Kiki seems off as I run up to her room, crying at her to pack her bags and come home, as she keeps on looking around and asking me where Andrew is. I try desperately to explain to her that Andrew cannot hurt her or treat her like a slave anymore, but she doesn't understand until her new dresses and shoes are all gathered into two large suitcases, I grab my stupid - now very fat - cat from under the dresser and carry each of them out in an arm. While Leopard spirms in my hold Kiki gently lays her head on my shoulder and her wet tears drip through the thin material of Andrew's shirt.
She begins to understand as I continue telling her that we are going home, that Andrew can no longer harm her, that he can't touch her anymore, and when we stop off at our favourite little coffee shop, Black Tie, for a hot drink with Leopard hidden in my sweater, she begins to sob, clinging to me tightly for what seems like an hour. I don't mind, it's so good to have my baby girl back I never want to let her go again.
Leaning over carefully so as to not disturb her I grab her hot chocolate and take a sip of it.
"Kiki, your drink is cooled down, do you want to have some?" I ask her quietly. She nods weakly and slides around so she is sitting on my lap facing the window. Carefully, she picks up the cup in her hands and takes a slow drink of it.
"Lala," Kiki begins, "why did you leave me?"
My heart sinks, trying desperately to discover an answer which will satisfy a five year old.
"I.... I..." I stumble over words until finally i just sigh and tell her; "Kiki, sometimes people that you love have to do things to keep you safe. Sometimes, even though it hurts a lot, it's better than the alternitive. But it won't happen again. I swear to you."
She looks at me, her wide eyes briming with tears. "Does that mean Grammy will come back?"
My heart misses a beat and involentarly I look away from her. "I don't know, Kiki. I don't know if Grammy will ever come back." tears leak from my eyes as I squeeze Kiki close. After a few moments we manage to collect our berings, finish our drinks and leave.
On the way home I explain to my sister that we have people living with us now, a new friend her age which got her very excited - "She will be like my twin!" - and two more who are older, like me. She was confused about them, and when I asked her why she seemed so concerened she simply said, "Well you are supposed to be like my mommy. If they are the same age as you then who is going to be my mommy?"
I have to think for a moment, before swinging her up into my arms and kissing her lovingly. "I will always be there for you when you really need me. But if you have something to ask and I am not with you then you can ask Cocoa or Trina."
"You are going again?" she cries, looking up to me and throwing her arms around my neck.
"No!" I exclaim, holding her tightly. "It's just if I have to run out for a minute.... never mind. Let's not worry about that now. You can stay with me, I promise."
She calms back down and we finish our walk home in silence, everything seeming perfect besides the bar of lead sitting in my coat pocket.
I decided not to tell the girls of my contract with Andrew... not yet, at least. If I can find a way out of it by myself then we will all be better off. Until then I should be able to keep them from noticing anything by claiming I have found a job. Which is tecnically not a lie.
Taking the spare key from beneath the front mat and making a mental note to make copies for each of the girls, I unlock the front door and push it open. Immediately Leopard leaps from my arms, skitters around before dashing upstairs and, I suppose, back under my dresser.
"Trina, is Cocoa back from the post office yet?" I call. "I have someone I want you two to meet."
"OK, we'll be there in a minute, close the door you'll let the heat out!" I smile and do as she asks, though the house is practically steaming.
Kiki eagerly squirms out of my arms and beginnings running around the house, gleefully touching each and every one of our possessions.
"Whoa!" I hear from the kitchen. Bouncing up from the couch with a laugh I run over to where Kiki has collided with Trina and is now sitting on her knees with her forehead on the ground, making small sobbing noises.
Trina looks at me. I shrug, bending down to my sister. "Kiki, darling, what are you doing?"
Another sob escapes her throat, but she does not move a muscle.
Anger flares in my heart as I realize this is another one of those stupid punishments Andrew had set up for her. In a fury I grab her by the arm and pull her off the floor, holding her arms tightly above the elbow.
"He is not here anymore, Karanna!" I scream at her. "Stop it, do you hear me? STOP IT! You are not his slave!"
She breaks down sobbing in my grip. I don't realize how tightly I am holding her until Trina pries my hands from her and I see the deep red finger marks circling her tiny arms.
"Laura, get a hold of yourself. Take a deep breath." Trina orders. I can feel myself shaking, and try and calm down. "You're scaring your sister. I know Andrew was bad, I know he hurt you both but he's gone now. Done. He can't hurt you anymore."
I begin to sob again, knowing how wrong she is, and she grabs me in a tight hug.
Hesitantly, I feel another pair of arms wrap around my legs. Reaching a hand down I wrap a piece of Kiki's hair around my finger, twirling it gently, calming us both.
After a few minutes Trina releases me, gives me a very stern look which I cannot help smiling at, and then gestures towards Kiki.
"Oh, of course, yes, um, Kiki, this is Trina, and Trina this is Kiki." I pull her up onto my hip as Trina smiles at her, winning a grin from Kiki.
"And I'm Cocoa," coming into the room with Baby on her hip, Cocoa smiles at the three of us. "And this is Baby." We let the girls down and they slowly approach each other. I wish I had a video of it. They closed the gap and stood so close their toes were touching, examining each other without a word.
Though nearly the exact same hight and shape, the two children could not look anymore different. While Kiki's hair is long and brown, well cared for after her few months living lavishly and cut straight across the bottom with sideswept bangs, Baby's is so short and tightly curled it's flat against her head, and it's white blonde. Baby's face is much more round than Kiki's, and her nose is slightly smaller. Kiki has bigger eyes, and they're light blue, while Baby's are very dark blue with an even darker ring around the outside.
Kiki then breaks the silence.
"That is my shirt." she states, touching the fabric. Baby looks at her under her long eyelashes, waiting for her to continue.
"I have new dresses. They will look nice on you. Come on, we can play house!" their excitement grows until they are both bouncing, and without another glance to us they are running down the hall into the living room to dump Kiki's suitcases on the floor and look at all of her dresses.
I glance at Trina and Cocoa. "Well now we don't have to worry about getting them new clothes," I say dryly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" They ask. I shake my head.
"Not yet. Come on, let's go see what can be done about the backyard. I know it's still snowing, but we should at leasts start to think about what we want to do for it. With two little girls I want somewhere for them to be able to run when it warms up."
I pop my head into the living room to tell the girls we are going out into the backyard which hardly gets a response, and then follow Cocoa out to the overgrown yard, shivering when the cold winter air hits my face. Thisle bushes peek out from overgrown grass, and where once stood a flower garden beside a large tree holding a broken swing is now just a large white, grassy, weedy mess.
Trina, however, thinks otherwise.
"Oh my god, this yard is amazing! Look at how big it is! And green. And those are blackberry bushes, and there are blueberry and raspberry over there, and look! Cocoa look a peach tree!"
Daddy was the one who loved our backyard and planted all the fruits and vegetables. There are actually seven other fruit trees, though overgrown and undertended, but after daddy's death so long ago the yard fell apart with only me to care for it. And the pain it brought was just too much to deal with.
But now the pain is dulled - it is not gone, nor will it ever be comepletely gone. But with the girls here and the babies to care for, and the experience that Mama gave me it feels almost like I will be able to make a life for myself, find myself again, a better self. It was like I needed the pain in order to
Smiling, I force myself to look at the yard through Trina's excited eyes. There was a lot of potential in it, I have to say. The colours begin popping into my head - Lavender and daisies around the trees, white phlox accented with Dragon's Blood sedum making a path down to a patio in the middle of the yard, lanterns and bird feeders.... This could be magical.
"Laura? Laura? You're zoned out, chicka." Cocoa is laughing, waving her hand in my face trying to get my attention.
"We should plant a hydrangea," I say quietly. "My father loved them."
Trina and Cocoa look at each other. "I think we need to make a list."
Trina gets us a notebook and pen, water and chips to snack on as Cocoa and I clear the snow and years of depris and overgrowth from our metal table and chairs, throw away the cushions and set everything up on the small covered patio by the door. Once we are all seated ideas start to fly, what to do, when to do it and how to make it all happen. In the backs of our minds, of course, we know that money is needed to make all of these visions happen, and that will not happen until we have jobs, but we let it slide, having fun planning our home until the sun goes down too far to see by.
"Girls, what do you want for dinner?" I ask the two babies. They look up from their game in the living room, looking frusterated that I brought them out of their fantasy world. "Does chicken sound good?"
They nod absentmindedly, looking back to each other and tending to a new baby doll on the floor.
"I'll go pick some up," I say, grabbing my jacket from the couch. "And I will get some vegetables, too. We can make a proper shopping list tonight, but while I'm gone can you start the quinoa? It's in the pantry!" I call, grabbing a few bills from the front table and run out the door.
When I get home we have dinner, during which we write up a shopping list and plan for tomorrow. We decide the most important thing is to get ourselves some jobs, so that becomes the main task for the day.
After the dishes are finished it is nearly 8, and time for the babies to go for bed. Usually when I have schoolwork I will put Kiki to bed in her own room, complete my work, and then she will come up at around midnight. But tonight we are all exhausted from real life work we haven't done for so long, and so Cocoa settles down in my mother's room, Trina on the couch after being promised we would work out the room situation soon, and the girls - after a slightly tearful session - come up to be with me. Though it is squishy we make everyone fit, the children dressed in Kiki's new soft flannel nightgowns and me in grey sweatpants and a big sweater, into my single bed, Kiki on my stomach and Baby comfortably settled in the crook of my arm, her head on my shoulder.
I stay awake for a long time after the girls fall asleep, not calmed by Kiki's even breathing as I usually am. As pleased as I am to have my sister back and a new family to stand by me and to love, I still have not managed to gather enough courage to tell the girls about my... agreeance with Andrew. And since I know it breaks most of the rules we made not two days ago, I don't have the heart to tell them now, if ever. For now, this secret is just going to eat at my soul.
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OK, I know that I suck, and I don't ever upload, but I promise I am trying to do it more, so hopefully you both liked this one and will keep watching for the next one. PLEASE comment, fan, vote, whatever you think this story deserves. I personally really like it, and hope to be doing more with it int he near future. All of these are unedited, so just send me a PM if you see something that doesn't make sense.
Thanks for reading, it's always appreciated. And if you like this story I would love you to check out my other one, Stitches. It's a big kidnapping thing. I actually prefer that one over this one but hey, I have a few thousand read on this one so I will continue it! Plus I do love it.
Well, that's enough from me, thank you all again for checking me out! ;)