One by One
“They won’t be back anytime soon,” a young, male hospital worker says to Trinity and her sister. “I’m afraid they didn’t make it.” In no time, the girls were sobbing, screaming, and trying to escape their own hospital room. The crash had been tragic. Unexplainable. How could a seventeen year old cope with having to take care of her eleven year old sister? How could they die? They had to have fight in them, and Trinity Irwin knew this couldn’t be true. But it was, and her parents were dead
“Trinity! I’m hungry!” Anabelle howled, towering over her sister’s restful state. Trinity’s eyes snapped open, and she jumped up. “I’m hungry,” Anabelle reiterated. Trinity rollled her eyes bitterly, something she had started doing too often, and stood up, pushing her sister out of the way. “I’m hungry!” Trinity’s sister whined again.
“Then make something,” Trinity answered devilishly. “I’m not your servant!” Trinity had been too tired, too sick of taking care of Anabelle. Ever since Anabelle was diagnosed with cancer, Trinity wasn't feeling the sisterly love as much. Both sisters had learned the other’s true personalities; bleak, cold-hearted, dreary. Anything but affectionate. The thought of that killed both of the Irwin sisters on the inside, as if a vulture was attacking it’s prey.
Anabelle scratched her bald head, which had previously accustomed lengthy, golden hair, and followed Trinity to the kitchen. “What do you want?” Trinity asked, monotonously.
“I don’t know, just make me something,” Anabelle scowled, taking a seat.
“Excuse me, but if you think you can boss me around like that with your little eleven year old self, than you can leave. I can’t believe you. Cancer really changed you,” Trinity implied, slamming her hands down on the cold, granite countertop.
“You know I can’t do much with this disease!” the younger Irwin replied. “I’m sick.”
“Well you can make breakfast.” Anabelle rolled her eyes just the same as Trinity had moments before.
“I hate you,” Trinity murmured. Anabelle stood up, making the chair fall from behind her. She paced off to her bedroom, tears welling up in her eyes. The door slammed and she slid down behind it. “I wish you were dead!” This hadn’t been the first time this was said.
“Sissy, tuck me in,” Anabelle whispers, tugging on her older sister’s shirt.“Please.”
Trinity turns to Anabelle and grabs her armpits, lifting her up. Trinity’s short, frizzy hair bounced as she brought Anabelle to their room.
Anabelle and Trinity were inseparable at the time. This was, of course, before Anabelle had cancer. They would spend their days frolicking in the yard, making up nonsense games, and trying to play them. Their parents were unneeded until a diaper needed a change, or if someone got hurt. Each girl loved each other from the bottom of her heart. Anabelle thought about these times frequently, and she wanted them back so bad. Trinity did, too. The thought of those moments destroyed them both.
Anabelle laid, sprawled out on her bed. Something was wrong. She could feel it, and it just didn’t feel right. She tried to get some sleep, but before she closed her eyes, she grabbed a picture of her and Trinity from years ago, and held it close to her heart in hopes they could be like that again one day. Anabelle’s heart pumped and it felt like it would pop out of her chest.
Meanwhile, Trinity Irwin sat on her own bed with her laptop open in front of her, the bright LED screen illuminating her pale face. She had website after website open, and each of them was help for putting someone in a home. It was official. Trinity was going to get rid of her sister. She couldn’t deal with the bitterness of her having to take care of her. She couldn’t take it anymore. She was sick of taking her to the doctor, having to pay for her treatments. A seventeen year old should be at school, hanging with friends, doing anything except what Trinity was.
Suddenly, her heart started to pump. How could she do this? How could she give an innocent, dying, young girl away? More specifically, her sister? She didn’t hate her sister. In fact, she loved her with a passion. She could never, ever truly hate Anabelle. Above all, Trinity didn’t wish her sister was dead. How could she be so heartless? Trinity slammed her laptop screen down, and plunged out of bed, though it was more of a fall She stood up on her feet, and dashed to Anabelle’s room. What would she do if anything ever happened to her precious sister?
She was going to tell the truth. Trinity wasn’t going to give her sister away. “Anabelle,” Trinity whispered with a knock on the door. After there was no answer, she opened the door carefully, trying not to make the old, rusty door hinges squeak. Trinity tip-toed into the young girl’s room, examining the numerous amount of purple stuffed unicorns scattered and rainbows painted on the wall. She saw Anabelle on her bed, tucked into the covers. Right when Trinity saw the picture, her favorite picture, of the two Irwin sisters in Anabelle’s hand, she lost it. She didn’t care if Anabelle was sleeping, she confessed. “Anabelle, I didn’t mean what I said earlier. I love you. I love you more than anything. Your golden hair, your beautiful eyes that could make anyone jealous. You don’t deserve what you have now. You deserve a family, and I will try to give that to you. I want you to live.” Trinity started to cry. “I’m so sorry,” Trinity vented, as she hugged her sister. She hugged her tighter than any hug had ever been. But when Anabelle did not stir one bit Trinity’s heart practically stopped.
“Anabelle,” Trinity said again, louder. She was only sleeping, and Trinity knew it. Trinity
shouted her sister’s name, and realized that it could be true, and Anabelle could be dead.
Trinity slapped Anabelle, but not in any horrid, despicable way. She wanted her to wake up. She needed her to wake up. Trinity didn’t know what she would do with no family at all. This couldn’t be true. The Irwin family was dying one by one, and somehow, Trinity had to be next. She jumped, threw things, and even hit her sister so many more times, but she still laid there, lifeless. Trinity knew it. Anabelle was dead. She screamed, cried, and kicked everything in sight. How could it end like this? Trinity couldn’t live with the thought of her sister dying and thinking that Trinity hated her.
Anabelle never opened her eyes again. She would stay in her own darkness for the rest of her time.
Trinity remembered when her parents had died earlier that year.How could she lose three of the most important people to her in such a short time span? She remembered how she hugged Anabelle as they both sobbed. She remembered how they were there for each other. What happened?
After hours of grieving beside Anabelle’s ghostly state, an idea popped into Trinity’s mind. She had thought about it before, but never as serious as she was thinking about it now. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself knowing Anabelle thought she hated her. She wanted to be with her family. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and especially Anabelle. She needed them, so she gathered up all of the pills she could find in their makeshift apartment, and brought them to Anabelle’s room. One by one, she swallowed them, followed by a sip of water. Her head hurt.
Trinity collapsed next to Anabelle, and right before she went, she smiled for the last time
ever. Her eyes closed, and she joined Anabelle’s darkness.