Sisterhood

Gone

"See!" Monika bragged, "I told you I would get it before my seventeenth birthday!" Monika gloated as she held the plastic card in front of Julia and Lili.

Lili and Julia stood there staring as Monika held up her new drivers license. Lili was so proud of Monika while Julia was wondering why Monika was covering up most of it with her fingers.

"Why are you covering the picture?" Julia asked.

"Because...I don't like the picture," Monika admitted.

"I wanna see it," Julia demanded making a grabby motion with her hands.

"No way!" Monika exclaimed pulling the card to her chest.

"Enough you two," Lili scolded, the two girls ceased their actions. Lili then turned to Monika, "Monika I'm happy that you got your license, but couldn't 've you waited I but longer. The fact that you got your license in the middle of winter, well it makes me nervous."

"Don't worry grandma," Monika reassured, "if I can pass the test in the snow then I can drive just fine."

"Yes, but Julia been driving for five years now and she still awful in the winter," Lili pionted out.

"Hey!" Julia shouted.

"And spring, and fall, and summer," Lili added.

"Grandma!" Julia called out.

"Well," Monika mumbled, "I was going to ask if I could starting driving myself to school and back, but if you don't think I can," Monika's vioce trailed off.

Lili sighed, "I never said that, of course you can." Lili then turned walking away, as she did she heard the faint sound of Monika cheering.

Julia chuckled as she watched Monika praise in her victory, "you've become pretty good at manipulation," Julia stated.

"Yeah," Monika agreed.

"Surprised by how good you are at it, seeing how Felisa uses on you all the time," Julia added, then turned walking away laughing while Monika's face turned bright red.

The next day Julia stared out the window watching the afternoon snow fall. "It's really coming down hard," Julia noted as she stood up from the window ledge. Julia checked the clock, it was almost four. She glanced at her phone again, still no messages or missed calls from Monika. Julia looked at all the messages she sent Monika, not a single one was seen. Julia stopped dead in her tracks when she realized that she was pacing. Julia took a deep breath, she needed to calm down. She had full faith that Monika would be just fine, this might have been the first day that Monika drove on her own but Julia had faith. "I hope the Monika's alright," Julia caught her slip up. "Know!" Julia shouted, "I know Monika is alright!" Julia jumped when her cellphone buzzed, she quickly scrambled to see the message was from her grandma saying that she was working late.

As the day went on, still Monika did not return home, Julia quickly found herself fast asleep on the couch waiting for Monika, the only thing that woke her up from her nap was the loud ring of their house phone. Julia jumped off the couch nearly falling over as she did, she managed to get the phone before it stopped. "Hello?" Julia said half asleep. Julia leaned against the wall listening to a woman talk, Julia didn't register what she was hearing until two word were spoken; 'Monika' and 'hospital'. Julia hung up the phone as quick as she could and rushed out the door.

Julia walked anxiously down the hall as the nurse lead her, she stopped before the door. The nurse told her that Monika was in that room, but Julia was hesitant if she wanted to see. "Um," Julia spoke up, "can you tell me what happen again."

The nurse looked don at her clipboard, "well according to the police report we got, due to ice somebody ran a red light and hit her," the nurse explained. Julia cringed, she hated the idea of Monika getting hurt. Julia took a deep breath as she walked into the room, there in the bed Monika layed asleep. Monika's arms and face were covered in wraps, cuts, bruises, and bandages, it wasn't as bad as Julia imagined but still made Julia feel stick to her stomach. Julia walked up to Monika's bed, pulling her hair back as she bent over looking as Monika. "She's asleep from the pain medication we gave her, she should only have to stay today and tomorrow. We still need to run some more test, so far she has a sprained ankle."