Changed for life

Seeking Help

SYMONNE POV

After talking to Dylan, we agreed to meet up to fix this. We decided to end this where it first started: the park that Emily and I first met Laine. We also thought that it would be best to have an adult there, so I talked to my parents about taking a walk in the park, to which they agreed to. But I chose my parents to be the adults for another reason than just for a walk.

When I got to the park, it was around 11:50. Ten minutes. I didn't really know how this would work out, but I was hoping that it won't crash and burn.

"Hey!" I turned around to see Dylan running up behind me.

"Hi." I answered him.

"So where exactly did you meet Laine? 'Cause knowing her, that's where she's going to be."

I looked to Emily as I tried to remember where that had been. Even though it hadn't been that long ago, my brain had been so full of things, that everything had flown out the window.

"Uh, well it was by the skate park!" Emily remembered.

"Then let's go." Dylan ushered us.

We walked to the skate park in silence. When we reached the skate park a few minutes later, I spotted Laine wandering around the edge of the park.

"Mom, dad, would you mind waiting here for a minute? I'll be right back." I told my parents, wanting to talk to Laine first before we try to help her.

"Sure. We'll wait on this bench for you." My mom answered.

I walked over to Laine as she turned to face me. "Hi." I smiled. I didn't get one back, but I didn't blame her. Laine had a lot of things going on in her life right now.

Laine took a deep breath and asked me, "Why am I here? Nothing is going to change. I've tried, ok? Nothing happens."

It hurt my heart seeing how calm she seemed. I would have expected her to cry and yell, but instead she was as calm as can be with a touch of annoyance.

"I just want to try to help. Whether you're my sister or a friend, it hurts me to know that you need to go through this." I told Laine in full honesty.

Laine sighed, "Look, I appreciate that you want to help me, really, I do, but no matter who tries to help me and no matter what they try to do, nothing ever works."

"Just give me a chance." When Laine didn't say anything, I said, "Please? If I'm not able to make a difference, I'll drop it. Just let me try."

Laine sighed again and looked up at the sky for a second before looking back down at me, "Ok. Fine. I just don't want you involved because it's a dangerous situation that you're getting yourself into. But if you really want to help, be my guest."

I almost jumped for joy, but I contained myself and asked her to follow me. I walked back to my parents, Emily, and Dylan and asked my parents, "Hey, mom, dad? Do I have any siblings?"

They looked taken aback. "N-no, honey. We've told you this before."

I felt angry that my dad would lie to me. I took Laine's hand in mine and responded, "You may have told me that before, but you also told me that you wouldn't ever lie to me. So I guess I don't know what to believe anymore." I rarely talked back to people, let alone my parents, so that probably explained the shocked look on my dad's face. He opened his mouth, about to scold me, no doubt, but my mom grabbed his arm, eyes on Laine. "Oh, yeah. This is Laine. My apparent sister. Care to explain?"

My mom had tears in her eyes and my dad went pale. Laine didn't look happy nor excited at all. She looked more cautious, and that hurt knowing that she had to go through whatever went on in her mind when it came to even the smallest of things, like meeting new people.

"We're sorry for keeping this from you, Symonne. But you've got to understand how hard it was for us to have our first born ripped from us." My mom started explaining.

"What do you mean by 'ripped'? I was told that I'm adopted." Laine questioned.

"We would never give you up, Laine." My mom told Laine. "You were kidnapped at birth. You father and I had time to name you, but when the doctors left to clean you and wrap you up, they came back without you."

"Why do I have the same name as Laine's middle name?" I curiously asked.

"When we lost Laine, we were heartbroken. We wanted to be able to remember Laine. So we gave you Laine's middle name." My father answered.

Laine opened her mouth, then closed it. I squeezed her hand and she gave me a watery eye smile before looking back up at mom and dad. "If you really missed me so much, why did you never come looking for me?"

"And why did you never tell me about her?" I added.

"We did look for you. We looked until we found you. We did find you, but when we talked to your 'adopted' parents, they told us that if we say or do anything about you, they would kill you. It was so hard to not tell you, Symonne. But you know, as well as anyone else that you've ever met, that if we told you, you would go and look for her. It took a toll on your father and I. Not knowing how Laine was, if she was ok, if she was safe. We didn't to put you through that."

"You do know that since you didn't help her, Laine is abused at home? And in public!" I burst out. Laine tensed up against my arm.

"Symonne!" Laine groaned.

Both my mom and dad were silent after this outburst, making me think that they did know. "Yes, baby, we do know. We promised that we wouldn't do anything. But we really do want to help you. But only if you are ok with that." My mom directed the last part at Laine.

I looked over at her to see something that looked like hope in her eyes. She smiled, genuinely smiled, and looked my mom in the eyes, "I would really like that. But please be careful. The last time that someone tried to help me," I noticed that Laine glanced in Dylan's direction, "I couldn't walk for a week and my wrist broke. So I'm begging you to please be careful with what you do!"

My mom brought Laine into a tight hug that I joined. "We are going to be careful, but we promise to do everything that we can to help." She promised.

Hey all! Sorry for not posting. School started a few weeks ago and it's been challenging, but I'm loving it also! I also got sick a few days ago, but I'm fine now.

If you still have any questions about Laine and her parents, please comment them right here and I will answer them.

Also, thank you Tariyahromero12 for helping me come up with the idea to get Symonne's parents involved!

Stay safe and healthy and always do your best in school!

Until next time! Sarahs4hearts, out!
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