Chim - Mirrors

CHAPTER 2

Chapter Two

"Hey, no fair! You're cheating, Kimberley!" 

I'm carrying my little legs as fast as I can, panting from the effort. And she's racing up behind me, laughing. I know it's a lost cause. She'll always get me. She always does.

She grabs me around the waist and we fall to the floor in giggles.

"Cheryl, I always lose because you're older and taller than me, it isn't fair!" I whine. She taps my nose with her finger, grinning.

"That's why it's so fun!" I cross my arms over my chest angrily and she laughs, hugging me to her chest tightly.

"You know I love you, Kimba!" I huff and she kisses my cheek, grinning happily. My tiny arms wrap around her neck, holding her just as close. 

"Cheryl?" We both look up, and when we see who it is, my heart plummets.

I always knew this day would come. But it doesn't make it any easier.

"There's a family here who wants to see you." Miss Richards's face is glowing with happiness. Probably because she's gonna get a lot of money out of this. And I hate her. I hate her stupid happy face and the way she looks at Cheryl like she's nothing more than an income. But Cheryl looks distraught, her gaze on no one but me.

"But..." I know what she's thinking and I don't want her to think it. Because this is an opportunity. One that doesn't come easily.

"Go." She looks at me, her face torn in anguish. But I won't hear a word of it. I don't want to hear the sentence I know is about to come out of her mouth.

'What about Kimberley?' She cares about me too much. Way too much. Even at six years old I had that barrier up.

"Go." I repeat. She gets up slowly, still looking at me. And I'm trying hard not to cry.

What am I gonna do without her?

"It probably won't work out." She reassures me, a smile on her face.

But it did work out...didn't it?

"Kimberley?"

For the second time, I open my eyes and everything is hazy and unfocused. But there's no shouting. No begging.

Just her hovering over me, her face filled with concern and a light glowing above her head like a halo. And I feel like I'm back in the Orphanage and she's waking me up for a game of tag. For a second, she's nine years old again. But I blink, and the image is gone. And she's staring at me with a smile on her face, and those dimples...

I haven't seen them in twelve years, but I never forgot them. The way they cut into her cheeks and make her smile a million times brighter. I used to poke them all the time and she'd always bat my hand away, whining about how her cheeks would start bruising soon if everyone kept poking her dimples. 

"Hi." She whispers softly. And I have no idea what to say back to her. What do you say to someone who was the glue that kept you together during such a difficult time? What do you say to someone after twelve years? Because it's been twelve years. But not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about her. And now she's in front of me. Right in front of me, like she never left me. 

 I go to sit up, but she pushes me back down, shaking her head.

"You lost quite a lot of blood, take it easy on yourself." I don't budge, my eyes still glued to her. She was the young girl who kept me together in that hellhole. Who meant everything to me as a kid. And then she left and everything was shattered. But she's different now. Everything is different. Completely different. She's not a girl anymore. She's a woman.