“I’m a terrible person,” Sandy cried before turning and burying her face into the pink and white pillowcase on her bed. She wore blue jeans and a black hooded sweater.

Sandy cried as her sister Rena, sitting at the edge of the bed, rubbed her back. Rena wore a black dress and black stockings. The bedroom was painted cream with artwork she drew and decorated the walls with, and a mirrorless mahogany wardrobe was also there.

Sometime later, Sandy stopped crying and sat up in the pink and white, double-size bed.

“It will come; don’t rush it because we both know that we had some happy days with Dad,” Rena said, squeezing her hand before letting it go.

“Yes, but there were more bad days than good ones,” Sandy replied, shaking her head.

“Yeah, I know,” Rena said, nodding.

“And he made you leave home because you would not go to a university,” Sandy replied.

“Yeah, I know, but hey, what about your birthday last year?”

A smile slowly spread across Sandy’s face as the memory of her sixteenth birthday filled her mind.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect him to take us to Wonderland Slide Park for the entire day!” Sandy laughed.

“That was one of my happiest memories of us and Dad. “I’ve never seen him so happy,” Rena said, also laughing.

After their laughter quieted, Sandy asked, “Do you know where Dad was headed that morning?” looking at her sister.

“What do you mean? He was going to work.”

“No,” Sandy replied, biting her fingernails.

“What do you mean? Where was he going?”

“He was leaving Mom for another woman,” Sandy said.

“What? Nooo. Did Mom tell you that?”

“Nooo, of course not. She would never tell us that.”

“Yeah. Sorry. What was I thinking? Then how do you know?”

Sandy continued to bite her fingernails. “I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell Mom that I know because I don’t want to upset her anymore.”

“Of course,” Rena replied.

“The night before the car accident, something woke me up around three,” Sandy said, putting the word ‘something’ in air quotes, “and I heard Dad saying the most terrible things to her before telling her he was leaving her for a better woman in the morning. As usual, Mom was silent, and that got him even madder. Then, the next thing I knew, I heard her struggling to breathe. I was so scared, Rena, and I grabbed my phone to dial 911 when I heard him say, ‘Forget you because I’m not going to let you ruin my life anymore. I’m finally going to have the life I want.’”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Because I’m still trying to come to terms with everything,” Sandy replied.

“Okay. Okay,” Rena replied, slowly breathing out.

“I stayed in my room, then I heard him walking into the living room, and shortly afterwards, he was snoring.”

“Okay. So what happened next?”

“He woke up in the morning, got ready and left, and the next thing I know, a joyriding thief is crashing into his car, and he’s gone; and instead of me being sad, I’m relieved. I’m a terrible person, Rena!”

“Hey, hey,” Rena said, cupping her face. “You’re not a terrible person. Dad made his choices, and we’ve been living with it for a long time, and I think that because he died so suddenly, it’s taking you a little while for all of your emotions to catch up with everything else.”

Tears silently rolled down Sandy’s cheeks. “But you went through the same things as me, and if you ask me, you had the worst end of the stick, but you’re still crying for him. You’re sad he’s gone.”

“Yes, I am sad, but that doesn’t mean I do not have all the same feelings and more than you do.”

Sandy nodded between her sister’s hands.

“Stop being so hard on yourself, okay?”

Sandy nodded again.

“I’m here for you. We’re in this together,” Rena said, sniffling.

Sandy hugged her, and a few seconds later, they were crying in each other’s arms.

The End