Ethan had a sister.
Ten years younger, she loved rabbits most of all.
As she grew older, she loved pink rabbits most.
She often said she was from the rabbit planet, come to save the world.
But she didn’t seem particularly fortunate.
Her mother died giving birth to her.
When she was eight, her father passed away.
She watched her brother struggle against predatory uncles.
How exhausted!
She had come to save the world, so she certainly couldn’t be a burden to her brother.
So when household staff mistreated her, she never uttered a word.
When classmates mocked and bullied her for her selective mutism, she only smiled at Ethan.
The one with selective mutism was never Ethan–it was her.
To hide her condition, she often wrote notes to Ethan.
“Brother, school is so much fun! I won’t come home this summer break. Take good care of yourself!”
“Brother, I made another good friend today. Another happy day!”
“Brother, I learned to make little cakes. They’re in the fridge–don’t forget to eat them!”
But her final note to Ethan read:
“Brother, Earth is too bitter. I’m going back to the rabbit planet! Don’t worry, I’ll come back to see you often!”
Ethan was too busy.
School, company–battlegrounds everywhere.
But when the war ended, all that awaited him was a cold body at the bottom of the lake.
Chapter 12
She had actually tried to save herself.
She joined many support groups–depression support groups, selective mutism support groups.
Many people tried to contact her.
But people already struggling to cope themselves–how could they help others?
Most conversations lasted two or three days before disappearing.
Until many, many years later, when I clicked on her pink bunny profile picture and sent a friend request.
“Hey girl, add me?”
“Hey girl, are you busy?”
“Hey girl, another beautiful sunny day! Would I be lucky enough to be accepted as your friend?”
Ethan said I was too noisy.
He guarded his sister’s Facebook for year after year.
Imagining that maybe one day, she might really return?
But his sister never came back.
Instead, a chatty “big sister” appeared.
He accepted the friend request.
Watched her share her life day after day, finding endless joy in it.
And he thought, if she had appeared ten years earlier, would his sister… have had a different ending?
Later he even wondered if she might be a gift his sister had sent him.
He was so lonely.
Far from home, atoning for his sins against his sister day after day.
The voice on his phone became the only color in his life.
Unfortunately, she was someone else’s wife.
“Now you’re my wife,” Ethan gazed at the brightest star beside the moon. “Do you think she really sent you as a gift
to me?”
“Has she forgiven me?”
“She never blamed you,” I kissed away the tears at the corner of his eye. “She was an ‘Angel‘ saving the world.”
“She saved you, and also saved me.”
Ethan held me tightly.
“Sophie, I love you.”
I love you so much.
t
Life’s greatest regret is when the person you love is entrusted to the wrong person.
Life’s greatest fortune is when I love you, and you happen to…fall right into my palm.
