ride till we die

chapter 22 : life draining

Corinne POV

It's been a week since the funeral of my sister.

Life around me  changed in seconds the minute I stepped out the hospital that night.

I exit the hospital building sadness filling  my body as I look up to the night.

I breath in to gather the strength I could muster.

"For hailee" I note to myself.

Hailee shuffles behind me no emotion present on her face.

"Are ...u" before I could turn and finish my sentence hailee walks into me not stopping after the collision.

I follow after her stopping beside her as she swings onto her bike.

"I'll drive us home we can pick your bike up tomorow" I suggest to my niece Weary of how she rides when clouded with emotion.

Hailee glanced  at me her eyes cold as if my words didnt even reach her.

"Hailee love" I reach out and try to hold her shoulder.

She quickly grabs my hand to stop me her face still stone.

She let's go of my hand I slowey recoil my hand  away suddenly very conflicted with her reaction.

a look of pain,shock and  sympathy stares back at me through her eyes as she starts up her bike and speeds out the hospital car park.

She returned back home before I did that night  and never left her room after that day.

The only way hailee and I communicated up till the funeral  was through text all very small and simple never lasting more than a minute.

I myself grew further into my mourning but found healthy  support in my friends and other activities around me still allowing myself to mourn appropriately.

The day of the funeral was one that shaped many futures.

It brought most closer together deepening bonds and relationships. I was one of these people.

However my niece was not she only grew more distance and further driven onto the middle line.

She would work herself to the bone studying her new course of nursing all through the day  and after all that she would disappear into the night doing god knows what.

I recall one late night a week after the funeral that   only pushed her further.

I hear the door slam and steps enter the kitchen behind me.

I watch as she stumbles over the kitchen  to the refrigerator and struggles to open it.

After a minute she gets it open and retrieves a water bottle.

She takes a long and desperate drink from the bottle giving me the opportunity to see the bruise forming in the side of her face.

"Omg what's happend to you" I stand up from my chair and move over to her the smell of booze hitting my nostrils as I get close.

"Nothing" she half slur mumbles to me.

"Have you been drinking again hailee you said you had stopped" I question my tone light but firm.