She lied.
Thursday morning, before I left for work, she called my mom. "Don't ask any questions, just come to the speedline and pick me up." I got home from work and found my mom and my other sister on the couch talking. I asked my mom where my sister was and she told me that she was downstairs and that I should go see her. I couldn't do it, I was too scared. So instead I sat on the couch and cried while my mom told me some of the things that had happened to her.
Now some of this is a mix of what she said, and some of it is directly from my sister herself: Over the past few months she hadn't been staying in shelters. She was sleeping on porches and in alleys. She'd been working for the dealers by either selling or being a lookout. She got clean needles from some program that gives you free needles in return for your dirty ones, as well as free tourniquets, alcohol wipes and water. The night before she came home some guy told her to stay in his apartment but ended up giving her a blanket and something to drink and told her to stay on the porch, that he'd be right back. He didn't come right back. In the morning she woke up with a knife next to her face.
Earlier in the year there was a news article about the first murder of the year in Camden. Well she was there. In fact, it was her friend, and he was stabbed to death right next to her. She ran for her life (as best as she could since she's paralyzed) but still. My sister has seen and known death. Up close.
Honestly, I don't know how to process any of this. She's been withdrawaling really hard today. When I got home from work my mom told me she'd been violently ill. At one point she screamed for me to call 911 and get my father. My sister has had 2 seizures tonight. It's almost to the point that I'm afraid to leave my house. I spent months believing my sister to be dead. Now she's home and could still die, even within my reach.