears from before coming back stronger now. She stood and stepped toward Sadie but she moved away from her. Margot tried her best to explain. “I kept trying to find a good time to tell you but I just couldn’t! And then there’s the whole apartment thing and you kept bringing it up and…I just didn’t know how to tell you.” Sadie felt her cheeks burn in anger. “That whole apartment thing? You mean the fact that I’ve been looking for a place for the two of us to live because that’s what we planned? Because that’s what you said we would do?” Margot shook her head. “Sadie please, just let me--” “No!” Sadie was so upset that she wanted to scream and cry and crumble all at once. Then something her sister had said came back to her. “You said your old teacher reached out to you. How long ago was that?” Margot hesitated and looked away. Finally she said, “A few months ago.”

Sadie felt her heart break, and when she spoke again her words we less angry and more hurt. “A few months ago? So you’ve known for months now that you were never going to get an apartment with me, were never going to go through with our plan, and were just going to up and leave?” “I wasn’t just going to up and leave!” Margot insisted. “Sadie, please. I don’t want to fight.” Sadie turned on her angrily. “Well too bad because I do! You lied to me, Margot! All this time, you just let me believe that we were on the same page about our plan, that we were in this together! But all the while you had a separate plan of your own and I’ve just looked like an idiot believing we were still a team!” The tears were falling down both sisters’ faces now. Sadie balled her hands into fists and wanted to hit something. But a second later, the sadness and anger gave way to defeat and hopelessness. “So you’re leaving.” She said, her voice hoarse and watery. “You’re just leaving me here like you couldn’t care less.” “That’s not true!” Margot said. “Look, you’ve been saving up money, right? You could still get a place on your own.” Sadie gave a bitter laugh. “Please! You know I can’t do that. Without your half of the rent I don’t stand a chance. But hey, why should you care, right? You’ll be miles away in a fancy dorm!” Sadie turned and started to leave the room. Margot reached out to her. “Sadie, wait! Please, I--” Her sister pulled away from her. “Don’t touch me.” She told her. “Don’t touch me, don’t look at me, and don’t ever speak to me again, you dirty liar!”

Sadie ran from the room and Margot collapsed onto the floor, her heart aching as she realized that she had just lost the most important person in the world to her. And even if she somehow made it up to her sister, it wouldn’t matter. Any bond or connection that had once been between them was now broken. Forever.

The End.