“I really dislike that serious look.”

“It is a serious matter,” Sarah replied holding Selena’s hands in hers, looking for the best way to tell her about the custody case. “You know, Aunt Marie has been really worried about you since, because of the accident, you’ve been left practically alone,” she told her carefully and Selena’s expression was suddenly grave, far from her usual child-like demeanor.

“I’m not alone. I have you,” she declared dryly and Sarah took a deep breath, nodding.

“Of course. Of course you have! And you always will, Selena. Always!” she assured. “However, Aunt Marie seems to feel that I … well, that I’m not qualified enough to take care of you.”

“What do you mean? Why not?” Selena immediately asked defensively and Sarah forced a smile, trying to lighten the weight of her own words.

“Well, you know … There are all those psychiatric admissions on file. Most people think I’m half crazy. And besides they say that I’m still young and don’t have a family you could integrate, be a part of,” she tried to explain. “And so, Aunt Marie as asked the court for your custody.”

“What?!” Selena jumped to her feet, her face a mask of indignation. “How could she do that?” she demanded, raising her voice, and Sarah tried to reach her, to calm her down, but she backed away, furious.

“Selena …”

“She doesn’t have the right! I refuse to accept something like that!”

Sarah sighed heavily. She’d known beforehand that that wouldn’t be an easy talk, but Selena’s reaction to the news had been even more violent than she’d foreseen.

“Listen, Selena. I already have a lawyer taking care of the matter. But if they do find me inapt …”

“I don’t care! I’m not a child anymore! I’m fourteen! I have the right to choose with whom I want to stay!” she insisted, cutting her off, and Sarah nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. But you must understand. If the court finds me inapt to be your guardian, staying with me will never even be an option. They’ll only allow you to choose from the family members they find fit to take care of you.”

“But Sarah! You promised! At the funeral, you promised you’d never leave me alone! That you’d always stay with me!” she reminded her and Sarah felt a painful stab in her chest as bright tears fell from her sister’s eyes. Immediately running to her, she held her close, trying to comfort her. Selena never cried in front of others. Not even at the funeral, she’d never shed a single tear …

“I know, Selena,” she whispered kissing her wavy hair. “I don’t want to be apart from you either! And I have no intention of giving up! No matter what! Still, you have to understand. Aunt Marie too, she only wants what she thinks is best for you.”

“But I don’t want to live with her!” she stubbornly declared and Sarah placed another kiss on her hair, as if that could calm her down.

“I know. And I’m sorry. If only I’d been a better sister …” And listened to you that night …

Selena hugged her back as if she were afraid to be taken away that instant.

“You’re the best sister ever!” she declared and finally raised her head, drying her tears before turning to face her. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be all right!” she declared with sudden confidence. “Worst-case scenario we can always pay someone to kill the old witch,” she added, completely serious.

“Selena! Don’t say that!” Sarah reprimanded her but the girl faced her with that same unwavering expression.

“I’m not kidding. I refuse to go and live with her. And if that stupid judge decides that I have to go with her I swear I’ll run away!”

Sarah smiled at her sister’s creative imagination and tousled her ponytail.

“Run away? Where to?” she asked, wanting to make her think things through, and Selena raised her head, all confident and haughty.

“Here, of course. Here Aaran and Alexis can protect me,” she declared with unwavering certainty and Sarah sighed again. Selena had more confidence in the inviolable safety of that house than she’d ever had. “I’ll make her life a living hell, so much so that she’ll be begging to get rid of me in no time!” she claimed in a revengeful tone that Sarah didn’t even dare to doubt. She knew Selena was capable of that and much worse, should she put her mind to it. Her little sister had always been strong headed, even as a child, a quality that had only improved over the years.

The sound of the door bell immediately changed her mood and Selena smiled from ear to ear.

“Oh! Great! My package finally arrived!” she declared, letting go of her sister and running out the door.

Sarah blinked, still astonished. It had always amazed her, how fast Selena’s mood could change, or at least that’s what most people would certainly think. As far as she was concerned, however, all she had to do was lower her mental defenses for a little bit to know that, no matter how much she masked them behind smiles and irreverent remarks, her emotions remained the same. Selena was still mourning their parents passing and the recent news had shaken her deeply.

And then another thought cross her mind and she rushed to put on some clothes.

“Selena! Don’t just open the door to anyone!” she shouted as her sister’s footsteps stormed down the stairs.

“I know!” the answer came from down below but she still couldn’t help worry.

And what was that about a package?!

When she finally got out of the room and made her way downstairs, Selena was in the middle of the corridor, circling a huge box with an excited expression.

“What’s this?”

“A television, obviously.”

“A what?!” Sarah demanded, raising her voice in disbelief although the picture on the box clearly confirmed the girl’s statement. “Oh my God! Are you insane?”

“Oh, don’t worry miss,” Anne said with a smile, caring a knife she’d probably went to get from the kitchen.

“How can I not? This is way too expensive!”

“If you guys expect me to stay here, cooped inside this house for an undetermined period of time, a TV is an indispensable commodity,” Selena declared, apparently immune to her sister’s outrage.

“And it had to be a LCD of fifty-two inches?!” Sarah insisted, reading the device’s properties written in black on the box. “Do you even know how much something like this costs?”

“Of course I do. I’m the one who ordered it, after all,” Selena replied, folding her arms over her chest with a superior look. “And just so you know, you can’t return it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I asked them to leave it outside, since we can’t open the door to strangers. And they immediately informed me that I’d lose the guaranty, since they won’t be responsible for any damages that may occur from it being left alone outside, unsupervised.”

Sarah took a hand to her face, feeling suddenly too tired.

“Good grief, Selena. Where are we going to get the money to pay for this?”

“Oh, it’s already been paid,” she announced, as if she’d just remembered that small detail, and Sarah gave her a threatening look.

“What do you mean, it’s already paid?” she demanded, already guessing the answer, and the girl smiled, trying to squeeze a hand into the front pocket of her tight pants from where a small, golden card suddenly appeared.

“Aaran said I could buy whatever I wanted with this card,” she declared, clearly delighted with her golden wonder, and Sarah felt faint.

“Even if he told you that, I’m sure he didn’t mean a flat screen!” she insisted, on the verge of despair before her sister’s lack of self-awareness, and Selena shrugged, tucking the card back into her pocket.

“He said whatever I wanted.”

“But a TV?!”

“And a PlayStation,” she added in a small voice, averting her gaze as if the matter didn’t concern her, and Sarah just stood there, staring at her, dumbfounded. “And, of course, a few games. Come on! Why would I want a TV for? To watch soap operas? Besides, this house doesn’t have anything!” she criticized. “Not even a computer, or a stereo. Did you know that the only radio around belongs to Anne? It’s the most boring place on Earth!”

Sarah was in a perfect state of shock. Sure she knew all too well the proactive, hyperactive sister that God had granted her. But, even so, she’d never imagined she would actually do something like that. As if all the problems they already had weren’t enough.

“Don’t worry, miss,” Anne repeated. “Master Aaran is always doing things like this. The last time he gave young Hale a convertible. You just had to see how happy he was, jumping and laughing all over the place,” she recalled, cutting the tapes that closed the box, and Sarah looked at the nice woman in disbelief.

“The red Ferrari?” she asked, remembering the car where Hale had taken her to see Selena and that she still believed he’d stolen somewhere, and Anne nodded.

“That’s the one. Such a nice car too.”

Nice car?! Expensive as hell, that’s what it is!

“See? My TV is completely insignificant, when compared with a Ferrari,” Selena argued supported by Anne’s argument. “Besides, what’s done is done. And since you can’t return it it’s no use arguing about it.”

Sarah sighed, still looking at the huge box, and sighed again. No matter how wrong buying that thing had been, Selena was right. Now that it had come to this, there was no other choice but keeping it. The best she could do was ask Aaran to let her pay it back in small installments … really, really small installments, she added with a grimace.

“I’ll go get another knife,” she announced, defeated, and Selena smiled happily, which at least served as a bit of consolation.

They spent the rest of the morning around cables and instruction booklets, since Anne had returned to her daily tasks as soon as they’d been able to carry the TV into the living room.

With a resign sigh Sarah watched as Selena dragged sofas and changed things around, as if she were in her own home, all to better adapt the furniture to the new addition without breaking the general harmony of the decoration. When it was finally done, she stared at her accomplishments with an appreciative look and nodded clearly pleased.

“Great! Tomorrow morning I can start doing my gymnastics again!” Sarah stared at her unable to understand.

“Gymnastics?”

“Of course. Since I couldn’t go to a gym I started following the Fit Body Program, that airs every morning. Back at Martha’s I never lost one. I need the exercise or I’ll just get fat,” she declared critically, pressing the buttons on the remote and jumping from channel to channel, and Sarah couldn’t help feel shaken at how naturally, almost unconsciously, she’d mentioned Martha’s name. The same Martha that had offered her home and had taken her in. The same that had been buried the day before, together with her husband and children, without the responsible for what had happened having even attended their funeral.

Good. It’s good that she doesn’t have that extra weight to carry, Sarah told herself, thankfully, although the weight was still there and she could clearly feel it.

After lunch Selena went back to her new toy, planning to open and try out all the games that, together with her new gaming console, were still stuck in their boxes.

Sarah left her in the living room with her new toys and went back upstairs, grabbing her cell phone. She had a few urgent calls to make, including one to the Hillman Center to ask for an extension of her leave of absence. She also dreaded what John might have said or done, after she’d refuse to see him at the hospital. And, besides that, there was another important matter she wanted to check on.

It was almost four in the afternoon when she finally finished her phone calls session, and feeling like a child who just finished her school duties and is finally allowed to go out and play, Sarah practically ran downstairs, her thoughts immediately turning to Alexis … until she reached the living room door. Suddenly she was painfully aware of how inconvenient that huge television was going to be, with Selena spending her days there, staring at it, right in the way of her coming and going from Alexis’ bedroom.

Peering inside, her mind already searching for an excuse, she was pleasantly relieved to notice that the girl had fallen asleep curled up on the sofa, hugging the controller against her chest as if it were a teddy bear.

With a sigh, Sarah turned off the TV casting bright, colorful lights all over the place. Then took a peek at her sister. She’d noticed as soon as she’d seen her that morning. Although Selena had recovered her appetite there were still dark circles beneath her eyes, result of poorly slept nights. With a gentle caress she brushed a rebel wave of hair away from her face and let her rest, certain that, downstairs, another sleepyhead awaited her.