Ellie

Chapter Seven

We get to my house and I feel a huge emptiness in my stomach. This is the first time I have seen the house since my parents died. I remember seeing my dads last blink and a tear roll down his face. He moved his mouth like he was going to say something but never got the chance to say it. Mom was already dead when I got in the room and she was covered in blood. Dads leg was sliced open and so was both of his arms. It looked like he was punched in the forehead also because of the huge swelling purple bruise on him. Then I hear Ellie cry again.

    “Izzy, are you alright? Ellie is crying again.”

    Thats when I realized that I was sitting on the ground, the same place I sat with Grandpa when they died. My head was leaning on my shoulder and my palms were sweaty and my face was soaked with tears. I quickly wiped my hands on my shorts and wiped away my tears with the back of my palm.

    “Oh, yeah I am fine. I just needed a minute. Are you okay?”

I picked up Ellie and cradled her in my arms. She is the only thing that kept me sane. She is the only thing that kept me living.

    “Well I am fine, but I think we should go back to the hospital, we told them we would be back at 2 and it is 1:30.” Anna explains.

    It feels like we have been walking for hours and hours but we haven’t, I turn towards Anna,

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Its 1:45, Why?”

“Oh you know just out of curiosity, thanks,”

“Your welcome…”

Anna says that in a worried way, like she is worried I’ll blackout again or die in a second. I close my eyes then open them and see the hospital sign, and then the entrance. The next thing I know I am in the hospital walking through the entrance doors and then unfortunately the doctor comes rushing up to us,

“What happened! Ellie had her exams hours ago! She also had to take her treatment! She could have died without it!”

“OK I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY”

“Give Ellie to me we need to take her to get treatment right away!”

I hand him Ellie and he walks away fast with her and then comes to a door and he disappears.

    “So Anna, today was fun, other than me spacing out. I am hoping we can get out of here by tomorrow.”

    “Yeah, I hope you do to. Well I am going to go, tell your Nana I said bye. I hope your sister gets better,Bye."

    She walks right out of the hospital without looking back. I wonder why she doesn't like coming here anymore.

I decide to go check up on Grandpa since I haven't seen him since this morning. He is getting a slice of pizza in the cafeteria.

    “ Hey Grandpa!”

    “Oh, hey honey. Would you like a slice? I can pay.”

    I am so hungry that I could eat a pig, I haven't had anything today except for a bagel. I decide not to tell him that though because he will worry about me.

    “I am not that hungry, but can I have a pretzel? Have you seen Nana around? I can’t find her. I thought she would be with you.”

    “She is talking to the nurse about Ellie in her room. I don’t think you want to go up there, it is really boring. They have been talking for hours about the same thing."

    “Alright, well I guess I will hang out with you then, until Ellie is done with her exams.”

    “Okay. Do you want to go down to the gift shop and buy you or Ellie something. Not that Ellie needs anything, she is pretty stocked up on stuff from Aunt Rosie. They are all so sweet. I thought you might want something to do, even though the gift shop doesn't have a lot of options. I guess you could buy a book.”

    “Alright, it would be nice to have something to do. Hey Grandpa, can I ask you a question?”

    “Sure honey, you can ask me anything. As long as it isn’t about language arts, you know I suck at that.” He says with a wide grin.

    “Am I going to live with you when this is all over? If I am, then are we going to live at your house or mine? Could we live at mine? I think I am gonna call you Gramps from now on.”

    He laughs at this and says “That was way more than just a question. Now let me see if I can get this right, Your going to live with me and your Nana, We can live wherever you want, but I would prefer my house...did I get everything?”
    “You forgot the Gramps part” I say like a mature adult.

    “Oh, right. I would love my own little nickname, you know I was always jealous of you calling your Nana that.” He says in his grown up voice.

    After that we talked and talked until it was 7:30 and I asked if I could go back to the store to finish buying the rest of the stuff for Ellie.

    I bought thousands of toys and blankets and clothes. I also bought the other baby necessities, diapers, formulas, all that junk. Then I saw this perfect painting of a beautiful butterfly and a quote at the bottom that said “Never stop soaring after your dreams.” and it reminded me so much of dad that I bought it and hung it over Ellie’s crib. I knew that we weren't going to live here, but I wanted it to be as comfy as possible for Ellie. Nana walked into the room just as I was finished with hanging up the painting.
    “Ellie is still not back from the exams?”

    “Nope, they said she would be done in a couple of minutes, I was just heading there now.”

    “Isabelle, did you hang that up there? It is so precious, it reminds me of your father.”

    “Ya, I did. It reminded me of him to, thats why I got it. So she would kinda  have piece of him, watching over her. Then I have a picture of mama over here on the desk.”

    “Oh sweetie, that is so thoughtful of you. You are the best big sister in the world.”

    “Thanks Nana, but I am going to go to the gift shop with Gramps and buy stuff for Ellie.”

    Nana had the most stunned look on her face and then in a flash it was gone. Until I realized that she was crying.

    “What's wrong Nana?”

    “Oh, nothing sweetie. Its just that, this painting is so sweet and you remind me so much of your mother when she was a kid. Did you know she called my father Gramps. Where and when did you start calling your Grandfather that?” she whimpers hiccuping on each word.

    “I don’t know, I just wanted a little change. Grandpa didn't have any style or love in it. I had to give it my own touch. Nana please don’t cry, I can hardly stand it.”

    “Well, you go on now with your Gramps. Ellie will definitely need more toys, she is an awfully spoiled girl.”

    We walked around in the gift shop for about five minutes and we bought: a book for me, three stuffed bears, a little glass angel that looks just like Ellie, a alphabet book and a jersey for Gramps.

    When I get back to Ellies room to put back all of her stuff, she is laying in her crib with a big bandage across her arm. She is twirling the doll’s hair that I bought her the day she was born. She is staring up at the painting with these deep thoughtful eyes that look so much like mamas that I can hardly stay in the room. When she notices me, she squirms and does a ear-to-ear grin and laughs. She is the happiest week old baby I have ever seen. I walk over to her and rub my hand through her curly blond head. I read that if you stick out your tongue at your baby, she will mimic you. I did it and she put the tip of her tongue on her bottom lip, then stared at it and laughed. She sure does have a lot of hair for a baby. She is the smartest baby I have ever seen to, she is already able to control her head, just a little though. I can’t believe that everything she has been through and she is still able to control it at all. I say goodnight to her and she nods back. After I pray and put everything I got for her in place, I go to the chair at the side of her room and fall asleep.