Angela was nine years old when she came home one night from choir practice to the sound of yelling. This in itself wasn't unusual; it was who was yelling that concerned her.
"Father, no! Please! You can't do this to her!" The sound of Sarah's panicked voice made Angela's heart leap into her throat. Her oldest sister was the most composed and unflappable person Angela had ever met—she never panicked.
Angela's fears were confirmed when she heard her father's voice. "Silence! That girl is a dirty, filthy whore and she is a disgrace to this family. She is no child of mine."
Someone else was sobbing in the background. Rachael, or Naomi? Angela threw her jacket on the coat rack and rushed through the sitting room towards the sound of the commotion—it was coming from upstairs.
"No!" Sarah screamed. The sounds of a struggle filtered downstairs, followed by a loud thud and an all-too-familiar slap. Angela reached the staircase where she found Rachael huddled on the bottom step. Her younger sister's whole body was trembling and when she turned around Angela could see that her face was streaked with tears.
"Rachael, what's wrong? What happened?" Angela glanced upstairs but saw no one.
Rachael's voice shook when she spoke. "It's Naomi…she's…she's with child." Rachael paused, shaking her head and staring wide-eyed at Angela in disbelief. "She told father and he…" her voice wavered and trailed off. She swallowed hard and continued. "He said she is no longer his daughter and that she needs to leave the house."
Angela sank down to sit beside Rachael. "She's with child?" How her older sister could have allowed such a thing to occur was beyond Angela's comprehension. Of course their father would be absolutely enraged. No sinful behavior of any sort was tolerated under his roof, and now his daughter would soon be having a child out of wedlock. Angela had no doubt that her father was deadly serious about what he had told Naomi.
Rachael took a deep, shuddering breath. "Yes," she said. "And now Sarah is trying to stop father from making her leave."
A door opened forcefully on the upper level. Heavy footsteps approached the top of the staircase and Naomi's crying grew louder. Angela and Rachael ran into the sitting room as their father began dragging Naomi and a green suitcase down the stairs.
"Father, please!" Naomi was hardly able to speak through her sobs. "I have nowhere to go. Please don't do this, please."
"Do not speak to me, you disgusting, shameful girl. You will leave this house and you will not dare to come back. I never want to lay eyes on you again."
Pressed up against Rachael behind the sitting room bookshelf, Angela nearly gasped aloud as Naomi tripped on the bottom step and fell hard onto the wood floor. Her father yanked her to her feet, ignoring her cry of pain. He began pulling her towards the front door as another set of footsteps hurtled down the staircase and stopped abruptly at the bottom.
"Father, I'm going with her." Sarah's voice was clear and her face strangely calm despite the angry red mark on her left cheek.
Angela held her breath as her father froze, then slowly turned to face Sarah. "You will do no such thing."
Sarah lifted her chin and straightened her back. "Yes, I will. If she goes, I go with her."
Shocked silence filled the room for several seconds. Never had Angela or any of her sisters ever spoken to their father with such defiance. Angela hardly dared to breathe as she looked between Sarah, her father, and Naomi. Sarah and her father stood still as statues, eyes boring into each other while Naomi's face cycled rapidly through a catalogue of emotions. She looked unsure as to whether to feel relieved, guilty, or somewhere in between. The silence stretched on for what seemed to Angela like an eternity before Naomi took a deep breath and spoke. "Sarah, no. I can't let you do that."
But Sarah only looked more determined. "Well, I am not letting you leave here alone." She turned to face her father. "Either you allow her to stay, or we both go."
Angela felt her heart rate increase until it pounded in her ears. Rachael grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly as both of them stared at their father in intense apprehension.
He stood stock still for several more seconds, each one torturously long. Then his features hardened. His eyes took on a cold glare as his face morphed into that harrowing expression that terrified Angela like nothing else—total detachment.
"Then you both go." He said it as if nothing in the world mattered less to him.
Naomi dissolved into fresh tears, but Sarah's face took on a look of firm resolve. She picked up Naomi's suitcase and took her sister by the hand, fixing her father with a glare almost as cold as his. "Alright then," she said resolutely. "Let's go." She led Naomi towards the front door.
No, no, don't leave me here. Don't leave me. I can't lose both of you too.
Angela stepped out from behind the bookshelf, unable to simply watch this unfold. "Sarah!" she cried, looking desperately at her sister. "Please don't go." She didn't mean for it to but it came out as a whisper and her voice broke at the end. Angela bit down on her lip to stop herself from crying.
Sarah turned around and walked towards her two younger sisters. A sad smile turned the corners of her mouth upwards. She bent down and took Angela by the shoulders, staring deep into her eyes. "You take care of Rachael for me, ok?"
Angela could only nod. She had so much she wanted to say but she knew she wouldn't be able to open her mouth without bursting into tears. Sarah hugged her and whispered in her ear. "It'll be alright, Angela, I promise." It tickled the way it always did but Angela couldn't even think of cracking a smile—the slight tremor in her sister's voice told her that Sarah was scared too. Probably even more than she was. "I'm just so sorry it has to be like this." Sarah pulled away.
Angela's throat hurt and her eyes stung as Sarah hugged Rachael, then Naomi hugged both of them too. None of it seemed real. Like it was all part of one of those terrible nightmares that sometimes woke her up in the middle of the night. Only now, Sarah wouldn't be there to help her fall asleep again.
Angela's mind seemed to shut off for a little while because suddenly the door was closed and Naomi and Sarah were gone. She stood there staring at it for a few seconds, hardly able to comprehend what she was seeing. Then she turned around, took Rachael's hand and led her sister upstairs. She couldn't bear to look at her father when she passed him so she stared at the floor instead.
That night, Angela didn't sleep. She lay awake and kept watch over Rachael, unable to shake the irrational fear that her sister wouldn't be there when she woke up.