Family secrets

17

"Em..." Sophie whispers into her phone.

"Hello? Sophie? Why are you calling at this time?" Emily yawns.

"Em, I need your help" She says, her voice shaking.

"Soph, I'm getting worried.. what's the matter?" Emily jolts up, Joe is woken up and looks at her.

"Please, can you come and get me? I need to go to the Chemist" She begs, to her older sister.

"Why? I can just grab it on the way there, or I might have something you need here" Emily explains.

"No, I really need something and I know you won't have it" Sophie complains.

"You won't know, I might have it" Emily sighs.

"Emily, I'm begging you, please come get me" Sophie panics.

"Okay... okay, I'll be there soon" Emily groans.

She hangs the phone up and looks at Joe who is rubbing her back.

"I have to go get Sophie and take her to the Chemist" She explains to her boyfriend.

"I'll come" He insists.

"Okay, if you say so" She gets up and throws on her robe, and her slippers.

"Let's go" Joe smiles.

Meanwhile, Sophie is sitting in the family living room. She's the only one awake, it's 1:43am. The house is very quiet. James and Rebecca had gone to sleep a while ago.

Sophie sits there thinking hard to herself. She wasn't afraid that she was in a huge house, awake, and alone downstairs. She was afraid of something else.

Sophie gets a text message from Emily that she was waiting outside the house. She gets up and runs through the foyer and opens the door. Closing it behind her, it kinda slammed but not that hard.

She hoped her parents didn't hear it. Emily is parked out right in front of the door. She hops in the back seat.

"Oh hey, Joe" She smiles nervously.

"Hey Sophie" He smiles and drives on out the gates.

"So what exactly are you getting from the Chemist?" Emily asks her sister.

"Erm, just an emergency kit sorta thing" Sophie says.

"Soph, there are plenty of emergency kits at home" She urges her sister.

"Well, not for the type of emergency I'm having" Sophie rolls her eyes.

"Okay, we're here...do you want us to come in?" Joe asks.

"No, thanks.. but I'll be fast" Sophie smiles and walks out.

"I feel like she's hiding something" Emily tells Joe as they watch her walk into the store.

"Like what?" Joe asks.

"I don't know, but I'm going in to find out" Emily opens her door.

"Em, come on now. You're going to make her feel uncomfortable if you keep asking her" Joe says taking hold of her arm.

"...okay, I guess I'll just have to wait until she decides to tell me" Emily closes her door.

In the store, Sophie walks straight to the area she needed things from. Looking at all the boxes, different names and packages but they all did the same thing.

"I'd get about three different tests" The lady at the counter says.

Sophie smiles awkwardly and nods, she takes three different boxes. Walking up to the counter and lays them in front of her.

"That'll be five dollars" She smiles.

"Thank you" Sophie hands her the money.

The lady looks at Sophie, closely.

"Don't worry kid, I'm sure you're going to do great no matter what the result is" The lady smiles.

"Thanks" Sophie smiles and walks out with her bag.

She opens the car door and hops in. Emily looks back at her sister but Sophie doesn't look at her, instead she's gazing out the window.

"Well, did you get what you needed?" Emily asks.

"Yeah" Sophie answers.

"Don't you have your own car?" Emily looks back at Sophie.

"Yeah, I do" Sophie sighs.

"You could've just driven to the store" Emily says looking back to the front.

"I didn't want to go alone, I was scared" Sophie rolls her eyes.

"Oh, well you couldn't have woken up dad or mom and asked them to come with?" Emily says sarcastically.

"Look, if you didn't want to come get me you could've said on the phone, oh my god!" Sophie scowls.

"Sophie, I did want to help but honestly I wish you could just tell me what you're hiding" Emily raises her voice.

"No, I don't want to tell you! You know what? Thank you for the ride Joe, goodnight" Sophie gets out of the car and slams the door, walking into the house.

"I didn't mean to get her all worked up" Emily closes her eyes and runs her hands through her hair.

Joe drives off and the gates close behind them.
Meanwhile, Sophie leans on the door, closing her eyes. She locks it and is about to walk upstairs when she hears someone clearing their throat.

She turns and looks straight into the formal living room. James is standing there and Rebecca is on the chair. They look very disappointed and worried.

"Dad, Mom... I can explain" Sophie sighs and walks into the family room.

"Sophie, I was just worried about you" Rebecca blurts out.

"I'm fine, I called Emily to take me to the store, I had to grab some emergency things.. and so her and Joe came" Sophie explains.

"Oh okay, but you still should let us know in case something happens and we have no idea of your whereabouts" James says.

"I know, I'm sorry" Sophie says looking down.

"Don't be sorry" Becca smiles.

"Let's go back to sleep" James yawns and has his arm around Rebecca as they walk back upstairs.

Sophie trails along behind them, she goes into her room and into the bathroom. It's time. I have to do this. I need to know, she thinks to herself.

She opens the three boxes and tries all three at the same time. She sits on the bathtub tile and waits.

Minutes go by and it's time to check. She takes the first one. No... this can't be. The second one. Oh my god! No, I can't be. The third. This is all a dream. I want it to be a dream!

Sophie drops to the ground and cries silently to herself. Why did I do this? Why me? I can't do this on my own. I can't.

She sits there thinking very hard. She has to tell someone before they all find out. But she doesn't have the courage to.

I can't do it.

-------------------------------------------------------

Hope you enjoy this! 😊