The Next Day

During the night I was woken up a couple of times by the nurses as they needed to make sure I was okay after fainting yesterday. I let out a yawn before pulling the blankets off me.

Mom opens her eyes and looks directly at me as I get out of bed. "Eliza, are you okay?"

"I'm all good, Mom. I just need to pee. You can go back to sleep."

She stands up and stretches. "No, I think I'll go downstairs and grab some coffee. Do you want anything to drink?"

"Hot chocolate, please." I head towards the bathroom and use it. Once I'm done I wash my hands and then head back to the bed. I climb into the bed.

The door to the room opens and the Doctor steps in. Taking my chart out he takes a quick look and says. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm much better, thanks. When do you think I can get out of here?"

He puts some papers on the table. "You can get out of here shortly. Just sign these and take them to the front desk."

"Thanks," grabbing my purse off the table I go through it until I find a pen. I sign the papers and start to get out of bed when a trolley is brought into the room with food on it. Porridge, jello and toast are on the tray. "You don't need to leave that for me. I'm about to leave."

Mom opens the door and looks at the papers in my hands. "Are you ready to leave?"

"Yes, I am. I'm going to drop these papers off at the nurse's station and then call Kat to pick us up. Do you think everyone will still be at the house?"

"Yeah, they will be there." She looks out the window. "I'm sorry you have to deal with them again. I don't know why they keep showing up when something is happening in your life."

Moving over to her I hug her and say. "It's rotten luck for me, but let's worry about them when we get home. Right now I just want to concentrate on getting out of here." Showing her the papers. "I'm going to drop these off at the nurse's station and then I'll get dressed." I walk out of the room and head to the nurse's station.

The lady behind the desk looks at me and a smile spreads across her face. "Hi, can I help you?"

"Yes, I just signed the discharge papers." I put them on the desk.

She takes them from me. "Thanks,"

I walk away from the nurse's station and open the door to my room.

Mom looks up from her phone. "Did you know that Candy Crush is an addicting game?"

Laughing I say. "Yeah, I know. That game always traps me, but when I lose all five lives I know that it's time for me to move on." Grabbing my clothes from the chair. "I'm going to get changed." I walk into the bathroom and close the door behind me. Quickly I change into my clothes.

As I exit the bathroom Mom has the phone up to her ear. "Yes, we're ready to be picked up. Great. We'll see you soon." Mom hangs up the phone.

"What did Kat have to say?"

A smile spreads across Mom's face. "She said thank you for saving her from a couple more hours of being around your siblings. They're being a pain in the ass about moving their stuff from the house. They keep asking why they need to get rid of it."

"You can tell them the truth. It's not going to hurt me if you do that."

She pulls me in for a hug. "Eliza, someone needs to protect you from your siblings and their toxic ways. Besides, there's only a small amount of things that Kat can do to protect you."

Gathering my stuff I help Mom out of the room and we make our way to the car park.

***

Kat pulls the car in front of the house and we are met with furniture on the lawn. Cars packed with stuff. "Dad told them that he wants to declutter the house. That's why they need to get rid of the things they want. Mostly everything else is going to the tip.

Dad opens the door to the house and he rushes over to us. "It looks like a bomb went off in the house. I'm going to help you through it." He tells Mom.

She kisses his cheek. "Thanks, honey. You're always thoughtful when it comes to me. I love you."

"Love you more." This time they kiss on the lips.

The door opens and my siblings are standing near it. Nina walks out first. "Are you going to tell us why you were in the hospital last night, Eliza?"

"That's none of your business, Nina." Mom snaps. "Just grab your stuff and leave our house."

Her mouth drops open and she tries to recover from what Mom said. "Mom, why are you being rude to me?"

She looks at all her kids who have come out to watch the show between Nina and Mom. "Nina, Chloe, Jasper and Dylan. You four are the most self-centred, selfish pieces of shit that has walked this earth. For as long as I can remember you have treated Eliza like dirt from the bottom of your shoes. You all want to hurt Eliza and it just keeps getting worst every time you come to town. My question to you all is 'what has she done to deserve all this hostility?"

Dylan takes a step off the porch. "You've doted on her since she was born, Mom. She was the miracle baby you were supposed to have, but all she did was drive a wedge between us all."

Before I can say anything Kat slaps our older brother across the face. "Why the fuck are you saying that?"

"It's true, Kat. She took your spot as the youngest and she got spoilt. Everything she wanted she got. All I got from Mom and Dad was 'can you look after the kids while we go to work.' I didn't want to watch you. I missed out on so many events because my brother and sisters we're playing up before I could sneak out."

"Boo hoo, cry me a river." Kat gets in his face. "They asked you to look after us. It wasn't the end of the world for you. When Jasper turned fifteen. He looked after us so you could go out with your football friends. You moved away a couple of months later and we never heard from you. Not until you were getting married. After Jasper moved I stepped up and took care of our siblings and I never regretted a moment of it."

"That's because you weren't popular like Jasper and me."

He's an idiot for provoking Kat like this.

"That's enough," I yell at them. "Get you're fucking stuff out of the house and don't come back here." Looking them each in the eye. "You wanted me to grow a backbone? Well, I have and this instant I mean what I'm going to say."

"What's that?" Claire asks, hesitantly.

"You're all dead to me. I don't want to ever see any of you again. It's too late for apologies. Learn from you're mistakes and make sure you don't do it again." I start to walk away from the house and the weight on my shoulders feel slightly lifted.

Life can only get better from here.