Misery

How could she not? Really. How in the hell could she get out of driving down to the federal building and taking the little bundle of misery into her arms? There was no way.

People watched her. She was famous. She'd helped so many celebrities get out of negligence suits and child endangerment charges, saying that they were just human and that they were bound to make mistakes. She'd made herself out to be this family woman. This kind woman accepting of other parent's faults and errs, that she couldn't possible say no.

She hadn't spoken to her sister in eleven years. She hadn't even known the woman had gotten married or had a child. It's not as though they had invited each other to their respective weddings. Eliza hadn't even spoken to her sister through their mother. That was how much the twins loathed each other. Eliza was sure if ghosts existed, Brenda would have possessed a bookshelf to crush the child to avoid having her sister take care of it.

They'd stopped talking on graduation day. Eliza had gotten a full ride scholarship to a prestigious law college and Brenda had gotten pregnant with her second kid. Unlike the first kid, which she had aborted, Brenda wanted to keep this one and raise it with Eliza. The baby's father had died in an unfortunate accident two weeks earlier, leaving Eliza to pick up the pieces and cheer her sister up. Brenda had thought the baby's father was 'the one' and having him suddenly torn away from her by fate made her needier than ever. She would follow Eliza back and forth, and whenever the other girl tried to get out of the house, Brenda would find some reason to accompany her. Eliza supposed she was trying to annoy her into sticking around and agreeing to raise the baby with her, but Eliza knew that if she stayed in that one stop backwater small town any longer she would lose her mind. The city yielded better and brighter things for Eliza and she wanted them with a fervent passion.

Three weeks before the Fall semester at Eliza's college started, she began to pack her things and Brenda became even needier. Then two weeks later, Eliza left. It was a bit insensitive considering the untimely demise of the father, but Eliza was beyond caring. Just as Brenda had struck her with the words, "If you love me, you won't go!" Eliza had lashed back with "If you love me, you'll let me go!"

When midterm week rolled around, Brenda sent Eliza an email;

I couldn't care for this poor soul by myself, so I had to get an abortion. If you had stayed maybe he/she would have had a chance.

If Brenda had been a more cultured soul, maybe she would have known not to sent a stressed out law student an accusatory email.

And when Eliza replied with the following;

You didn't have to get anything. If you really cared about it, you should have given it away to people who actually deserve a kid.

the sisters never spoke again.