Tragic Coincidences

Chapter Twenty~Undivided

*708 words*

The table between us felt like a canyon. We had no way to cross and we couldn't see the bottom. If we held out our arms for Careine, she wouldn't survive the inevitable fall. You can't convince someone to come up for air if they don't want to breathe. And Careine didn't want to cross the divide. Careine sat across from us with Jelani, who seemed unprepared for the meeting. She was mumbling to herself and shuffling papers together.

I looked at Careine, who laid with her head rested on the table, while she cried silently. Her eyes were fractured and the shards were falling from her eyes like tears, nicking her skin as they fell, leaving a trail of red behind them.

Shadows wrapped themselves around her, holding her tightly as they whispered in her ear. It was as though, her walls had completely crumpled, when she knew that Jelani was here. She was shaking and she sat stiffly, unable to combat the crushing weight on her shoulders. She would only allow people to help so much. She'd let them hold her hand, but she wouldn't let them pull her over the ledge. Because she didn't believe anyone could win against the monsters pulling her into the abyss. She is going to fall. If she doesn't let someone pull her up, she will fall into herself and drown. But just like you can't take back a broken promise, you can't heal a tattered soul. She was no longer a girl. She was a girl trapped in a cage and no way of escaping.

"So that being said, " Jelani stressed, "You won't be able to adopt Careine right away since she still has to be registered into the system again. And till then unless we can get the jury to sign on off on you housing her, she'll stay at a group home, till you can officially apply for adoption." She slid a piece of paper across the table. "This is an application form to directly foster. If you sign it now, I can go ahead and run it by the state judge tomorrow."

"wait." Rachel said grabbing Mom's arm before she could grab the paper. "Why are we doing this? Why are we fighting so hard- for someone who didn't even try and stay?" She said painfully. "We all fought for her. But it would have made a whole lot of a difference if she had just fought for us too."

"Rachel!" Mom exclaimed looking at her.

"Why? Careine, why didn't you fight for us?" She exclaimed. "Did you really hate us that much?"

Careine looked down at her hands and squinted her eyes hiccuping. "I- I didn't- I really didn't hate you. Not once- not at all did I ever hate you. But I really-" Careine choked and covered her mouth. Jelani held her tightly and rubbed her back as she sang to her softly. "I really hated myself- because sometimes I would still find myself thinking- that you only ever saw me as Sammie's replacement."

Rachel stood up and walked around to Careine's side of the table before grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to look at Rachel. "Are you an idiot?!" Rachel sobbed. "No one could ever replace Sammie. Not even you." Rachel looked across the table to me. "We all know that no one could ever replace Sammie."

Melany and I both nodded. Melany stood up and walked over to Careine. "We all love you, Careine." Melany wrapped her arms around Careine's neck tightly. "We were so scared-"

"Careine?" I whispered. "Please. Stay this time."

Careine looked at me with wide eyes, before letting out a sob, and hugging Melany and Rachel tightly.

I guess the canyon wasn't as big as I thought. I assumed it was an ocean, but it was really just a stream.

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Okay yes this is the end yes I know the end sucks but tbh I'm just kinda done with this story. As much as I love the story and the characters and the plots and stuff I'm not invested in working in the story anymore. Sorry 😞. If y'all have any questions about how things ended for certain characters lemme know and I'll tell you :)