Page 58 of If Anything Happens To Me

I barely heard. I just kept shaking Abigail as hard as I could. This scared me so much, and I wanted to save her. Her eyes were pure white in the sockets, her non-stare like a lifeless doll, like a girl in a horror movie.

“She’s dying!” I cried out. Or was she already dead? Iris and Hayley had said she died in her sleep. Now I was witnessing it.

Just then the attic door burst open and Fitch came running in. He shoved me away from Abigail so hard I fell flat on my back.

“Give her the rescue medicine!” Hayley yelled at him.

He didn’t reply. He roughly turned Abigail onto her side, checked her mouth, allowing saliva to drain onto the pillow. When he did, Abigail began to raise her stiff arm. Her legs were rigid, toes pointing downward.

Fitch didn’t speak or try to get through to her. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a hypodermic syringe. He pulled off the cap with his teeth and quickly gave Abigail a shot in the top of her arm. Almost instantly she relaxed. Her body went slack, and her eyelids fluttered.

Neither Fitch nor Abigail spoke a word. But she was awake now, and she gazed up at her brother. He went around the corner and came back with a blood pressure cuff and thermometer. He took her vital signs, then sat on the edge of her bed and typed notes onto the keypad of a tablet. Her eyes were open. She smiled at him.

“Thank you,” she said.

He just kept typing.

“That was a bad one,” Abigail said. “I felt . . . someone was pulling me under.”

Fitch took a few more notes, then got up to walk away. I followed him while Hayley stayed sitting by Abigail.

I didn’t want Abigail to hear, so I spoke to Fitch in a low voice. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked him.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know,” he said.

“Of course I don’t,” I said. “How could I? You should know that, you drugged me and brought me up here. All I know is that she has seizures. But that . . . seemed like something else.”

“Kids at school make fun of her,” Fitch said, and I could see the effort it was taking him to sound calm. “They have, ever since they saw her have that seizure. Even if you’re not part of that clique, Oli, you still never defended her.”

“Fitch, I never saw anyone bully Abigail. I know she’s had health problems, but that’s nothing to make fun of. No one should have done that.”

“Everyone knows she’s different, and they say it straight to her face. She’s heard it all, and it devastates her. Can you imagine how that makes me feel, to see my sister crying because of bullies like them?” he asked. “And people like you just let it happen. You’re just as bad.”

“Me?” I asked, shocked that he would think that. “I thought you knew me! I thought we were friends.”

“No one knows anyone,” he said bitterly.

Maybe that was true.

“You’re right about one thing, Fitch. Standing by and watching bullying happen is horrible. But I would have stepped in if I had seen anyone doing that,” I said, anger building inside me. “And what about you? Kidnapping girls.Killing my sister!” I couldn’t hold myself back and went crashing into him, banging at his chest with my fists. He held me off at arm’s length.

“Oli, that was an accident,” he said. “I didn’t mean for her to die.”

“But she did!”

“Things went wrong,” he said. “She was fine, and then . . . she wasn’t. I tried to revive her. It was one of the worst days of my life—I’d lost control of the research, and Eloise paid the price.”

“Don’t say her name,” I said. “You don’t deserve to.”

“You’re right,” he said. His words were humble, full of regret, but behind his glasses I saw a fiery glint in his eyes. His expression didn’t match his tone. I felt as if he was acting a part, trying to convince me that he was sorry for what had happened. But the look in his eyes gave it all away.

“How did you get her to go with you?” I asked, my heart pounding.

“She wanted to,” he said. “Sort of. It was pretty convenient, actually. She was waiting for the late bus that morning after we went birding. I offered her a ride to school.”

“What happened after she got into your car?” I asked.

“Don’t ask, Oli. You don’t want to hear it.”

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