My first My Sister's Keeper fanfic. Hope you like it. Please review! :D
I watched as Kate's face stared up at me happily, blissfully. I remembered her last words to me. Anna, it's not your fault.
Suddenly, I was back at the hospital room with the pristine white walls. Kate was lying down on her bed and beckoned me to come closer to her. I did, and I saw Kate for the first time in months. As in, really see her. Kate's eyes looked tired, and her skin seemed paler than usual. Her hand moved sluggishly and rested itself on my arm as I perched over her bed.
"I'm so sorry," were the words I blurt out. "I should have given you the kidney." Tears sprang from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. Kate reached out slowly with her hand and wiped my cheek with her thumb.
"Anna… you did the right thing." Kate coughed.
"Kate, I didn't," I replied. "I shouldn't have sued Mom and Dad."
"Anna," Kate persisted. "Anna, it's not your fault."
That was the last time I saw Kate, because about two days after that, her condition worsened and she was gone.
Was that what Kate wanted? To just let go of life and die? To give up her future, just like that? Of course not. "What if Kate had been healthy?" I asked myself, as I have done loads of times. The answer popped right into my head: Then you wouldn't be here.
I took the picture and held it up, studying it some more. When Mom took the picture, I wasn't even born yet—in fact, I had no reason to live yet. No reason at all—Kate wasn't sick yet.
In the picture, Kate's blond ringlets cascaded down her shoulders as she sat on the ground, pretending to read a picture book. She was grinning—well, not really, as her smile was more of a shy one, unlike Jesse, who was in the background, playing with a little basketball with a gigantic grin pasted on his face.
Suddenly, I felt someone hug my leg. I looked down, and I didn't see my daughter, the four-year-old girl named Kate with curly blond locks. I saw my sister. "Hi, Mommy," she said. "What's that?" Her 'th' in 'that' sounded like a d. I smiled down at her.
"Hey there, Kit-Kat," I replied, hiding the picture behind my back. "How's my little girl today?"
"Okay," she said. "But… Mommy… my leg has a boo-boo." She sat down on a chair and pointed to it.
"Let's see." I gasped at the sight that greeted me. A purple bruise. That was what started it all. "Kate…! Did you bump your leg hard against something?" I emphasized the word hard. Kate paused for a moment, and shook her head. I choked back tears as I remembered my sister.
Anna, it's not your fault, Kate's words echoed in my head.
Maybe it wasn't my fault then…
But it was my fault now.