The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 11, continued.

And there she was.

The smallest, most adorable baby you've ever seen. Miraculously, she was born with a full head of hair, already thick and curly.

The doctor went in the room and picked her up, and brought her out to us. My mother was able to hold her for the first time, and cried. At the time, I thought it was because of how beautiful she was. Later, I would come to find out it was because she didn't want another sick baby.

John and I both had small complications with our births, such as getting tangled in the umbilical cord and coming out the wrong way. Other than that, we were both pretty healthy.

Until John was diagnosed with ADHD, that is. Her first child was a failure.

Then later, I needed therapy because of what was happening at home, and not liking Gregory. Her second child was a failure.

When she found out she was pregnant with the twins, she saw it as an opportunity to replace her two failures. She wanted them to be born as quickly, and as painlessly as possible.

She wasn't granted that wish. She was in labor for hours on end, severely damaging her body in the process. Thankfully, she assured us kids that she wouldn't have any more kids after the twins.

After all, she was getting a little old for it. Plus, hospital bills are expensive. Like 5 months of rent expensive.

After a while of holding Lotte, my mother turned to me and cried that she didn't want to hold her anymore.

I was confused, but held her anyway. Her hair was around shoulder length, and it tickled my arms as I positioned her in my arms.

She had beautiful clear skin anyone would be jealous of, gorgeous brown eyes that rivaled the intensity of a mocha coffee, and the tiniest little hands, holding onto my finger with all it's might.

She was perfect in every way, which is why I was so confused when my mother seemed so standoffish with her. She was only a baby. How could she already be a disappointment?

After a while of moving around, we checked out eventually and John got a chance to hold her, as I held onto Teddy.

Teddy had some hair too, but there were so few strands you could probably count them. He smelled of baby powder for weeks, much to our delight.

Mom cried all the way home, with Gregory driving, not saying a word. At one point, she was crying so hard she started coughing, and I looked to John for an answer as to why she was acting that way.

He refused to look away from Charlotte, much to my dismay. I wanted to know why she was upset. John and I knew for a fact she didn't cry this much for me. So what was so different about Lotte?

I snapped out of my thoughts when Charlotte stirred a bit in her sleep.

"Good morning, sunshine." I cooed. She groaned a little before mumbling a small, "what time is it?"

I reached past her and grabbed my phone, and unplugged it from my new SOS charger. It finally had 100% battery for the first time in 4 days.

I tapped the screen twice and it lit up saying 8:00 a.m.

"It's awake time. You wanna help me with breakfast?" I asked. She nodded slightly and sat up to stretch. I sat up too, and turned over to see that Teddy was still out cold.

God, he's so cute I could scream.

I grabbed the grocery bags, the beer and the bucket of berries.

We scooted the door open to get outside, and I slid it back to give Teddy some privacy.

"What's that for?" Char asked, pointing at the bottle. "A good meal." I said, smiling. She smiled back and ran off, saying she was going to the bathroom.

I let her go and continued going through the groceries, picking out what we'd have for breakfast.

I took the bucket of berries and walked to the river bank. I filled it halfway with water and walked back home. Once I was back to the campfire, I slid the bucket onto the branch above the leafs. I shoved the metal sheet aside and searched for my lighter inside.

I came back outside and stuck the small flame next to the leafs.

Once the flame was going again, I walked around looking for twigs and leafs to keep the fire going.
I walked back and placed them under the bucket, making the flame stronger.

Now the contents of the bucket were becoming a delicious smelling tea. I took my ladle out of the grocery bag and used it to stir the deep red liquid.

Charlotte came running back and immediately caught a whiff of the tea.

"Mmmm what is that?" Charlotte asked, pointing at the bucket, hanging over the large flame.

"It's juice!" I replied, half lying because I knew no 5 year old wants to drink tea. Then again, tea is technically a juice?

She stood next to my crouching frame, looking into the bucket, deeply breathing in the scent.

"Could you go wake up Teddy?" I asked. "Yep!" She answered loudly, which could've woken him up if it weren't for the fact that he slept like a rock.

She walked past the bronze metal sheet, and disappeared into the house to shake Theo awake.

I took our new cups out of the plastic bag, and turned back to Charlotte and our very sleepy brother.

"Could you take these to the river and wash them like I showed you?" I asked, quietly, as to not disturb Teddy in his groggy state.

"Yeah." Tedd replied, albeit a little slowly. The two took the three cups put of my hands and toddled off to the river.

I lifted the bucket by it's handle off of the branch, and slid it down so it was back on the ground.

Time for some tea.