Chapter 2

"Melisa, Rosa, the bus is here already. Hurry"

The kids answered in uniform while running towards the kitchen to pick up their lunch box.

"we're coming, mama"

Mrs. Andison gave them both a kiss on the forehead and wished them a great day in school.

Malisa and Rose were only 12years old, they had no worries about life, all they had to do was go to school, get back home, play in the backyard, do their homework, eat dinner, talk about school to each other and tell their little secrets in a blanket tenth before going to bed. Malisa and Rose were not just sisters, they were best friends.

**************

Four years later, Malisa and Rose did the usual and went to bed. Thirty minutes after going to bed they heard a crash, glass breaking and their mother crying aloud.

"Michael stop this"

"who are you to tell me what to do and what not to do Samantha"

"the kids are sleeping, please stop"

Their father came back drunk again and this time, it wasn't the usual talking to himself and crashing in the bed. He was breaking things. He was out of his mind.The two teenagers stood at a corner watching their father wreck the house.

Samantha turned and saw them trembling, she came close to them and whispered "daddy is having a bad day okay, go to bed, everything will be fine"

They saw the pain in their mother's eyes and fear. They turned and went back to their room but couldn't sleep. Malia, being a very sensitive and emotion girl, she told her sister how she felt.

"Rose, I cant stay in this house any longer"

"what do you mean you cant stay"

"daddy is always coming home drunk, mama is always crying at night and we cant even have a sound sleep in our own house. I need a break from all this drama Rose"

"you're right. Let's tell more we want to go aunt Martha's house for a week"

"No way. Aunt Martha doesn't even like us"

"okay, what do you suggest"

"I say we go to Amy's. Her mum will let us stay for a week since she knows what happens here every night. Mama is her best friend and Amy is our friend too"

"yeah, that's a good idea. Now can we sleep?"

They both paused to listening for a crash but didn't hear anything

"Good night Rose"

"Good night Malia"

Next morning, they took their bath and dressed up, ready for school. They sat at the table for breakfast with their Dad and Mama. Nobody was talking, they were just eating slowly. Michael then broke the silence.

"how did you girl sleep last night?"

"fine" Malisa simply said.

"What about you Rose"

"slept well, thank you"

Malisa is the arrogate one, always says her mind when she wants to and doesn't hide her anger or any other emotion except pain. She feels that showing her pain will only make her weak so she always keeps her pain hidden and bottled up inside her which makes her think a lot and sometimes leaves her breathless.

Rose, on the other hand, shows everything except anger. She is the complete opposite of Malisa when it comes to showing emotions. Rose is the nice one, sympathetic and understanding. Although Malisa can be understanding too and sympathetic, but she doesn't do that a lot.

Their father felt really bad for what happened the previous day and wanted to make it up for his family.

"what do you girls think about going out for dinner today?"

"I'll pass" said Malisa.

Rose kicked her foot under the table and gave her one of her looks

"we would love that, Dad" Rose said.

Samantha smiled and whispered

"let's get to school girl"

She kissed them on their forehead and they left to school.

"Hun I'm sorry about last night" Michael began

"I know I promised I wasn't going to come back drunk again the last time it happened but I didn't know what to do when I got fired yesterday for a little mistake I made. I didn't know how to come home and tell you that when I promised you a good life before we got married"

Samantha could see the sincerity in his eyes, he looked like someone that was confessing an act of murder. She had compassion on him and held his hand.

"I didn't get married to you because you promised me a good life, Michael, I married you because I loved you and I still do. You can always tell me anything, you're not just my husband, you're my best friend and best friends tell each other everything. They don't just go to the nearest bar and waste themselves"

"I know, I'm very sorry"

"it's fine. You can always talk to me"

They hugged and continued with their daily work apart from Michael going to work.

Samantha sells flowers in a small store. She works hard at home in the garden to make sure the flowers look great. She doesn't earn much from that but she just didn't want to stay idle and she wanted to support her husband who was working as a sales man. Now that he has lost his job, Samantha's flower business is their only source of income.

**************

Samantha, Michael, Malia and Rose were sitting at the table, as they were eating in silence, Samantha decided to speak.

"your Dad has something to say to you girls"

Michael looked at his wife then she smiled and nodded is approval.

"Girls, I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I promised you and your mum the last time that I won't come home drunk again but I failed. Daddy lost his job yesterday and he got out of control. I hope this dinner can make up for my actions and I promise you this time that I won't come home drunk again. I just want you girls to know that I love you"

Malisa's heart broke as she heard those words come out of her father's mouth. For the first time, she didn't know what to say, her anger slowly turned to compassion and worry for her family. She stood up from her seat, went straight to her father and hugged him in tears. Rosa was so proud of her sister. She gave a small smile to her mum and joined the cuddle. Samantha was so happy to see her home looking like a home once again even though things are not going well, all she needed was a happy house and not riches.

The next day was Malia and Rose's graduation from high school, they were very happy and set to go. The happy family reach the school and witnessed their daughters' happy moment. The girls were all grown up and ready for college but their parent cant afford to pay for college. This was the only obstacle between those two girls and great success. Their parent assured them that they were going to work hard to get enough money and the girls also volunteered to go and look for a job they could do and they also helped their mum at the garden while their father goes out to look for a job.

Malisa and her sister got a job at a coffee shop to serve, their father got a job at a fancy restaurant which paid more than his old job and their mother made good money from her flower business. After two months, they had enough money to send their children to college for a whole year, get them a nice apartment, and also give them enough allowance for a month. With Michael's new job, sending them money monthly wasn't a problem.

Michael rented a car so that he and his wife could take their girls to college themselves. They got to their apartment, assured them that they were going to keep sending money to them monthly and the girls promised to do their best in school.They hugged their parent goodbye

"bye Dad"

"we are going to miss you so much mum"

Little did they know that it was the last time they were going to see their parents.On their way back home, there was a heavy storm and Michael was struggling to see the road. Samantha suggested they stop the car and wait a little to the storm to pass and Michael listened to his wife. As he was trying to hit the break, another car from nowhere summersaulted towards their direction and both cars fell off a very high cliff and into an ocean.

If anyone had survived that fall, they wouldn't survive drowning.

Malisa and Rose waited for their parents call because they couldn't reach them but the only call they receive was from their Aunt-Martha after three weeks, telling them about their parents' death.They cried till their eye balls almost popped out, they lost focus in school. Just when things were about to get better, everything became worst. The bodies of their parent were heading to the bottom of the ocean together with the car. Mariners dived into the water when the news spread out and finally got three bodies out of the water; Michael, Samantha and driver of the second car.

Malisa and Rose decided to so for their parent burial and drop out of school because they can't afford the apartment any longer and don't have any money.They were just sixteen years old and couldn't inherit anything their parents had. It was all given to their Aunt-Martha. They had to go and live with their aunt or get separated in an orphanage. Aunt Martha was a young beautiful woman in her mid-thirties, she wasn't married and owns a small medicine store. She lives in a small two-bedroom apartment on her own. She was living an average life before she got their parents inheritance because she was their only relative alive. Although what she got from their parent wasn't much, it still meant a lot to her. She sold the house and all the flowers their mother had planted. Despite all this, the two girls never saw the outcome of all that. They never got a birthday or Christmas present, they worked for their aunt and never got rewarded. As she would always tell them

"you are living under my roof and if not for me, you would be in an orphanage and later get separated".

She didn't give them an option but to hate her constantly. Few weeks later, as they were cleaning her room, they saw a medical report that showed her limited years of being alive. She had just eighteen months to live and as sad as it would sound, the girls were very happy because they would be above eighteen by then.These girls chose to be patient and awaited the day they would finally be free.

**************

On their eighteenth birthday, they started thinking about running away.

"if we leave, she won't even look for us" Malisa said

"what if she does so that people won't think she is a bad person"

"who cares about that"

"Malisa, she just has few months to live, we are her only family. Let's wait and get our inheritance so that we can go and start a new life somewhere with the money and it might be able to take us back to school"

"okay, what you saying is actually making more sense"

"she's not going to kill us, we have been passing through this for almost two years, few months with hurt"

"okay Rose"

Aunt Martha doesn't know their plans, she doesn't even know that they saw her medical report. And what they don't know is that she isn't planning to leave anything behind for them to start a new life.She put the house on sale without their knowledge and told her lawyer to use the money for her burial. The only thing she left for the girls was her medicine store.

Two months later, Aunt Martha died and after her burial, the lawyer came to the house to break the news to the girls. They had just a week to pack out of the house and the only inheritance she left to them was her medicine store.The girls couldn't believe their ears, they didn't think she could do that to them; leaving them homeless and cashless with only a medical store. The lawyer left after passing his message. They held each other and sobbed. The next they, they went to the store to continue her business and after a hard day job, they only sold five drugs. They kept doing that for a week and finally paced out of the house to the medicine store. They taught they could make enough in a week but they didn't. the store became both their work place and house. They didn't have much cloths so the store space was enough for both them and the luggage.

**************

After two months, they could afford a small one room apartment and after two years, they had enough for only one person to go to the city and start a new life.when they got bac home, they were discussing the issue

"so we have enough money for only one person to start a new life" Malisa said looking right into her sister's eyes.

"Malisa I know you want to go"

"of course I want to go but who doesn't. We both want to leave this place but we have to talk about it and know who should go first"

"you should go first. I've seen you struggle for the past two years and I know you can't handle it any longer but I can. You should go and get a nice job and a nice place that we can comfortably live in together"

Malisa looked at her sister with tears in her eyes and hugged her.

"thank you so much Rose, you're a very caring and understanding sister".

Rose didn't want to be too emotional cause just thinking about her only family leaving her alone broke her heart.

"Let's get you all set up Malisa, let's go shopping for some city cloths" Rose brightened the mood and they both giggled before heading out.

The next day, Malisa was ready to go. Rose hugged her so tight and wasn't ready to let go. They both sobbed on each other's shoulders knowing that they will be apart for a very long time. They finally waved each other goodbye and Rose stood there until Malisa was out of sight.