You saved me Maddie

Twists and turns.

When we walked back to our car Maddies phone rang. She grabbed it from her purse and answered.
"Hello?" She said into the quiet line.
I couldn't hear what the other person was saying but Maddie suddenly stopped walking.
"Callie?" She said cautiously in to the phone.
My heart stopped for a second.
"Uh yeah" Maddie started walking "that's fine but are you sure about this?"
I could hear the other person on the other end of the line agree and short after Maddie hung up.
"Who was that?" I asked her.
"Callie" Maddie said as if she couldn't believe it.
"What did she want?"
"She ran away from home" Maddie out the keys in the ignition. "She wondered if she could stay with me for the night"
"I'm guessing you said yes" I said as I clicked in my seatbelt.
"I did" she turned to me "I'm sorry I know I didn't ask you but-"
"Maddie it's fine, I can get the guest room ready when we get home" I said.
Maddies eyebrows did that thing they did right before she would start to cry, they almost moved together.
"Don't cry" I said when I noticed.
A single tear rolled down her cheek. She sniffed and wiped it away with the back of her hand.
"Thank you" she said and started the car.
When we got back I made the guest bed and picked up the board game we had played before we left the house. Maddie was busy cooking chicken and rice to do anything else. I left my switch plugged in though, guessing it wouldn't hurt anyone. I could feel Maddies stress across the living room.
"Maddie?" I walked towards her.
"Mhm" she sounded distracted.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine" she hissed at me.
"You're not" I looked at her.
"I just" she stopped what she was doing and turned to look at me. "I don't know what to say when she gets here."
She tucked her bottom lip under her teeth.
"Just talk to her like you talk to me" I gave her a reassuring smile.
"But I know you. I know what you like, what your favourite food and colour is and how to make you laugh.
"So try to get to know her then" I walked around the breakfast bar to get closer to her. "Get to know what she likes, what her favourite food and colour is"
Maddie out her arms around me and pulled me in to a tight hug.
"Whatever happens I always have you" she said into my hair.
I hugged her harder as a response. Maddie pretended to gasp for air before laughing softly, her soft voice filling the entire apartment. I walked over to sit on the couch for a while but then the doorbell rang and I watched all the blood drain from Maddies face. She walked around the breakfast bar to the front door. With a last glance back at me she pushed down the door handle and the door swung open. A girl stood in the opening, her dark brown hair tied back in a tight ponytail. Maddie froze for a minute, her left hand still on the door handle.
"Hi" the girl said.
"Hi" Maddie answered, her voice hollow.
"Please come in" Maddie said as she stepped aside.
The girl walked inside, a blue backpack hanging on her right shoulder that swung around when she walked. She stopped when she laid eyes on me.
"Hi" I stood up to shake her hand "I'm Ellie."
"Callie" the girl smiled. "Nice to meet you"
Maddie closed the door behind her and walked Callie to the guest room. I could hear Maddie showing her around a bit before Callie asked if she could take a quick shower before dinner. Maddie agreed and then she came back to the living area, still quite pale.
"You okay?" I asked her again.
She shook her head and I hugged her in response. She rested her chin against my head and sighed, running her hand down my hair. After a while I set the table and Maddie finished making the salad and Callie came back out, her hair in wet waves. She had a lost look on her face, her gaze floating around the room. I invited her to sit in my usual spot to make her sit closest to Maddie, while I sat down across from her. Maddie brought out the food and then she sat down herself.
That must've been the most awkward dinner I've ever had to sit through, Maddie was lost for words and so was Callie. After dinner Callie just told us she was going to bed and Maddie said she would do the same when Callie was out of ear-range.
I woke up around 2 am that night and couldn't fall asleep again so I went out to the kitchen to make myself a big cup of tea. I stopped walking when I saw Callie sitting at the breakfast bar with a glass of water in her hands. When she noticed my steps against the hardwood floor she turned her head to look at me.
"Can't sleep?" I asked her as I grabbed a mug out a cabinet.
Callie shook her head, and I noticed that she was wearing the same clothes that she came in.
"You want a cup of tea?" I said lifting up the kettle.
"Yes please" she smiled.
"You okay?" I asked her "can't help but notice that you're wearing the same clothes you came in"
"I forgot to bring pyjamas" Callie admitted as I handed her a tea mug.
She took a breath and chewed on her words for a moment.
"Are you" she paused "are you my sister?"
I froze, of course she didn't know.
"No" I shook my head.
Callie lowered her head and sighed.
"I know I'm haven't" she started.
"What no" I sat down next to her. "Callie I'm a foster kid, I'm not Maddies."
She looked up at me.
"Oh" she picked at a loose cuticle and said "I guess I was just mad that she chose to give me up and kept you"
"What" I felt my throat tighten. "She didn't have a choice"
"Sure she didn't" Callie scoffed.
"She hasn't told you has she?" I asked her and Callie shook her head.
"She had you with her dead boyfriend" I started "and she was young, broke and still in school. Your dad was a bit controlling so she didn't tell your dad she was pregnant, but she had to tell someone so she told her mom, your grandma."
I paused and looked at her, Callie face still hard and angry.
"But her mom didn't take it that well, she's very judgemental, so she made her choose, her boyfriend, an education and a stable life or you and she wanted you, she really did, but she was scared. So when you were born she has to make the hardest choice a mother could ever make. She gave you up." I paused again and looked up at Callie.
Her face still hard but her eyes a little softer.
"So why didn't she look for me?" She asked "I was in foster care for three years"
I sighed.
"Your dad, her then became boyfriend proposed and she said yes. He was well respected, a surgeon who earned a lot and she was a nurse. They moved back to her hometown and that's when it all turned around. He got violent, very violent. She couldn't get away because he threatened o kill her, so she knew that she couldn't bring you back to that, to him. That's why she couldn't take you back, because she didn't want you to get hurt by him. But she finally got away, and it was so hard for her, because all the wounds he made are still open, still fresh." I finished talking.
Callies eyes were watery and her cheeks white. I put my hand on her back as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"It's okay you didn't know"  I told her but she shook her head.
"I didn't need to blame her" her voice shrinking down in to a whisper.
I wrapped my arms around her when I heard footsteps. Maddie walked in, surprise written all over her face.
"Everything okay?" She asked.
Callie turned to her.
"I'm sorry" Her voice weak when she spoke.
"What?" Maddie looked at both of us, her eyes going from me to Callie and back to me again, desperately looking for an answer.
Callie stood up, the chair squeaking against the wooden floor. Maddie was still so confused but Callie walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her.