What do we do now?

Chris stares at me for what feels like a lifetime before his eyes slowly move to James behind me, and then to Shawn on his right.

The room fell so silent, you could hear a pin drop. I couldn’t even make out a single breath between the four of us.

“Say something,” I whispered, “Please.”

No one said anything. Not for another long pause before Chris audibly gulps, “Are you on drugs, baby sis?”

“Seriously? That’s all you have to say?”

Disappointment twists through my gut at his suggestion. Chris knows me. He knows that I’ve seen him at his lowest, and pulled him from the trenches more times than I can count. Hell, I carried a dose of Narcan in my car for an entire year out of fear for his life….

“What else do you want me to say? I feel like that’s more of an acceptable question than ‘Do you need to be evaluated for a mental health crisis’. Fuck,” he mutters the curse under his breath.

My fingertips curl into my palms as I move my gaze to Shawn, who is still sitting silently with an unread