Twin Souls: The Story Behind The Broken Roses

Chapter Nineteen: October 3, 2014

Penny Elmwood

Penny hadn't slept at all after helping get Esme's bleeding under control... She'd scrubbed the entire bathroom until her hands felt numb and then she'd scrubbed her hands until some of the skin came off... She couldn't stand thinking about how Esme had looked when she'd carried them upstairs, the warm feeling of her blood seeping through Penny's shirt... It'd been terrifying.

Her mother had said to watch her, to watch for any signs of shock coming back or any more bleeding... She had a concussion, a sprained ankle and wounds on her arms and shoulders... Her mother had asked about the deep scars on Esme's arms and back, and Penny had given the pitiful excuse that Esme played soccer and suggested that maybe she'd gotten them on the field.

She knew her mother didn't believe her, but she also didn't push it.  Luckily, it wasn't as bad as it had looked according to her mom, who'd set Esme up on the couch with the strict instruction of if she hadn't woken up by 7:30 to tell her because they were gonna go to the hospital.

It was 7:00 now... 30 more minutes, and-.

"You look really cute when you're worried..." Penny's eyes widened as she looked at Esme, who had a sleepy sort of smile on her face. "Your eyebrows get all crinkled and you frown a little... Probably gonna get worried a lot around me, I'm sorry." She sighed, but Penny didn't care about that.

Esme was awake.

"You're awake!" Penny threw her arms around Esme, hearing a grunt of pain that nearly made her pull away, but Esme's uninjured arm came loosely around her waist to hold her there for a moment until she pulled away, pressing a kiss to her cheek before she could think better of it... She was just happy that she was alive. "Oh my God, I was so scared... What happened?" She asked, and Esme cleared her throat, looking embarrassed as she looked away.

I'm never gonna judge you.  I wanna know so I can be there for you, it's the opposite. 

"Nothing... I mean, nothing that I didn't earn." That statement made Penny's stomach turn hard, because what kid could possibly think that they earned something like this? It also told her what she already knew - Esme's bullshit story about falling off of her bike was a lie... A shitty one at that, because there was glass in her goddamn shoulder, unless she'd fallen into a pile of it, that wouldn't have added up. "Really, I should've just sucked it up-." Penny shook her head. That was the worst way to look at this, she could've been in far worse shape had she sucked it up, this was something that needed immediate medical attention.

"You were in shock, my mom needed to do actual medical care on you." Esme nodded, clearly completely unsurprised by this... Maybe kitchen table medical care was what she was used to. "We almost took you to the hospital." She grimaced at this, frowning.

Okay, why is that something you don't like the idea of? Are you afraid of hospitals? That wouldn't be that surprising, lots of people are.

"Thank you for not doing that, I do not have the luxury of having health insurance." Esme said, and Penny cleared her throat, nodding slowly... She knew that they hadn't had insurance her mother's first year in the US, that she'd only gotten it once she'd enlisted and now she had it through the hospital, but it was still wild to her that insurance was something that some people just... Didn't have.

"You've got a concussion." She said, unsure of what that information was going to do for Esme aside from informing her. Esme chuckled and looked over at her, their eyes dancing with light, like melted honey in the sun... Breathtaking.