Freak

Janey says I saved her brother’s life three times. It was always like her to exaggerate in threes, as though there was something special about the number. I never thought to ask.

The first time was a coincidence. An accident.

“Liam!” I’d called, jogging toward him.“Your lunch!”

He must have dropped it leaving for his paper route. I’d managed to catch him before the end of the block…and before a sedan ran the stop sign. He hadn’t even noticed until he saw me, frozen, face pale and staring.

“What?” he asked.

“You—I just saw—”

“What?”

“Did you see that car? It would have hit you!”

“Car?” he said, looking at the empty street behind him. “There wasn’t a car!”

“Yes there was!”

He kept denying it, saying he always looked both ways. Always stopped at stop signs. Never had a close call. But I’d seen that sedan. It hadn’t even braked.

“My god. You would have died.” I stared at him, feeling faint.

Janey had been hysterical. Outwardly, I’d rolled my eyes. Sisters. I’d said. No one can worry like a sister.

***

The second time had been the silliest thing. I’d only caught his arm to keep him from falling on his butt on black ice.

But he would have broken his tailbone, Janey had said, or worse! I read you can get whiplash from certain falls and get brain damage! He could have had a brain hemorrhage!

At that, I’d outwardly and inwardly rolled my eyes. You’ve fallen on your butt plenty of times, Janey. He would have been fine.

But she insisted.

***

The third time… well, it’s as I said. Janey likes to exaggerate.

Ever since the car incident, she’d been terrified of Liam going anywhere on his bike. For goodness sake, he was thirteen and she expected him to have the sense of a grown man.

We’d decided to get some ice cream, Janey at the wheel, Liam behind, and me, shotgun. I picked at my seatbelt.

“Where is this place, anyway?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’ve been driving forever,” Liam said, throwing himself backward. He’d been moody since school had ended. I suspected he had a crush he missed but he wouldn’t talk about it.

Janey huffed. “It’s been, like, five minutes, Liam. We’ll be there soon. God, don’t you want ice cream, anyway?”

Liam scowled. “It’s just ice cream.”

Janey turned back to glare at him. “Why’d you decide to come if you didn’t want ice cream? That was the express destination today.”

I held back a laugh. “Express destination.” Yeah, like Liam cared.

“Mom said I should go since all my friends are at the mall and I’m still banned from my bike.”

“What, you bike to the mall?” I asked.

“Just to Brandon’s house.”

Janey gave me a look as if to say, He’s banned because of the sedan incident.

I cleared my throat. “So when’s your mom gonna let you ride again, Liam?” I asked.

Janey side-eyed me. She clicked her left turn signal on.

“I don’t know.” Liam leaned forward, elbows and head on knees, sulking. I didn’t respond. Neither did Janey. I knew she must have instigated the ban, though she didn’t tell me.

Something about the silence made me glance behind us.

“What the fu—!” I screamed as a silver SUV slammed into Janey’s car.

***

The doctors told us later that if Liam hadn’t been in the position he had, he would have broken his neck on the back of Janey’s seat. I've thought about that for years, wondering how that could have been possible. Something about it created a helmet, I suppose.

Janey likes to exaggerate. It’s like her voice is a bell in my mind, clanging the same thing over and over again. Three times. My best friend saved my brother’s life three times.

It isn't even true. They were accidents. It was never me.

“Stop it,” Liam had said, glaring at me from his hospital bed. His eyes were red. I was sure mine were too.

“Why can’t you just laugh and say, ‘I did what I had to do?’ Why can't you claim yourself as some freaky savior, even if you don't believe it?”

I didn’t move.

I felt like I was back in the car thinking, Sisters. No one worries like a sister. It’s like she expected something would happen to Liam. She poured every moment of her life into worrying about his safety. Barely seventeen and she couldn't care less about dating, fashion, cliques. Not even college. Like she didn’t even see it in her future.

“Stop it,” Liam said again.

I looked at him.

He glared back. “Okay?”

I nodded.

The SUV had pushed the car forward so much, we were T-boned by a sedan. A sedan, running the light. Just one more moment and we would have gotten the arrow.

The paramedics said she must have fractured her neck on the airbag when the SUV hit us, but I remember hearing a guttural scream, just louder than a whimper, when the sedan hit her door.

My best friend saved my brother's life three times.

Three. The number of unity, balance, harmony. Completion.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I wrote this for Belle's "The Conviction" challenge.