CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH

HARPER Quarts was truly very similar to Thea McCarty. Like it or not, they were family, they were blood. There was a lot of hate that strained their relationship, but loyalty is what kept their relationship together.

"Thea, where are you going?" Harper said the next morning when she saw Thea packing her bags.

"Home." Thea sighs, "You want to live like this—okay. You don't want me getting in the way of your lifestyle and I'm not going to force you into mine. So I'll leave you alone."

Alone? The word echoed through Harper's head and she could've sworn she felt herself catch a migraine. "...Thea."

Thea grabs her phone from the nightstand. "I would still love to have a relationship with you, I really would. I want to fix things but I...I can't come back to this." Thea should've known, she should've known things could never change.

Harper shakes her head, "...Thea, don't."

"I don't know what I was expecting." Thea shrugs, a small frown upon her lips. "Things will never change, they can't be different."

Harper was wearing a similar expression to Thea. A line appeared between both of their eyebrows when upset; their lips were pinched into a thin line.

"So that's it?" Harper spoke quietly, "...You're just gonna give up?"

"I don't know what you want, Harper." Thea pinches the bridge of her nose.

"I've told you!" Harper elevates the volume of her words, "It's you that I want in my life! And I don't know why that is because if anything, I should hate you for what you've done to me and put me through."

Thea finally brings her golden eyes up to her sister.

Harper sighs and raises her hands in defeat. "I'm not innocent, I know that, neither of us are. So that's why I stand here and tell you that I want you in my life and nobody else because I expect you to understand me, not anyone else."

Thea was quiet, taking every word she said to heart.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you yesterday." Harper apologizes, placing her hands on her hips in a defeated manner. "I'm sure you've changed and I'm sure it wasn't easy for you to get there. So I'm sorry for making it seem like you were that same person long ago."

Thea suddenly felt the need to hug her, just wrap her arms around her, and never let go. Finally, Thea understood that Harper was another version of herself. A version that didn't have the Cullens.  A version that never even partially healed from the trauma inflicted upon her by their mother. A version that never stopped being manipulated. A version that didn't have someone like Carmilla to guide her through her emotions.

Thea sits down in the bed, her eyes out of the window. "...There's this thing that I've heard someone say. These two women, they're like sisters. They always say they're each other's person."

Harper was frozen in place, mostly from confusion. "Thea, is this is some joke—"

"I'll be your person." Thea was quick to say. She takes a second, closing her eyes "...I'll be that person that doesn't give up on you. I'll be that person that is always on your side even if you're in the wrong. I'll be that person you continuously argue with but you still care about so much. I'll be your person...I'll be your sister. It won't be easy, there's still a lot we need to work through but I think that we can do this if we want it bad enough."

Harper's lips part, not exactly sure how to respond to such an open emotional confession. Most likely caused by their emotionally unavailable mother.

"I hope you know I'll never let you live this down." Harper teased but when they locked eyes, they shared a smile.

✸

"So everything's fine?" Alice inquires. Her tone was light over the phone.

"A few rough spots but I'm okay—we're okay." Thea shrugs but nods, she couldn't help but smile at the sounds of her mate's voice.

Thea then sees Harper's car pull into the driveway across from her home. Thea's smile slowly fades as confusion appears. "Harper's back. Talk to you later?"

"Yeah!" Alice chimes, "Love you."

"Love you." Thea hangs up, watching Harper step out and hang a bunch of grocery bags on her arms. Why does a vampire need to buy groceries?

Harper walks up to the driveway just as an older man answers the door. The man was at least somewhere in his sixties, he had a sweet smile that Thea could've sworn she'd seen before.

The door closes behind them and Thea blinks, zoning back into all of her surroundings. Thea huffs, shrugging off the chills that ran up her back as she fiddled with her locket and walked into the forest near their home to go hunt.

✸

"...Hey!" Harper tried picking up her feet to not get too much dirt on her shoes. She watched as Thea wiped animal blood from the side of her mouth. She swats away the small insects that flew around her.

"Still scared of bugs, huh?" Thea chuckles, walking towards Harper and sitting down on a fallen log so that she can knock away the heavy amount of dirt clunked against her boots.

Harper playfully rolls her eyes, "They suck." She sits down next to Thea.

They shared a laugh before silence ensued. Slowly, Thea asked, "Who was that man you brought groceries for?"

Although Harper's body was frozen, she froze. Her eyes wandered the ground, almost as if she were looking for the words there. "...Well, fun fact, I don't kill every single human I see. I make friends with the neighbors, keeps them from suspecting anything, you know? Sometimes I even help out with community events. Anything that keeps the humans from being nosy, which is second nature to them."

"Makes sense." Thea nods, examining Harper's expression lightly, "I need to go shower, get this animal smell off of me and my clothes." She strolled back to the house as Harper watched her go, smile faltering once Thea's back was turned.

✸

In the year(flashback): 1939

     HARPER was in shock. This couldn't be real, this couldn't possibly be real. Thea couldn't be dead, her sister couldn't be dead. A single tear dropped down her bloody cheek as she carried the crying baby, Thea's crying baby, in her trembling arms. Her heels dragged down the sidewalk, her breath could be seen in the air. She was still in her nightgown, her body covered in goosebumps from the event that had just taken place in their home.

Harper looks down at the child, it's green eyes. She never wanted children. She doesn't hate kids, she finds them fascinating if she's being completely honest. Kids were the definition of hope and bravery, everything that Harper wasn't.

Harper is a coward. She stood by and let her sister die out of fear that her mother would retaliate, she lived with the weight of her mother's expectations and now Thea had paid the price.

Harper didn't know how long she walked but she walked. She walked past apartments, Sweet Haven, and even a playground she always went to as a kid.

When she finally reached the hospital, she was met by a nurse. "Take him."

The nurse looked at her in confusion. "Ma'am, what are you?—Is this child yours? May I ask your name?"

Harper simply blinked, her eyes were voided. "You can't just throw him around, okay?"

The nurse nods slowly, "Ma'am, come sit down. Let me get you something to drink." She observed the blood on Harper's gown. "Are you hurt?"

"She would want a good home for him." Harper slowly spirals, "And good parents—a good mom who will take good care of him, maybe even a sibling to keep him company. That's what she would want." Her eyes slowly swelled with tears. "She's dead."

"Ma'am, who's dead?" The nurse tries to ask further questions but Harper walks away, her feet dragging even heavier now.

"She's dead." Harper blinks, her eyes lay on Sweet Haven.

"A donut makes everything better." A ten-year-old Thea hands a teary-eyed Harper a fresh glazed donut.

"She's dead." Harper felt her throat dry as her hearing vanished.

And the world went quiet.

ragerwrites, Damn near cried writing that flashback! Ugh! 😪💔

Feel like I'm gonna regret posting this but why not, only live once.🤷🏾‍♀️

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