My sister Jodie is a demon from hell. I’m not sure why, but she hates my guts. She always lets me know how much she hates me. But I never thought our little fights would escalate this much. For context, let’s travel back to one of the very few times something she said actually hurt my feelings.

It all started when I was leaving school one day. After I got all my things I walked outside to the front of the school. Awhile later and she still hadn’t come out. I was getting annoyed at this point so I marched over to the middle school section. I went down to the 6th grade lockers to see Jodie goofing of with her friends. I banged on the door of her locker and obnoxiously cleared my throat. “Hello?” I said, ”I’ve been waiting for about 20 minutes and you STILL haven’t gotten your things!” Jodie looked angry, almost like a demon. “Shut up, I don’t need you to boss me around! I can walk home by myself!” At this point I was furious and decided to embarrass her. I looked over at the boy next to her. “Jodie, mom said you can’t have a boyfriend until your 15.” This made all her friends burst out into laughter. I know it wasn’t a nice thing to do, but she was being a pain in my neck. She grabbed her things, kicked me hard in the shin and ran up the stairs and out of the school. I picked up the pencil pouch that had fallen from her open backpack and followed her out the school.

I was satisfied with myself as I watched her stomp down the pavement. “I hate you!” She said. I scoffed, “Yeah I haven’t forgotten.” “NO!” She interrupted me, “Why cant you just die,” I knew she didn’t really mean it, but upset me and I don’t know why. “You don’t mean that,” I said and walked away.

Just like a cold I became immune to this insult. Almost everyday she said thins. I know she didn’t really mean it. But she might have, who knows.

Earlier today Jodie wouldn’t come outside again. Just like before, I went down to her locker. This time I overheard something I could not believe. The boy that I had used to embarrass Jodie spoke. “I found my dad’s shotgun, you guys wanna go to town and shoot out peoples tires?” Everyone in the group, including Jodie, agreed. That’s when I sprung into action.

“JODIE!”

“Oh my god, what do you want?” She growled.

“You’re not doing that.”

“Are you my mom? Leave me alone.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the school as she continuously punched and kicked me. “I hate you! I wish you were dead!”

I knew she didn’t really mean it.

Later this afternoon I heard our mom gasp. I was doing my homework and Jodie was watching the TV.

“Jodie that group of friends you hang out with just got in trouble with the police! They were found with a shotgun. Did they ever ask you to come with them?”

Jodie looked at me, “yeah…”

“Baby… I’m so proud that you didn’t go.” Then she ran and gave her a huge hug. I grabbed my binder and went to do my homework on the back porch.

Later Jodie joined me.

“I guess you were right,” she said.

“Yeah…and?”

“That makes me feel guilty.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad your safe.”

“Yeah… I tell you to die a lot.”

“Yup. But I have a question, did you ever mean it?”

“Once, yes. But only once.”

If knew even then she didn’t really mean it.

“Oh… when was that?” I asked.

“Today, when you pulled me out of the school. Thats why I feel guilty.”

“Because you meant it?”

“No… because you were right.”

“You didn’t feel bad about meaning it?”

That’s when I noticed her digging in her backpack. I was horrified when I saw what she had. She pulled one of mom’s ‘untouchable knives’ out of the bag. I never thought she really meant it. But I guess she did. Looking back I guess I should have seen the signs.