That day, I ran out of the hospital. I cried by the lake for three hours, ultimately making a decision: I was going to drop out of school and be with my mother through this difficult time. I didn't want to miss a single moment with her.
So, having no university to attend, I knew exactly what that felt like.
"River, have you lost your mind?!" Skyler exclaimed. "Wasn't Bexford University's physics department your greatest dream?"
Spencer looked utterly stunned.
Just as I shook my head and was about to speak, a nurse suddenly rushed over from a distance.
"Dr. Saint, it's bad!" she cried out. "Your sister woke up with a depression attack and was about to jump off the building!"
Agnes always had perfect timing when it came to her depression attacks.
When I ranked first in the city-wide mock exams and the school was about to honor me, her depression would flare up. When I was burning with a 40-degree fever, mustering the strength to call home, her depression would strike, too.
This time, I wasn't surprised at all.
Inside the ward, Agnes was sitting by the window, clutching a fruit knife in her hand.
"Dad, Mom, Spencer, Skyler. I'm so scared. I dreamed that they beat me again," she whimpered.
"They said they'd sell me to the hunchback in the village. Why didn't you find me sooner?"
Tears streamed down her face relentlessly.
Her heart-wrenching cries moved everyone present.
Even Stephen Saint, who'd long been hardened by the business world, had red eyes as he tried to soothe her. "Agnes, put down the knife. Come to Daddy! You're home now and I can give you anything you want!"
His wife, Addison Saint, the wealthy socialite, sobbed so hard she could barely breathe. "Agnes, you're Mommy's precious child! Please, sweetheart, come down now!"
Agnes began to mutter to herself, then pressed the knife against her own wrist. "But River doesn't like me. She said I don't deserve to be Mom and Dad's child, that I don't belong in the Saint Family at all."
"Then I might as well just die!" she screamed loudly as she stared at me with eyes full of hurt.
"River! Did you really say that to Agnes? Where did you get the nerve?"
Before I could even react, Skyler slapped me hard across the face and grabbed me by the hair, dragging me in front of Agnes.
"Agnes, don't believe River's words. You are the true daughter of our family! She's just an imposter!"