Forgetting - Part 15

"Julia? Thank God you're alright!"

"Mom? What the hell?"

"You were hit by a taxi. You don't have any brain trauma so don't try to pull that amnesia crap. Talk to your mother or you'll be going straight to hell." The nurse gives me a stern look and walks away, shouting, "Jesus is watching!"

"Honey, where have you been? Your bank account was cancelled, you haven't talked to me in months. I already lost one daughter, isn't that enough?"

"Please, not you too! I'm still myself! Why can't anyone see that?"

"Are you trying to be funny?" Tears are begining to glisten in my mother's eyes.

"Mom, I'm your only daughter." At this she starts weeping. "What?" I'm defensive now.

"It's like you don't even see what you've done to this family. We needed you Julia. While you were busy doing whatever the hell you want, not even bothering to call your mother, we needed you."

"Mom, I didn't..." But I trail off, unsure of what to say. A moment passes in silence.

"Your father left."

"Daddy? But, no!"

"You missed your brother's wedding. I bet if this little accident hadn't happened, you wouldn't have known about the niece you'll have in a few months."

I pick up the closest thing to me, a flower vase, and throw it at my mother. I miss but I begin to scream. "Stop it! Stop making me feel like I'm nothing! I've felt that way for months and months! I don't have a home, mother. I was ashamed. I didn't think you'd want me."

"Why would you ever think that we would throw you out, not help you when you needed it? That's what family is for. Don't you remember how we were there for Kim?"

I stare at her, a puzzled expression plastered on my face. "Who is Kim?"

"Don't play games with me Julia, it was hard enough to see her in trouble and harder still to loose her. Just, don't. Please."

"I'm not playing games. Who is Kim?"

My mother gets up and walks out the door.

"Who's Kim? Mom?" I shout after her.

In a moment the nurse comes back in and my mother is wiping away more tears. The nurse is shaking her head at me in disaproval.

"Honey, who is your sister and where is she now?"

"I've never had a sister. Right mom?"

She starts crying again and says softly, "I'm loosing another one." She turns away and says louder, "Do it. Put her in the therapy. I don't care. She's gone, just like her twin."