Finding Elaine

Chapter 1

It's seven in the morning on a Saturday and I feel something poking me on my cheek. I roll over in an attempt to get another five minutes of sleep.

"Hmm?" I grumpily mumble. "Why me? All I want to do is sleep in. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Wake up!" The poking becomes more aggressive and reluctantly I open up my eyes to my 4 year old sister Kaycee, in my face, so close her nose is practically touching mine. Her big brown eyes are wide and her curly hair is as messy as ever. She looks like a little angel...if only she acted like one.

"Are you hungry?"

She nods her little head and her hair falls into her face. I gently push it back and get up, picking her up with me. She places her little hand on my cheek.

"Is mommy home?"

I look into her big beautiful brown eyes and it takes everything in me not to cry and I just shake my head.

"No sweet girl. Mommy isn't home. Mommy isn't coming home."

"Why?"

"Remember mommy isn't here anymore?" How do you explain to a 4 year old that their mom isn't coming home anymore? I have tried explaining it in so many ways, but she doesn't understand.

I guess now is a good time for a little bit of an explanation. I'm Elaine, but everyone calls me El. I am your average 23 year old girl, recent college graduate, applying to graduate schools, working, and paying off student loans. Nothing out of the ordinary there, right?
I wasn't particularly close with my parents. We had a huge falling out my sophomore year of college when I told them I wanted to be an actress. They weren't too keen on that idea. They had these big dreams of me going off to medical school and becoming a world renowned, Nobel Peace Prize winning surgeon, but those weren't my dreams. I realized that after I failed organic chemistry. My heart just wasn't in it. My true passion and what I felt to be my purpose on earth was acting. After I broke the news to them they said they weren't paying for me to go to college just so I could become "another starving artist." Their words, not mine.
Anyways, to sum it all up, my parents are dead, and now I'm raising my little sister because that's what they wanted. It was in their will.

My days typically start a little more frantically than this resulting in me hopping around with one leg in my pants, a toothbrush in my mouth, and brush in my hand trying to tame the mass of curls on Kaycee's head. You get the picture. But this morning I was able to make breakfast for us.

As I ease my way around the kitchen cooking, I catch a glimpse of Kaycee in the living room playing with her favorite Barbie while watching Sesame Street. Moments like this make me understand why my parents wanted me to raise her. I could not imagine my little sister being raised by random strangers in a system that doesn't give two shits about her. 

"Fuck!"

In the midst of my daydream I feel a sharp burn on my arm from the grease popping out of the pan of bacon I am cooking. My phone starts ringing, but I ignore it because who could possibly be calling me this early in the morning? I begin putting our food on our plates and I call Kaycee to the table when I hear my phone ringing again. Whoever it is, can wait until after breakfast. I join Kaycee at the table with two plates with toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon partnered with a tall glass of orange juice. 

My butt doesn't even hit the chair good when I hear my phone ringing AGAIN! 

"I will be right back Kay. Eat your breakfast."