My phone buzzed and reluctantly I answered it. It’s the hospital. “This is Dr. Gideon,” I said. I listened to the resident on the other end and with each word my stomach dropped. “I’ll be right there.”

“What is it?” Michaela asked. “Did Cora take a turn for the worse?”

“No,” I said as I grabbed my coat from the back of my chair. “It’s her sister, Kendall. She just tried to kill herself.”

I rushed back to the hospital, and made a beeline to the emergency room where Kendall was being treated.

My old friend Dr. Soto was working again. “Where are they?” I asked and he directed me to one of the examination rooms. I tapped on the glass and when the door slid open I was slammed with a sense of déjà vu. Kendall was attached to an IV, eyes closed, her mouth black with chalky charcoal, a sure sign they pumped her stomach. Mara was sitting in a chair next to her, bent over in anguish.

“Mara,” I whispered. “How is she? How are you?”

Mara lifted her head; her eyes were bloodshot, her face streaked with tears. “I don’t know what’s happening,” she choked out. “Why would Kendall do something like this?” Kendall stirred in her bed and Mara and I moved to the hallway.

“She took pills?” I asked.

Mara wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand. “Yeah, after she ran out of Cora’s room earlier she didn’t come back and, honestly, we didn’t go looking for her. Cora’s fever spiked again and we were worried about her.” Mara looked over at Kendall’s sleeping form. “We just thought that it was overwhelming for Kendall and she needed some fresh air, some space. If I knew she was going to do this, I would have gone after her. She swallowed a bottle of Tylenol PM and God knows what else.”

“Has she been conscious?” I asked.

“Yes, just sleepy. I’ve nearly lost both my children in a matter of days, Dr. Gideon. What has my family done to deserve this? My husband is beside himself with anger. Did you know they let those kids go home? Can you believe that?”

This was news to me. Last I heard, Jordyn and the boy were the main suspects and were in custody and being questioned. Things were happening so fast. “Cora could lose her eye and Kendall tried to…and she refuses to talk to me, won’t tell me what she was thinking.” Mara looked at me helplessly. “How can I help her if she doesn’t tell me what’s wrong?”

“Sometimes confiding to those people who mean the most to us can be the most difficult,” I said. On the other side of the door Kendall blinked her eyes open.