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Gabe wasn't evil. He didn't mean to drive his mother insane, didn't mean to turn his little sister into a drug addict. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure the former was his fault anyway- mom had been unstable way before he had come into the picture (or so he had gathered from listening to his father and the doctor talk).
He didn't mean for Natalie to get hurt, but he needed to talk to someone after mom had been sent to the hospital. He was about eighty percent sure that dad could see him. However that didn't mean anything if Dan refused to respond to anything that Gabe did. So that left Natalie.
She was by far the sanest of the three, and the least likely to talk to him even if she weren't. Still, she was the only hope he had left at this point. So, in a moment of weakness he had slipped mom's leftover meds into the bathroom cabinet for his sister to find. It took less than twenty-four hours for him to regret it.
Gabe leaned against the door of his sister's room, listening to the voices through the door. He closed his eyes, straining to make out the words amid Natalie's screaming. He flinched as he heard the word brother, along with several choice curse words. Then came the rattle of pills in a plastic bottle and the soft protests of Natalie's boyfriend.
A moment later the door was thrown open, sending Gabe stumbling away. Henry grabbed at the doorframe, calling back to the girl inside, begging her to stop, to listen to him. Gabe glanced from Henry to the piece of Natalie's room visible through the open door, and made his choice. He slipped through and into his sister's bedroom just before the door closed behind Henry.
Natalie was sitting on the bed, sobbing and clutching a now empty pill bottle in one hand. Gabe glanced around furtively, he had never actually been in Natalie's room. After years of being ignored by her it was just to painful to do anything but stay away from her and dad. It was sparsely decorated for a teenage girl, without the posters or pictures of that adorned the walls of most girls her age.
He leaned against the door again, biting the inside of his cheek as he watched her. The door creaked slightly on its hinges and her head jerked up. Her brown eyes widened as she looked at him- really looked at him, she could see him. She curled into a ball, hiding her face in her hands and turning her back to her dead brother.
"Hey. Natalie? Please talk to me."
"God, this is so messed up. I'm so messed up." Her voice was muffled by the pillow she clutched against her face. Gabe stepped forward tentatively, then just as quickly stepped back as Natalie sat up abruptly. Her pale face was streaked with tears, eyes red and puffy from crying. Her curly hair was damp and stuck to her skin, her voice hoarse and raspy.
"Let's see, what's on Natalie's list of fucked up things in my life. My crazy mom is currently in the hospital having doctors electrocute her brain. My boyfriend is a stoner and we are probably done after that fight. I am really wasted and on top of everything else I am talking to my brother, who died before I was even born, and who drove my mom insane."
"Natalie-"
"No! You don't get to talk! You shouldn't even be here, you're supposed to be dead. Why are you even still here? Mom is in the hospital, why didn't you go with her? Why can I even see you? You're her crazy hallucination! This is so fucked up." She dropped her face into her hands again, sobs racking her slender body. Hesitantly, Gabe stepped forward and rested a hand on his sister's shaking shoulder.
"I don't know. I'm so sorry, I don't have the answers you want or need. It's not your fault though, it's mine-"
"I know it's your fault! It's your fault that mom is in the hospital with doctors fucking with her brain. It's your fault that dad isn't here half the time and when he is he is he can barely talk to me. It's your fault I am so messed up. It's all your fault."
"I know."