Left Alone

Meet Ivy

"BEEP BEEEEEEP!"

I jerked awake in surprise and fell off my bed, moaning. Gloria ran over and helped me up.

"What was that?" I asked still half asleep.

" I don't know, I think it was some type of alarm." answered Gloria.

Roxie was sitting in the middle of the room on this red shaggy rug. I looked around our room for the first time since we got here last night. the walls were brown, and there were hard wood floors and the rug that Roxie was sitting on, and a small bathroom. There was also a small balcony that overlooked the street. Next to the front door was a small end table. on the end table was to piles of clothes, a sling for my arm, and a note on the sling. I walked over and picked up the note and read it.

Rachel,

Please wear this sling on our bad arm so you don't mess up your stitches and so your am can heal. You have to wear this on your arm for a week. When the week is up please come back to the first aid tent so we may remove your stitches. thank you

- Nurse Lydia

I groaned. I hated going to the doctor, let alone going to remove stitches. I picked up the pile of clothes and handed Gloria her clothes. I walked into the bathroom and closed the door. after about 10 minutes of painfully putting on my clothes, I walked out of the bathroom wearing brown cargo pants, a forest green tank top with thick straps, and brown work boots. I swiped the sling off the little table and secured it around my left arm. I then turned towards Gloria. She was wearing tan cargo pants, a brown thick strapped tank top, and brown work boots. I couldn't believe how different we both looked. I took out two hair ties that I found in the bathroom and walked over to Gloria. I pulled her hair back into one long ponytail, it looked nice, because she has such long hair. Then I pulled my hair into a side braid. We both looked at each other and then walked out the door. Roxie followed closely behind us. After going down five flights of stairs, we were outside again. Everybody was up by now, the older kids making breakfast, and the younger kids having a game of kickball. I saw Gloria watching the game with interest.

"Gloria, why don't you go play?" I asked

She looked at me, smiled, and ran over with the other kids to join the game.

I walked over to where the older kids were making and now serving breakfast. I grabbed a bowl and spoon like the other kids and stood in line waiting for what looked like oatmeal. Suddenly, this girl that was standing in front of me turned around,smiled at me, and looked at Roxie.

"OMG, your the girl that has the dog!"

I blinked in surprise. I didn't know what to say. I never was good at making friends.

"Um, yes, yes I am. this is Roxie."

The girl put down her bowl and started to pet Roxie.

" She is soooo cute! Oh, where are my manners. Hi, I'm Ivy, and that's my little sister Hazel over there with the red hair." she pointed to a little girl that was talking to Gloria while waiting to kick. Ivy then turned back to me and stared. I realized I was supposed to say something, anything.

" Oh, um, my name is Rachel." I stuttered.

Ivy just smiled at me. we both grabbed our bowls and the cook gave each of us a glop of oatmeal. Ivy gestured towards a table where two other girls were sitting. I followed her nervously. I'm really not good at socializing.

" Hey Faith, Sage, this is Rachel." Ivy said happily.

The other two Girls said hello and Roxie laid at my feet, chewing on her paw. while Sage was telling a story about her old cat, I studied all three girls. Ivy has red hair, like her sister, green eyes, and freckles. Faith has strawberry blonde hair, blue green eyes, and dimples. And Sage has light brown hair, hazel eyes and a birthmark on her right cheek.

" Hey Rachel, what happened to your arm?" asked Faith.

All three of the girls looked at me, expecting me to answer.

"Um, I don't know, when I woke up after being knocked out for three days I just saw that I had a gigantic deep gash in my arm."

The girls nodded, as if they could feel my pain, then someone came on to a megaphone. It was Tara.

"Attention, we need some volunteers for a search party to go out and find any other survivors from the quake. Anyone interested?" she asked desperately.

Everyone shook there heads, but I stood up and walked over to Tara.

"I'll help." I said

Tara looked at me, clearly shocked.

" I don't know if that's a good idea Rachel, your arm."

"Hey, you said you needed volunteers, well I want to volunteer. Forget about my arm. Just make sure Gloria is taken care of." I answered back.

Tara gave a slight nod, and told me to follow her.