THE WOMAN WHO DIED IN MY SISTER’S NAME
Tyler found her the next evening.
They fought.
Rebecca ran.
She left almost everything behind.
Wallet.
Bag.
Clothes.
The bracelet Mom had given her for graduation.
She reached a twenty-four-hour truck stop and persuaded a woman driving west to let her ride along.
“What woman?”
“Her name was Simone.”
“And she died in your room?”
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca pressed her fingertips against her forehead.
“Simone was traveling with another woman. We drove for hours. I slept. Somewhere in West Virginia, we stopped. I panicked and got out.”
“Why?”
“Because Simone started asking questions. Where was I going? Who was I running from? Did police know? I thought Tyler might have sent her.”
“Had he?”
“I don’t think so now.”
Rebecca had been exhausted, frightened, and operating on almost no sleep.
She walked away from the truck stop.
A church volunteer found her the following morning and helped her reach a domestic violence shelter.
There, Rebecca did something that changed everything.
She gave a false surname.
Not because she wanted us to believe she was dead.
Because she wanted Tyler unable to find her.
“I planned to call Mom once I was safe.”
“But then the fire happened.”
She nodded.
“Three days later, I saw my own obituary online.”
My throat closed.
“You saw it.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t call.”
“Not then.”
“When?”
She looked at me.
“Seven months later.”
I stood so fast the chair struck the wall.
“Seven months?”
“I called Mom’s house.”
“And?”
“You answered.”
I stared at her.
“No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“You were crying. The baby was crying.”
Lucy.
She would have been four months old.
Rebecca’s voice cracked.
“I couldn’t speak.”
“You called me and said nothing?”
“I hung up.”
My hands were shaking.
“That’s not coming back, Rebecca.”
“I know.”
“That’s checking whether we’re still suffering.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know!”
A nurse appeared at the doorway.
Rebecca quietly told her we were fine.
We weren’t.
But the nurse left.
I paced to the window.
“Why?”
Rebecca cried without making noise.
“I wish I had one reason good enough to make you understand.”
“Try.”
She wiped her face.
“At first, I was hiding from Tyler.”
“Fine.”
“Then I found out everyone thought I was dead.”
“Fine.”
“And I was terrified that correcting it would lead him straight back to me.”
