Chapter 36: Mend The Broken Heart

It was five in the evening.

The sun had begun its descent behind the rooftops of Ashwell Row, leaving Rhys Manor covered in a warm golden glow.

The house was unusually quiet. There were no servants rushing through the corridors, no conversations from the dining room, and no sound of Father complaining about some ridiculous expense that apparently threatened the future of our family.

Ever since I had returned from the Realm of the Evil, the atmosphere inside the manor had changed.

Everyone was trying to behave normally, but nobody actually was.

Eliza’s death had left a hole in the household that nobody knew how to fill.

I sat on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I had tried reading, training, and even sleeping, which had lasted about ten minutes before my brain decided that remembering horrifying things was apparently more entertaining.

Eventually, I gave up.

Then a translucent window appeared in front of me.

[Quest Activated!]

[Quest: Mend The Broken Heart of Your Sister]

[Reward: 20 Plot Points]

[Failure Would Result In A Punishment]

[Time: 25 Minutes]

I stared at it.

’You have got to be kidding me.’

The annoying part was that I had already been thinking about doing exactly this.

Sera had barely been herself since we returned.

She still spoke when addressed, ate when Mother insisted, and occasionally made sarcastic comments whenever Father said something ridiculous.

But before, her sarcasm had carried energy behind it. Now it felt automatic.

I sighed and stood.

Twenty Plot Points was twenty Plot Points.

More importantly, she was my sister.

I left my room and walked toward Sera’s bedroom.

The closer I got, the more I wondered what I was supposed to say. I had never been good at comforting people. If Arthur broke his arm, I could make a joke about him being an idiot and help him find a doctor. Grief was different.

I stopped outside Sera’s door and knocked twice.

"Come in."

I opened the door.

Sera sat on her bed with a blanket around her, a cigarette between her fingers. Her dark hair was disheveled, and she looked exhausted.

She raised her eyes toward me.

"What do you want?"

"What if you get caught smoking in here? Father is going to smell that from the other side of the manor, and I really do not want him deciding that the solution is to punish both of us."

Sera looked at the cigarette.

"I honestly do not know what would happen. Father would probably yell at me for an hour, Mother would tell him to calm down, and somehow you would still end up getting dragged into the conversation."

"Exactly. I have done absolutely nothing wrong, yet somehow I can already see myself standing there while Father gives me a lecture about responsibility."

I pulled the chair beside her desk over and sat down.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

Then I decided to be direct.

"You miss Eliza."

Sera looked down.

"Of course I miss her. I keep expecting to hear her voice somewhere in the house. Sometimes I still turn around because I think she is about to walk into the room and start complaining about something. Then I remember that she is not coming back, and that is when it actually hits me."

"I miss her too."

Sera looked at me.

"You did not know her as well as I did."

"No, I didn’t. You were her best friend, and you had years together that I was never part of. But she was still my friend. I cared about her. I may not have known everything about her, but I know enough to understand why losing her hurts."

Sera looked away.

"I keep thinking about what happened."

"What about it?"

"Eliza."

Her fingers tightened around the cigarette.

"She knew what she was doing. She knew only four people could make it through the portal, and she chose to stay behind so you, Arthur, Mary, and Theodore could escape."

I nodded.

"Yeah."

"That’s what makes it worse."

She looked down.

"There was nothing I could do. Even if I had been there, it would not have changed anything. There were only four places, and Eliza had already made her decision."

Her voice became quieter.

"I know she chose to do it. I know she saved all of you. I know that if she hadn’t, one of you wouldn’t have made it out."

She paused.

"But knowing that does not make me miss her any less."

I remained silent.

"I keep thinking about her making that decision. She knew she wasn’t coming back, and she still chose to stay behind."

She swallowed.

"She did not even get to come home."

"No. She did not."

"I hate that. I hate that there was nothing anyone could do. I hate that the only choice she had was to sacrifice herself, and I hate that she had to be the one who made it."

I looked at her.

"You do not have to make yourself accept it just because you understand why she did it."

Sera raised her eyes.

"I don’t?"

"No. You can understand her decision and still hate it. You can be grateful that she saved us and still wish she had chosen differently. Those feelings do not contradict each other."

She stared at me.

"I just wish I had more time with her."

"Me too."

Silence filled the room.

There was no clever answer. Nothing I could say would bring Eliza back or make her death feel fair.

I finally spoke.

"You do not have to pretend that you are fine."

"I am not pretending."

"You are."

"I am not."

Sera lowered her head.

"I do not know what I am supposed to do."

"Maybe you are not supposed to be normal yet."

Sera looked up.

"You lost someone important to you. It would be strange if you suddenly woke up one morning and felt completely fine. Nobody gets to decide how long grief is supposed to last."

She listened quietly.

"You can still miss her. You can still be angry. You can have days when you feel fine and days when you feel terrible. None of that means you are weak, and none of it means you are forgetting her."

Sera nodded.

"I suppose I needed to hear that."

"I think most people need to hear it sometimes."

"I just wish I could talk to her one more time."

The room fell quiet.

Sera looked at the cigarette.

"I started smoking with her."

"I know."

"You know that?"

"Yes. You told me you started because of Eliza."

Sera stared at it.

"I thought it would make me feel closer to her. She introduced me to it, and after she died, I thought continuing would somehow make me feel like I was holding onto something that belonged to her."

"Does it help?"

"No."

"It does not make me feel closer to her. It does not make me feel better. Most of the time, it just makes me feel guilty because I know I am using something unhealthy to cope with losing her."

She extinguished the cigarette.

"I think I should stop."

"That sounds like a good idea."

Sera glanced at me.

"Do not make a big speech about it."

"I wasn’t going to. I was thinking about saying something incredibly wise."

"And what was it?"

I paused.

"Do not smoke."

Sera stared at me.

Then she laughed.

"That was terrible."

"It was still correct."

"I suppose it was."

She placed the cigarette aside.

"I should probably let you rest," I said.

Sera nodded.

"Thank you for coming here."

"You do not need to thank me. You are my sister. I was going to come whether the System told me to or not."

I immediately froze.

’Wait.’

Sera raised an eyebrow.

"The System?"

I cleared my throat.

"I meant the system of basic sibling responsibility."

She stared at me.

"That makes absolutely no sense."

"It sounded better in my head."

Sera shook her head, but there was another faint smile on her face.

I walked toward the door and noticed the cigarette pack on her desk.

I pointed toward it.

"Can I take one puff?"

Sera’s eyes widened.

Then she laughed.

"No, of course not. It is bad for your health, and I am not letting my little brother start smoking just because I made a stupid decision."

I grinned.

"That was a surprisingly responsible answer."

"Someone in this room has to be responsible."

"I thought that was supposed to be me."

Sera gave me an unimpressed look.

"You can start by leaving my room."

"Fair enough."

I opened the door and glanced back.

The sadness in her eyes had not disappeared. Eliza was still gone, and nothing I had said could change that.

But Sera was talking. She was smiling and She was listening.

For today, I thought that was enough.

The moment I stepped into the hallway, a translucent notification appeared before me.

[System Alert!]

[Quest Complete: Mend The Broken Heart of Your Sister]

[Plot Points Awarded: +20 Plot Points]