Chapter 15 - SEREN’S ABSENCE
Seren had been the one who set the first boundary with Morgause.
Before she died, she once told me:
“Your sister turns help into a moral score.”
I laughed.
Seren did not.
“She’s going to make you feel like every favor is debt.”
I said:
“Then I won’t ask favors.”
Life laughed at us.
After Seren died, I needed favors everywhere.
School pickups.
Meals.
Sleepovers.
Morgause stepped in.
I was grateful.
Then gratitude made me blind.
I thought:
If she is irritated, that is the price.
I did not ask whether Eluned was paying some of it.
Then one old message from Seren to Morgause surfaced in my phone backup.
SEREN:
Please stop telling Eluned she is “lucky” we spend money on her glasses.
MORGAUSE:
I said she should take care of them.
SEREN:
You said Cerys doesn’t need expensive medical accessories.
MORGAUSE:
That was a joke.
There.
The attitude predated Seren’s death.
Not the servant behavior.
But the seed.
Need versus favoritism.
Morgause saw expensive glasses as another item in the comparison ledger.
Then I felt angry at Seren for not telling me more.
Immediately ashamed.
Dead people are easy targets because they cannot explain.
I told Dr. Corinne.
She said:
“You are allowed to be angry with someone you loved.”
Good.
Seren had noticed one line.
I had missed it.
May you like
No one adult held the full story.
That was part of why it grew.
