*POV Richelle*
"Move, move!" I scream, pushing myself between and around everyone,a true challenge when you're on crutches
An old lady glared at me, and a teenage boy looked back and glared at me, his hands in a question mark. Long story, I didn't care. Short story, I didn't care.
Mom sat outside Sadie's hospital with Gabby, who had her leg stretched out straight.
Mom got up and squeezed my shoulders.
"Tyler, can you take Gabby down to the cafeteria while I go in with Richelle?" Mom asked.
Dad nodded, holding his hand out for Gabby. Gabby's left calf was wrapped in bandages with gauze underneath. She limped a little, but not much.
My arm was covered in gauze, with an Ace bandage wrapped around it from my elbow to my wrist. I had started using my old crutches instead of the forearm ones because I couldn't handle it rubbing against my arm.
"Sadie!" I rushed to my sister's side, sitting down beside her, letting my crutches clatter to the floor.
"Hey," Sadie said. It was stronger than I would've anticipated, but it wasn't at its normal strength.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."
"It's not your fault," Sadie looked at her lap. Why did I feel like there was something more she wasn't saying?
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's just-" Sadie sighed and looked up at me. "We belong to each other. We always have. And I don't expect us to be as close as we were when we were little. And I'd like to cut back on the arguments. We don't have to be as close as when we were little. But I want us to be, even distant, friends."
Why did I feel like those words were a knife to my heart? I took a deep breath. "Sadie, I love you," I said. "And that sounds amazing." I took a deep breath. "But it's total bull."
"No it's not," Sadie said.
"Yes," I said firmly. "It is. We can't be distant friends. I love you too much to let that happen. I'm not undoing what we've done together, All the things we've seen. And I'm not trading it for anything."
"Not undo," Sadie said quietly. "Just recalculate a little."
"What- like a GPS?" I asked. "No. I love you so much. I'm the one who's been distant. I'm the one who hasn't been the sister she wants to be. And I'm so sorry it took this to figure that out."
I reached forward and started to braid her hair. "I love you."
Tears started to spill down Sadie's cheeks, and I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her. "I still want you to teach me," I whispered in her ear.
Sadie smiled. "We have the same memory."
I nodded. "We do. So will you teach me?"
"Of course," Sadie said. "If you stick around- I promise I'll teach you."
We had only brought Sadie for about two hours when Mom yelled down the hallway.
"Richelle! Sadie! Gabby!" Mom yelled. "We're going to Dad's office to meet with Daniel!"
Sadie and I looked at each other and Sadie smiled. She looked excited. Probably at the prospect of possibly getting to see Charlotte. I, on the other hand, felt ready to throw up.
When we got there Mom caught Gabby eying the huge cupcakes in the little cafe in the lobby's window and told Sadie and I to get one for each of us.
"What do you think Gabby will want?" Sadie asked.
"Probably chocolate," I said. "Gabby's in her chocolate phase."
Sadie giggled. "Very true. I want vanilla."
Richelle nodded. "Gotcha." She paid and we got in the elevator, but just when the door was about to close, the bell dinged and Shane walked in.
My muscles tensed. My hands gripped my crutches like they were my lifeline. Could I get out of the elevator and just wait for another one?
The doors were already closing. Guess not.
I reached for the button panel to punch in Dad's floor, but Shane moved in front of the button panel and punched the very top floor.
I retracted my hand and glanced at Sadie, my green, attentive eyes scared.
Sadie shrank behind me, trying to make herself scarce and as small as possible.
"Some things are meant to be," Shane said. "Maybe you two are the answer."
Answer? Answer to what exactly?
He glanced at Sadie, then looked at me.
"Richelle, you have two sisters, right?" He asked me, ignoring Sadie like she wasn't there. Probably a good thing.
Her voice shook when she spoke. "Yes."
Everything, every word he said made me even more nervous.
"Richelle imagine-" he looked at Sadie. "Sadie got really sick. So sick you were almost sure she would die. Then somehow, miraculously she survived. Years passed and you started to forget all about the sickness. You felt like nothing bad could ever happen. Then-"
The elevator dinged and he quickly pressed the "Close Doors" sign. He could only hold us like this for a few seconds, maybe thirty before the alarm would start to go off. I couldn't wait until it started alarming.
He turned back to my sister and I with even more intensity. It made me even more scared. My heart beat so loud I could hear it reverberating in my ears.
"Then-" He snapped. "Richelle, imagine then she died. No warning. And you had to live with it for the rest of your life. Wouldn't you want to keep others from having to endure that horrible pain?"
Richelle took a deep breath and recognition flashed in her eyes. So did panic. I was desperate to not answer that question. Shane was creepy.
Shane sighed. "Your sister died from cancer, right? My sister died like that. That's why Daniel can't make his device to test kids. Once they're born it's too late."
I could feel pressing myself as hard as she could behind me until she was almost completely in the corner.
"Talk to your dad," Shane said. "Maybe he'll listen to you. Tell him the device has to test adults. It just has to. You understand."
Richelle nodded seriously. "I do." she said empathetically.
Shane nodded to her. "Thank you. Thank you so much Richelle." He punched Dad's floor before stepping out on the empty top floor.
When the elevator doors opened Sadie turned to me. "You're not actually going to try to convince Dad right?"
I gave my sister a look. "I understand what he's going through, I'm not going to do anything he says."
"I hope he's not in our meeting with Daniel," Sadie said.
I sighed. "Me too."
It had been three more weeks.
My doctor had finally cleared me to try a prosthetic. Amy, my prosthetist, had been having me wear a liner for a prosthetic all week. I'm not going to lie, I was excastic. I was finally getting to walk.
I sat on a bench in my prosthetist's office. I had made my parents get hot chocolate (in summer) for my sisters and I before we came here. I could feel the thick liner surrounding my leg.
Amy slipped the liner off and ran a measuring tape around my leg. "Are you excited?" She smiled at me.
I nodded vigorously. "Oh yeah."
"Good!" Amy grinned. "I am too. Your leg is shaped for this too. Come with me."
I grabbed my crutches, and Sadie, Gabby, and my parents followed me to another room.
I sat in a big chair as they put multiple hard and soft layers on my leg.
"So we're going to actually build the prosthetic on your leg," Amy said. "It looks really cool. Are you ready?"
I nodded vigorously.
"She's been ready for a long time," Mom said.
"I bet so," Amy smiled. She started pumping the layers around my leg with something dark. Then she removed it and slid an enormous thing that looked like an oversized, gray, inflatable pillow. She held it there, pressurizing my leg until I was ready to scream, it hurt so much.
She removed it, and started trying to remove the casting. Just a slight error on her part. It wouldn't come off. Great. They struggled for ten minutes trying to pry it off, until finally, they did. My leg was so sore I wasn't sure I could walk. They had manipulated my leg in so many different ways. But I got to watch them build my prosthetic, so it was fine.
I was back in the room when they sat my prosthetic in front of me. I scooted forward. "Do I try it?" I asked eagerly.
Amy nodded excitedly. "Yep. Are you ready?"
"Maybe?" I laughed nervously a little. I slipped my leg in the socket, and Amy showed me how to roll up the sleeve.
She modified a few things, then I stood up.
I grasped the parallel bars on either side of me, took a deep breath, and took a step. Then another. Soon enough I was at hte end of the parallel bars. I turned around and walked the other way confidently. Maybe a little too confidently, because I tripped over my own feet.
"Try it without any hands," Amy said encouragingly.
I raised my hands and walked back and forth across the parallel bars happily. I could walk.
I stood, one crutch under my left arm, Mom holding my other crutch.
"I forgot how tall you were," Sadie said.
Now that I wasn't constantly hunched over, trying to use crutches, I stood a full head taller than she was. She was only like, a half an inch shorter than average height, but I naturally stood an inch or two above your average ninth grader.
I maneuvered around my bed and to my desk and started up my computer when Sadie walked in.
"Can I talk to you?" she asked.
I shrugged.
"Do you ever feel like your whole world is just ending?" Sadie said.
I looked up from my computer and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" I tapped my prosthetic leg.
Sadie stared for a moment, then realized her error as she stared at my legs and the 'Cancer Survivor' poster above my bed. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry... goodness, that was so insensitive of me, wasn't it?"
I pursed my lips. "Little bit. What do you need?"
"We're going to Gram's tomorrow," Sadie said.
"Oh." Gram was old fashioned and really strict. She thought Sadie, Gabby, and I were supposed to be "Proper Ladies". I was just happy she wasn't as insufferable as Aunt Maya. Now she was a dilemma. She wanted to turn all three of us into girly-girls. I really didn't understand that.
"What I wanna know," Gabby said walking in-was my bedroom just an open space they could freely walk into without asking?-"Is do I still have to call her Gram?"
I shrugged. "I couldn't say Grandmother when I was little. I suppose you could call her anything, if it wasn't too disrespectful."
"So 'hey old lady' is out of the picture?" Gabby asked, grinning.
I gave her a look. "You know Mom and Dad would shoot you for that."
Gabby shrugged. "They can't kill their own kid, can they?"
I rolled my eyes. "No, but they can ground you until you go to college."
"So... forever?" Sadie asked, letting a giggle escape.
Gabby punched her.
"Fine, fine," Sadie grumbled, rubbing her bruised arm. "Maybe just until you're thirty-four."
I was in the backseat of the van, thoroughly squished between Gabby and Sadie. I had given my iPod to Sadie for the three hour drive from Watonga, Oklahoma to Amarillo, Texas. Gabby's music, on the other hand, was hearing herself talk and playing on her iPad while I wrote out more of a story in my notebook.
The girl lifted her head, her blue eyes daringly accusing. "You have no power over me."
"You sure about that?" the assassin growled, pressing the knife harder against the girl's throat.
The girl lifted her eyes to the teenage boy. "You can break my soul, beat me, hurt me, kill me, take my life away, but you will never have any power over me."
As much as the assassin hated it, he admired the girl's courage. Finally, he retracted the knife from her throat. He looked down, then back up at her. "You have courage girl. I admire that."
The girl revealed her unbound hands to the boy. "Not just courage," she said. "Skill."
The boy surveyed the girl. She had far too much skill to be the unsuspecting street girl he had found. "Who are you?" He asked.
The girl swept her blonde hair into a ponytail atop her head. Her voice was a low whisper as she spoke. "I am not who you think I am."
I was just finishing the third chapter when we pulled into the driveway of Gram's house. Gram was on the front porch waiting.
"What took you so long?" She scolded.
"Nice to see you too, Mom," Dad said, kissing the top of Gram's head. His blue eyes twinkled playfully.
"Gabby, you've grown a foot," Gram said. "Sadie, when are you going to start sprouting up? It's all that junk food you feed her, Tanya."
"She's hopeless," A smile toyed on Mom's lips. "We've tried everything. She can't be saved."
"It's nothing to joke around with," Gram said. "The girl needs her vitamins."
"We get vitamins," Gabby put in. "You should see all the broccoli she makes us eat." Gabby made a face. "Did you make snickerdoodles?"
"Yes, but there will be none of that until you've had lunch," Gram said. She glanced behind her, her eyes hitting me. She weaved her way around my family to me.
My legs seemed to be the only thing that startled her. I stood on crutches, with my prosthetic leg. I had decided to wear it and see how long it took until I had to take it off and pop it in the car.
"Hey Gram," I said.
"Hello, Richelle," Gram stood on her tiptoes and I bent down a little and she planted a kiss on my cheek.
Gram had always taken a liking to me. I guess I wasn't loud or anything. Of Eva and I, I guess I was the cute, submissive one. I did what I was asked. I was quiet. I stayed in the background. Eva was vibrant, and excitable. Gram didn't really think that was how a lady should act. I didn't crave attention, like Gabby, being the youngest. I didn't complain, at least not like Sadie did, and I most certainly did not have the vibrance or life that Eva did. I was just sort of...there. I suppose Gram liked those people.
"Well come on in, out of this heat and eat," Gram said. "If it isn't ruined."
"On my best day I could never make a meal as good as one of your ruined ones," Mom commented.
I walked, actually, legitimately, walked through the kitchen, slowly sitting down between my siblings and my parents. I leaned my crutches against the back of the chair and swung my legs around.
"You only ever eat half of what I fix," Gram said when Sadie had pushed her plate away.
"Then maybe you should only fix half," Gabby said.
"Gabriella Mae Cleveland," Mom shot her a warning look. She only used full names if we were in big trouble.
"She's got a fresh mouth on her, Tanya," Gram said.
"I should leave her here with you for a week," Mom said. "That would straighten her out."
I thought my sister would go into convulsions.
We stuffed ourselves with Gram's requirements, before she would bring out the snickerdoodles.
"Sadie, why don't you go help her," Mom suggested, an innocent smile on her face.
"Sure," Sadie frowned, but got up and followed Gram into the kitchen.
I groaned when I heard yelling from the kitchen. Gram and Sadie never got along.
"Richelle, go see what that's about, would you?" Dad asked.
I nodded, walking to the kitchen without bothering to grab my crutches. Surprisingly, I didn't trip once.
"I have told you not to use that tone with me," Gram scolded.
"What does it matter?" Sadie now. "You hate all my tones!"
"Sadie?" I asked, pushing myself within view. "What's going on?"
"We're having a conversation," Gram said.
"Conversation?" Gabby said, appearing beside me. "It sounds like the Ellen Degeneres Show in here."
"I don't think it's funny at all," Gram said. "I need to speak with your parents about Sadie's attitude."
"There's nothing wrong with my attitude!" Sadie's voice squeaked up an octave. "She's just-I can't-She's always-"
"Sadie," I said, my tone carefully measured. "Go calm down."
"I want Mom and Dad to hear my side!"
"And they will. Now go."
"Hear mine first!"
I closed my eyes. Pain shot through the foot that wasn't there. It felt like my foot was being shoved through a blender. I willed myself not to scream. "Sadie," my tone was dangerously low. "I am not in the mood to be dealing with this right now. Just go, Sadie. Now." Even Sadie knew not to mess with me at that point.
"Ugh!" She said, stomping out.
"Richelle?" Mom and Dad asked, filing in. She took in the scene. "Richelle, are you okay?"
"Hurts," I said through gritted teeth.
"There's gabapentin in my purse," Mom said. "Grab it and go check on Sadie."
I nodded and did as I asked.
"Sadie?" I asked gently through the pain.
"Why didn't you help me?" She asked.
"What?"
"Why didn't you do anything?" She asked again. "You said you were going to try to be a better sister."
"Sadie, I really wasn't in the mood to fight Gram," I said tiredly.
"Still," she jabbed a finger in my face.
I gently pushed her finger out of my face. "Don't test my patience, Sadie. I'm serious. Don't."
Sadie stared at me for a moment, then shook her head. "Sorry."
"Gram's just so infuriating sometimes," Sadie said. "You wouldn't get it. She actually likes you."
I shook my head. "She pities me. If you noticed, I'm the one with one leg, so I'm the one who gets sympathy."
"Still," Sadie said. "That's better than we get."
"In some ways, yes, in some ways no," I said. "But Sadie, she does love you. In some strange, uptight, critical way, she does love you. You know that right?"
Sadie shrugged. "I don't know."
"You should," I said. "And in the meantime, just try to be patient. Yelling will only make things worse. You know that."
Sadie gave a vague nod.
I hope she really had understood what I said on some level.