Foster Sisters

Chapter 11

"Oh my god, Hailey!" I rush to her side and immediately grab the only towel I see sitting on the sink counter and dab at the blood on the floor.

"We need to get you to the hospital, NOW!" I scream, the sight of the blood making me dizzy.

"Jesus Ava, sit down you're pale as a ghost." Hailey demands and I slide down against the cool bathroom wall.

"Garrett!" Hailey screams.

"No! You can't tell him!" I shout.

"I already know you told him, you suck at secrets." Hailey shoots me a look and I frown.

"But you're bleeding and half naked!" I whisper-yell to remind her.

I slowly stand up to shut the door and lock it. 

"No, you need to get help. I'll clean up." Hailey demands.

I do as I'm told and unlock the door, opening it up fast so I can shut it behind me and I nearly collide into Garrett.

"Someone screamed for me? Is everything okay?" He asks, a serious concern on his face.

"Um, remember what I told you about Hailey?" I start to sweat just thinking about the scene I just saw with  my own two eyes.

"Yeah....?"

"She's bleeding everywhere Garrett! We have to get her to the hospital before it's too late!" I shout, it all just coming out of me like word vomit.

"WHAT?!" 

"Who said hospital? What's going on?" Harriet comes out of her room, tying her robe around her waist.

"Uh oh." Garrett and I share a glance then.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Harriet asks just as Hailey lets out a murderous scream.

Harriet immediately flings open the bathroom door and I cover Garrett's eyes just incase.

"Oh my god, HUDSON call 9-1-1!" Harriet shouts.

"Ava and Garrett, I need you two to stay here and watch over the kids while Hudson and I take Hailey to the hospital.

"But..." I start and she cuts me off.

"I saw the pregnancy test in my bathroom, I knew." She states and I gather the kids into the living room then.

The paramedics knocked onto our door not too much later and the kids faces read horror and fear.

"What's going on? Where's Hailey?" Adam asks, noticing her presence isn't with us.

Gar and I share a look because we don't know how to tell the kids what's happening. Lily is too young to understand and Emelyne might just be confused and Adam will surely be disgusted.

And then suddenly the kids all look over to the stairs where the paramedics are carrying Hailey on a stretcher down the stairs and out the door with Harriet and Hudson trailing behind.

"Hailey!" Emelyne shouts and stands to her feet.

"Why are her pants bloody?" Lily gushes.

"Uh guys, Hailey had a medical emergency but the doctors are going to take good care of her. How about we say a little prayer for her?" I was the one to speak because I knew Garrett was currently at a loss for words.

We gather around then in a circle, holding hands and bow our heads.

"Lily, how about you speak?" 

"Okay. Dear heavenly father, please look over our dear Hailey as we love her very much and we can't live without her, she's the only one who gives me fruit snacks late at night when I can't sleep. Amen." We all pick our heads up and laugh.

"That was great squirt, if Hailey was here right now, she would've laughed." I pick her up and hold her tight.

"Hailey isn't going to die, right Ava?" She shocks us all and Emelyne bursts into tears then and runs straight to her room.

"I got it." I set Lily down and run after her.

"Emelyne! Open up!" I knock gently on her bedroom door.

No response so I gently open the door and find Emelyne snuggled on her daybed curled in a ball crying into her teddy bear Hailey won her at the fair last summer. I take a minute to compose myself before going over there and sitting next to her. I remember to what Garrett said about Emelyne looking up to me and that gives me the courage to go over to her and talk to her.

"Why did you follow me? You never cared before." Ouch, that stung.

"Look Emelyne, I realize now that I might have come across as selfish before but you are also my foster sister and I love you just as much as I love the rest." 

"Not as much as Natalie." She sobs.

Oh boy, this is much worse than I originally thought it was.

"Yes even as much as Natalie even though you might not see it or understand. Natalie is my soul sister, we have a lot in common but that doesn't mean I don't love you just as equally." I'm proud of how adult I sound like, Harriet would be proud of me.

"Why don't you do things with me then? You do things with Lily... you even do things with Garrett. Are Adam and I the black sheep of the family?" She looks at me then, her face serious.

"Emelyne, I didn't know this is how you and Adam felt and I'm sorry. I guess I never realized to take a step back and see if your feelings were affected as well. It's been Nat and I since day one and I've been selfish, I'm sorry." I can't even look her in the eyes, I feel horrible.

"And no, Hailey isn't going to die." I add because that is initially the reason she ran up here.

"Then why was she bleeding?"

I take a quick moment to think how I should word this and I realize she doesn't want to be left in the dark anymore. She is in middle school and I think it's time I tell her the truth.

"Hailey was pregnant." I take a deep breath before speaking again and to see if it registers in her brain so I don't have to continue and instead she gasps.

"When you say was... you're saying...." She slowly connects the dots and I thank all the health teachers in her school in this very moment.

"Yes..." I confirm what she's thinking then.

"Oh Ava." She uncurls her body and wraps her arms around me and I hug her tight and a tear rolls down my face then as I realize how good it feels to be close to another sister in this house even if she's three years younger than me.

"She's going to be okay. It's going to be a lot on her body and mentally, but she will recover from this." I assure her and clear my tears away.

"I see you two made up." Garrett leans in the doorway then with a smile on his face and Emelyne tosses a pillow at his head to which he catches.

"How about we order some pizza?" Garrett suggests and we all follow him downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Yay pizza!" Lily jumps up and down.

"How about you and Adam set the table?" I nod to Emelyne and she agrees.

"You know, I think we do pretty good job at looking after these kiddos." I say to Garrett as he's on hold with the pizza place.

"Yeah, we make a pretty good team Littleton, don't we?" He smirks.

Just then the doorbell rang and I look at Garrett confused because he hasn't even gotten through to the pizza place yet so who the heck is on our front porch right now?

I walk to the front foyer and twist the doorknob on the door to reveal my worst nightmare standing on my front porch, my mom.