“It’s the life-and-death stakes. Everyone wants to believe they could save someone else’s life, if they saw the right signs, had the right tools. Like maybe, if I say the right words, in the right combination this time, she’ll choose life. But that’s not how it happens.” She laughs, a short brittle one. “What happens is your sister withdraws and becomes distant, but not all the time, and you think, she’s just being a teenager, and then you find out she’s doing things you’d never dream of doing—she had a boyfriend and a drug dealer before I even had my first kiss—but you want to be cool about
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