Living to Loving

Chapter 12

This chapter was so hard to write. Emotionally, I got attached to the dog. But I was planning on killing her off. Oh gods of Olympus, that sounds terrible. But I was. It was for the plot, I swear! I love dogs!

*Daniel POV*

Bella runs out, running toward me a mile a minute. I bend down and hold out my arms for her.

"Bella?" I ask as if she can understand me. "What's wrong? Where's Gemma?"

Bella lets out a little whine.

I get up.

Bella turns and runs down the hall. I follow her. There's only one reason a trained service dog would abandon her handler. If the handler needed someone. As I near I can hear someone crying. It sounds like Gemma. Fear fills my mind. Gemma. I love her. She has to be okay. I run towards the sound of sobbing, disregarding the "No running in the halls" rule. It doesn't matter to me. My love is in trouble.

I burst through the doors and I take in the scene.

Gemma is sitting on her knees, with her face in her hands, sobbing, tears dripping through her hands. I can hear her whisper her sister's name over and over.

She's sitting in front of a mess. Splinters lay everywhere, with a vague blue color. Fear rises in me. No... Not the guitar. I walk over to the mess slowly, bend down, and read the paper attached to a rock. No... I pull out my phone and send off a quick text to Rina.

Then I gather Gemma in my arms and hold her there. "It's okay," I whisper. "It's okay?"

"Danny?" Rina asks, running in. Then she sees Gemma and I. "Gemma," Her voice rises in worry as she runs over and drops down next to her. "What happened? Did Joanna and Lizzy seriously..."

"Do this?" I ask. "I think so."

"Can we prove it?" Rina asks.

"I don't know," I say.

Rina's eyes are wild. You always have to be careful when her eyes are wild. There's no telling what she'll do. "I'll find a way."

Gemma

When I come to, I'm surrounded on one side by Daniel and on the other side by Rina.

"Hey, Gem," Daniel says. "You good?"

I sit up slowly, touching my forehead. "I... I think so." I lean into him and cry softly. "Why?"

"I don't know," Daniel whispers. "I don't know."

I can feel Rina rubbing my back. I love both of them so much. They're the first two people to notice me in a while. I love them so, so much.

Things didn't get any better after that. I started having daily flashbacks and nightly nightmares. I kept having panic attacks constantly. I tried to avoid places or things that would trigger memories and flashbacks, but it was so hard. I was constantly on guard about everything. I'd have spurts of just yelling at my siblings. I hated that. I didn't mean to. I didn't want to hurt them. I loved them. But I couldn't stop the adrenaline rush of anger when anyone was near me.

I sat in the doctor's office on that flat bed thing with the white paper sheet that always, always ends up tearing at some point.

I swung my feet against the metal. THe clang hurt my ears. At this point, I didn't care. I just wanted it all to be gone. I wanted everything to be gone. Rina and Daniel tried, but they weren't doctors or therapists, and there was only so much they could do.

"Hello, Gemma," Dr. Howard says, walking in. He sits down on his little black spinny stool. "How are you?"

I shrug and bang my heels against the metal again.