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6 ~ No, No, No.

Over the next six months, nobody got Annie help.

I argued with my parents until I was grounded, my phone taken, and I was no longer allowed to watch tv.

I still continued to plead for her sake.

Annie went from better, to worse, to okay, to amazing.

When her mental health was "amazing", she was almost back to her normal self. She joked, laughed, played board games with me, and caught up on her schoolwork. I loved that so much.

The bad thing about that was since she was so happy then, my parents argued that her depression was "just a phase" and "she'll get over it". She won't.

Several days after she started acting normal again, she went back to zero.

I didn't see her for almost five days. I was extremely worried and terrified that something had happened to her since she had locked her door, but once I had opened her door—she had unlocked it—I saw a half-eaten bag of chips and a fruit cup on her desk. At least she had eaten.

I didn't like the other things I saw though.

There were dark circles under her eyes. She was wearing a baggy shirt and pajama pants. Her eyes had no emotion, and neither did her face.

Her body was a bit limp, and she was simply sitting on her bed, slouching, and staring at her comforter.

The worst part was that she didn't tell me to get out, shout at me, or even acknowledge my presence. That worried me the most.

I sat down next to her and hugged her. She stayed still.

"Hayley," she said, in monotone.

"Hey, Annie," I said softly.

She didn't reply.

I sat hugging her for a while.

"I wanna go," she whispered.

"What?" I said.

"I want to leave," she said slightly louder.

"Why?" I asked.

"Too much."

I started to cry. She didn't.

"Hayley," She said again, "I wanna go. Help me."

I looked at her angrily. "No. You're the only sibling I have left, and I'm not going to be an only child."

She lightly gasped. "You don't understand. This is too much, this life. I want to have my brother back."

"I want to have Caleb back too, but not right now. God chooses when we can go," I said.

"I want to be the one to choose," Annie said.

I stood up and ran out the room, slamming her bedroom door behind me. I fell onto my bed and cried and cried and cried. I have no idea how long it lasted.

A while later, my phone pinged. I wiped my face and picked it up.

From Annie: Hayley, let me go.

I frowned.

To Annie: no.

From Annie: please hayley. you have no idea what my brain is doing to me. I'm slowly dying anyway.

To Annie: Ans, I can't lose you.

From Annie: please. You don't even have to help me, just let me know that I can let it all go.

I paused.

Over the past course of this year, I had watched Annie slowly decline. I know it was so painful for her, but it was painful for me too, having to watch her lose herself without being able to do anything about it.

Something told me to let her go, let all the pain go. Even if I refused now, she'd still find a way to leave this world, and if she didn't, she'd end up declining so far she'd die naturally.

Something told me to let her go.

And so I did.

To Annie: I understand. You can go.

I cried again. I kept crying, punching my pillow, fighting the temptation to punch my bedroom wall.

First my older brother died from a disease where he had a 99% chance of living, and then my sister is plagued with depression so terrible that she wants to die.

And our parents could at least do something about Annie, but they won't.

I hate them.

I hate Katelyn and Billy Leblanc so much.

I heard a noise from Annie's room. Then I heard a crash in the driveway.

"Hayley, what was that?" My dad called.

I looked out the window.

No.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No.

I cried harder.

I rushed down the stairs and out the door before my parents could, and I saw Annie, in the middle of the driveway, her body so mangled and distorted I almost couldn't tell it was her.

A fall from her bedroom window shouldn't have done that much. I knew at the bottom of my heart she had probably hurt herself even before she jumped.

I collapsed next to my sister's body as I heard my parents gasp.

"Oh my gosh, how did this happen to her?!" My mom exclaimed.

I stood up angrily.

"You let this happen to her! I told you repeatedly she needed help, and you ignored me! You were too blinded by whatever's wrong with your stupid little heads that you couldn't see that your older daughter was slowly dying from the inside out. I hate you! I hate you so much! I wish I wasn't your kid, I wish that Annie and I had different parents that would actually help her!" I screamed.

They looked astonished.

I ran up to my father and tried to punch him, kick him, whatever I could do, but my mom managed to pull me off of him. I tried to attack her while my father called an ambulance.

Eventually I was too tired and gave up. I managed to drag myself over to Annie.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry we have parents that couldn't help, that I wasn't old enough to know what to do or how to help. I'm so sorry," I cried.

I laid next to my sister and cried harder.

The ambulance arrived.

And I heard the greatest news of my entire life.

She's still breathing.