Lorelei and Cora

Chapter 8

Lorelei's POV

As I awoke, I saw Ella in the doorway and my bedroom the following morning. "Oh, chin up, Lorelei, it's not as if anyone has died. I've got a new driver for all of us; I've told her to take you to see Cora and to get you to school before 10:30 AM. Her name is Joane, and she's waiting outside in the car; we had David drive around, and as I'm not a fan of public transport, I'm not getting rid of her. Also, I want you to remove the staples from your feet and check through the sock draws to see any staples in the socks. As I don't want another situation like this again." Ella explained, and I couldn't help but smile. "Yes, Ella, I'll do that right now," I said before she left me alone in our room. I walked to our bathroom, almost limping to grab our first aid kit; once I grabbed the tweezers, I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled the staples out of my feet, partly ripping my skin as the staples were stuck in. Once I had finished, my feet were bleeding and still felt painful to walk with, but not as bad since removing the staples. I then went through our sock drawers to see if she had put staples in the rest of our socks and removed the staples from our socks. I kept thinking back to what Ella had said about Cora having depression, and I kept wondering if what she said was true or not. Because if it's true, why didn't she tell me as we've spoken about everything else that has happened to each other? Anyway, I packed my lunch box, got my bag ready, and left, finding Joane outside waiting for me. "Hey, my name is Joane, and you must be Lorelei. I'll take you to see Cora, then drive you to your school and get you there by 10:30 so I can speak to your principal. Hop in, and let's go! As I don't know if Ella or Jaylen has let your school know you'll be late, I'll give them a quick call and let them know as they've allowed you to go to the hospital to see Cora." Joane explained, grabbing her phone and dialing the school's number. "Hello, I've got a student who attends your school, Lorelei Abel. I'm letting you know she'll be running late this morning as I'm taking her to see Cora at the hospital. I'll bring her to school before 10:30 as Ella wants her to see Cora beforehand as Lorelei had a hard time leaving Cora." Joane said over the phone, and I don't understand why, but she sounded sad, as if she cared about me. "Thanks, Darcy; Lorelei and I will see you then, as I also need to speak to you as I'm their new driver." Joane hung up, putting her phone in her bag before looking at me via the rearview mirror. "Are you okay, Lorelei?" Joane asked, making me jump. "Yeah, I'm worried about Cora, as I'd never seen someone cough up blood. But I'll feel better when I see her, Joane." I said truthfully, as I want her back at school and home, as it's lonely since we only have each other. "I'm sure she'll be fine, Lorelei, as she has you, Ella, and Jaylen to look after her!" Joane said, and if only it were true, that Ella and Jaylen only care about each other, as David, Leslie, and Renee are the only ones who care about Cora and me. "Yeah, sure, Joane," I said, looking out the window, thinking about how many times we've been raped, beaten, and whipped by Jaylen and Ella and how Jaylen had beaten Cora the night before ending up in the hospital.

Luckily, we were finally in town, not far from Cora, and as we arrived, Joane pulled in with me, and we ran to the reception. "Chloe, is Cora still in recovery?" I asked before looking for Cora, knowing she could've been moved to another ward. "I'll take you to her, as she was moved into the children's ward an hour after your family left last night. Come with me, and is this your new driver?" She asked before we began to walk to Cora. "Yes, this is Joane, who will pick Cora up when she can leave unless our parents can pick her up," I said, repeating what my mom said last night. "Now Cora is in a room up this hallway, room B3, bed 1; head up to B3; she should be in the bed near the door, which is hers. I need to get back to reception; see you ladies soon." Chloe explained before taking us to where Cora was, and man, she looked so much better than what she did before the surgery. "Lorelei, why are you here? You should be at school, and who is that with you?" Cora asked, talking super fast like she always did, unlike recently because my father and Marinette beat her up. "This is Joane, our new driver! Surprisingly, Ella allowed me to come here before school because I was worried and needed to check on you. I just had to see that you were okay after what I witnessed. Ella must have noticed I was worried about what happened to you." I explained, and I heard Joane grasp behind me, so I turned to face her. "Don't you both know that calling your parents by their names is rude?" Joane said, and I could understand, but she doesn't know our family. "Yes, but my father has always gotten me to call him Jaylen growing up. Since Jaylen married Cora's mom, Ella, he's got her to allow us to call Ella by her name. It all started due to my mom, Casey, dying from cervical cancer, and he hasn't forgiven me for causing her death. Since she couldn't get treatment for herself without miscarrying me or killing herself in the process." I explained, and she looked hurt as I said each word. "Are you okay, Joane?" Cora asked as she wiped a tear from her face. "Sorry, that happened in my family too, so I was raised in the foster system as my mom died while I was in her womb still. When I turned eighteen, I first saw my father, and he handed me a letter written by my mom; she died of stomach cancer and also couldn't have cancer treatment as she didn't want to lose me either. While listening to your story, I realized that others live similar lives to me, and I wish they didn't have to. On top of that, the rest of my family has given up on me, as my daughter, who would been 14 years old, died with my husband five years ago in a car accident, and for some strange reason, I was the only survivor." She said as she wiped another tear from her cheek. "I'm sorry, Joane, that sounds so sad, and now you've got a family as you are a part of ours!" I said as I ran to hug her before turning around to face Cora. "Also, Cora, I'll write some notes and get your classwork to do at home. Hopefully, I can bring it to you this afternoon. Are you hungry? As I've got food in my bag." I told her, and for once, she gave me a total look of annoyance, which was strange as she loves food. "Trust me, I want food, but due to having my appendix removed and my stomach fixed up to stop the internal bleeding, I can't have proper food. All I can eat at the moment is soup and broth, which is utterly disgusting, even more so when it's hospital food. Please go to school and learn what we need to learn, sister. As I'm getting tired and need to rest, I'll see you this afternoon if you can come and drop in my homework to me; if you can't, I'll see you tomorrow when I get home." She said as she yawned multiple times. Going to school without her felt strange, as she'd never had a day off, and I'd never been to the school without Cora. "Okay, I'll see you later; love you, Cora," I said, walking to her and kissing her forehead before following Joane back to the car, feeling much happier as Cora looked much better. I was distraught, unable to believe that my father and Marinette could cause this to happen to Cora. They left her looking pale as a ghost, looking pregnant due to an enlarged stomach as she is bleeding internally—an image I hope never to witness again.