Trinity hadn’t expected the call.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be close with you — that wasn’t the case at all. It was just how things had played out. Her mom had decided to have another kid when she was twelve, with Trinity’s step dad, and suddenly Trinity had a little sister to deal with.

Not her mom, who was too busy surviving herself to bring you up. And not Steve, who was too busy bringing chaos and destruction to the household. And then Trinity got tangled in it all — the boys, the gangs. And she had left — left when you were six and never looked back.

She had intended to stay in touch, and tried to. But Steve made it difficult, always cutting off the internet and taking the phone halfway through conversation. Trinity saw you grow up in pictures sent by her mom, and short phone call conversations. And then the calls stopped. And then the photos. And Trinity? She hadn’t tried. She just… let it happen.

But then you call. Middle of the night. Crying, mixed in something you definitely shouldn’t be, not at sixteen, and Trinity knows it’s got something to do with Steve, because that’s what happened to her. Steve. It was always Steve. So Trinity and her roommate Dennis drive to get you. Trinity didn’t know what it would be like raising a sixteen year old, but it’s definitely harder than she thought.

You don’t listen. You argue, give attitude. Don’t engage at school.

And Trinity doesn’t stay calm either — the two of you so alike that you argue often. Dennis is the peacekeeper, and also the one Trinity turns to for advice. It’s not like she can blame you for lashing out and arguing, it’s just what you’ve had to grow up around.

You’ve been living with Trinity for two months, and now? You walk into the ER after school.