“My son, promise youll look after your sick sister. You mustnt abandon her!” whispered his mother, her voice brittle as dry leaves.
“My boy, the house will be yours. But I beg you, care for your sister. Dont leave her!” Her words clawed at his chest, sharp as winter wind.
“Listen to me, son” Her breath was faint, barely there.
Each word was agony. The illness had gnawed her to the bone, leaving her frail, almost translucent. Lawrence barely recognised her. Once, she had been strong, bright with laughter, full of life. Now
“Lawrence, please dont abandon little Emmeline. Shes delicate. Different, but ours. Promise me” Her grip tightened unexpectedlyhow did she still have such strength?
Lawrence winced. His gaze slid to his older sister, Emmeline, hunched in the corner of their cramped flat in Leeds. Past forty, yet she still played with dolls, humming tunelessly. She smiled as if death werent kneeling at their mothers bedside, but as if it were a party.
Lawrence had built a lifea thriving construction firm, a flashy SUV, a grand house by the Thames. But there was no place for Emmeline there. His children shrank from her. His wife, Victoria, called her “the madwoman,” though Emmeline was gentle, harmless, lost in her own world.
“Well you know Ive got a family and Emmeline shes” he stammered, trying to pry his hand free.
“Son, your fathers house is yours. But Ive left Emmeline a three-bed flat. Its all legal.”
“Whered you get the money?” Lawrence and Victoria exchanged stunned glances, their faces alight with greedy wonder.
“I cared for the old schoolteacher brought her meals, her pills. She was kind. Never thought shed leave me the flat. Its in Emmelines name, for safekeeping. But you you must watch over her. Later, itll go to your children. Who knows how long she has”
That night, their mother died.
Emmeline didnt seem to grasp she was now alone. Lawrence took her in at once and began renovating the flat.
“Why does Emmeline need all that space? Let her stay here. Well rent it out.”
At first, Victoria didnt object. Emmeline was no troublejust playing, humming. But her oddness unsettled Victoria. “Shes calm today, but what about tomorrow?”
“Just a little longer,” Lawrence pleaded. Yet six months later, with a solicitor friends help, he transferred both the family home and Emmelines flat into his name. He tricked her into signing papers, never explaining.
Then came the torment.
While Lawrence was at work, Victoria turned cruelshouting, locking Emmeline away, sometimes feeding her cat food. Hed find her crying, terrified. One day, Victoria struck her. Emmeline, shaking, wet herself.
“Not just a lunatic, but pissing yourself? Out of my house!”
She hurled Emmelines things into a bin bag and shoved her out the door.
“Wheres Emmeline?” Lawrence asked that evening, stretching in bed.
“Gone!” Victoria snapped. “Wet herself, then locked in the bedroom. When I opened the door, she bolted with her bag. I wont chase some madwoman!”
Lawrence stayed silent. Then, softly: “Well, if shes gone” He turned on the TV. “Found tenants, by the way.”
The night stretched long. He thought of Emmelinehelpless as a child. Where was she? Only at dawn did he sleep, dreaming of his mother:
“I begged you, son” she whispered from her coffin, a bony finger raised in warning.
The dream haunted him for weeks. He couldnt bear it. Two months later, he rang his godmother, Agnes:
“What, Lawrence? Guilt got its teeth in you?” she said coldly. “Lucky I called on your mother. Found Emmeline trembling, took her in. Ill keep her. Dont want her flat. You live with the shame.”
“Ah, godmother” He hung up, relievedEmmeline was safe.
But she died two months later, the same illness as their mother. Lawrence didnt attend the funeral”urgent business.”
Ten years passed. Now Lawrence lay ill, wracked with pain and regret. Victoria lived with another man. His children visited rarely, noses wrinkled. “You smell like sickness.”
One day, Victoria marched in with papers.
“Sign. We need to settle the firm.”
He signed. Too late, he understoodhed handed over the house. Then the business. Memories of his mother and Emmeline flooded him. Tears spilled down his cheeks.
“Forgive me” he whispered into the swallowing dark.
