Choices [ENG]

20.

My mind is crowded with a thousand thoughts that keep hitting my stomach like arrows: I have to go now!

I take my backpack from my room and then close the door, vowing never to go back. I quickly go to Maria's office to inform her of my immediate departure and why I need a horse.

I still see the light on, luckily. I open the door and find Maria, Tommy and Ellie there. "Charlie! What's going on?" Tommy asks, obviously seeing me very upset.

"I'm leaving. Now" I say dryly and without second thoughts.

"What? Now? But it's night!" He exclaims.

"I told you I want to fuck off now! The only person who really cares about me is out there and I can't let her get away! So, give me a horse and you'll never see me again" I scream in rage.

Tommy glances quickly at Maria and Ellie and then nods at me.

"Okay, I'll come get your horse ready," Tommy says in a calm, submissive voice. I'm about to leave when I hear Ellie's voice: "You won't find her, Charlie!". I turn around intent on strangling her, this time, however, for real.

"What the fuck do you mean ?!" I exclaim.

"You will not find out there because you have already found it .." she says and approaches me. She puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "Charlie, I'm your sister."

"What?!" I exclaim. "What the fuck are you saying ?!".

"Don't you believe it? Look" she says and pulls up the sleeve of her right arm: there is a burn in the shape of a C, like the one in the dream.

I am truly speechless: all the emotions that were crowding into my chest seem to have suddenly subsided. I can't believe it: has she been here all this time? I look at her well in the face and it is as if I were seeing her for the first time. I approach with shining eyes.

"It's me, Charlie. You found me ..." she says with her voice cut by tears.

Without thinking twice, I fall into her arms and squeeze her tightly, as if afraid she might escape again.

"I imagined this moment a billion times, but I missed this version" I say.

Ellie laughs but doesn't let go, she keeps holding me. It doesn't seem real to me that I am finally in my sister's arms: it is as if I have found a part of myself. A thousand questions assail me.

"Since when did you know?" I ask, between surprise and joy.

"Since you told your story on spin the bottle night" she explains. "I don't know if you noticed but I was a little upset at the end of the evening, and for the following days, I tried in every way to avoid you."

I try to remember that night and in fact, it seemed quite strange to me, but I thought it was a fatal mix of alcohol and fatigue.

"So, you didn't know about mom?" I ask.

Ellie shakes her head.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like this, if I had known ..." I say a little disconsolate.

"No, don't worry. It's okay, it's not your fault" she says with a hint of a smile.

"You have a few things to talk about" says Maria. "We leave you alone". We hear the door close. Ellie and I sit across from each other.

"You didn't know but these burns on our arm have a really beautiful story. Our mother, in the letter she left on dad's grave, said she knew something was going to happen that would separate us, which is why she decided to give us an indelible sign of our relationship " she explains.