How to Heal

--Chapter One: Just the Beginning--

Still waiting to see again, Rosy and Alex lay asleep, afraid to open their weary eyes in fear of the future. They kept close together and slowly started to wake up. The girls' happy parents kept a fake yet courageous smile spread widely across their faces, attempting to give the girls something positive to wake up to. Rosy had started to sit up when she heard Alex whisper to her in a sincere and heartfelt voice as her parents walked out into the hallway.

"Thanks. You have no idea how fun that was." Alex was smiling and that made Rosy smile as well.

Rosy started to sit up but had a gush of feeling light-headed and fell back down on her back as her sister looked frightened. As Alex dosed back off into a dreamless, never-ending sleep, Rosy sat in the still silent room as she waited for her parents to come back on the room. From the hallway, Rosy heard a muffled argument but hoped that her parents would snap out it by themselves and realize how childish they were acting. When the consistent argument didn't stop, Rosy decided to confront her parents about their behavior. She quietly lifted her blanket from over her legs and quickly swung her legs over the edge of the bed, gradually placing her warm feet on the cold tile. She hesitated, as it wasn't her place to interfere with this situation but she felt as if she needed to stop the never ending argument. She slowly lifted herself off the bed and onto her unsteady feet. She quickly caught her balance and slowly stumbled her way across the room and towards the door. Alex was still asleep and was breathing fast. Rosy assumed that she was having a nightmare but felt this was more important. Rosy finally reached the door, hesitated to open it, then put all her strength into opening the door. Rosy's mom looked shocked, while her father was obviously upset. Rosy didn't care how they looked or felt at that time. Slowly planning what to say in her head, tears started streaming from her eyes.

"Can you two see yourselves?? Your kids are in the hospital after a traumatic experience. What are you two doing? Standing in the hallway arguing about who knows what when you should be with your daughters. You can come back in or go home. This is now YOUR choice. Choose wisely, for this decision will effect more than JUST yourselves. I hope you'll make the right choice." Rosy said as she turned back and stumbled to her bed.

Rosy climbed on her uncomfortable bed and allowed her self to give the tears she'd been holding in for awhile. Alex had woken up and joined Rosy, for her nightmare scared her. When Alex pulled out of her tears, she tried to comfort Rosy. Rosy felt as if her parents had given up on them so as the girls cried, they clung to each other as they tried to pull out of their session of exploding emotions. Very soon, Rosy stopped crying and looked at the clock in hopes for an explanation. It was 12:38pm and visiting hours were over. Rosy felt relieved to know her parents may have not given up on them.

"You should get some sleep. You've been pretty stressed out lately." said Alex as her was breaking. She tried to keep herself from allowing her emotions out.

As a tear slipped from both of the girls, Rosy flipped the blanket back over over now freezing body. As Rosy started to fall into another dreamless, never-ending sleep, Alex went to the cafeteria and got some food for her and Rosy. As she carried her food upstairs, she set the food down, sat next to it, and took a moment to get her flood of emotions out. In the orphanage she only had one emotion, loneliness. She hated that feeling but she was just so happy to be back with her family and have no restrictions. It made her feel... invincible. Alex dried her tears, smiled a bit, then grabbed the food and continued up the stairs. Alex pushed open the door and set the food down on the table. Rosy started to squirm in her sleep. Alex rushed over and shook her awake. Rosy hugged Alex without explain why. The girls hugged each other for 10 minutes before Rosy's stomach started to grumble. The girls sat down and ate before a doctor came in to check on the girls. Ad the girls were eating, they'd randomly laugh at the silence between them. When the door opened once again, all the guests could hear was the laughing of the girls. When the guests rounded the corner, Rosy had a bright, beaming smile spread on her face. The five guests that walked in were Ms. Marvey, Ms. Avery, Ms. Johnson, Ms. Farren, and Mr. Wilden. The girls had smiles across their faces. The teachers had awkward smiles on their faces as they had no idea why the girls were laughing so hard. With the 5 teachers not knowing Alex, Rosy quickly realized that they were there and while laughing, she introduced her teachers to her sister.

"Alex, these are my teachers. This is Ms. Avery, Ms. Marvey, Ms. Johnson, Mr. Wilden, and Mrs. Farren." said Rosy, starting to stand up. Alex waved shyly and then stood next to her sister. "What's up guys?' said Rosy curiously.

"Well we were all at a barbecue yesterday and we saw the news. Are you two okay?" asked Mrs. Farren, concerned.

"Oh, great. We made the news. Gosh. I'm probably the laughing stock at school." said Rosy as her teachers looked at how stressed out she was.

"Well, who cares what they think?" said Alex on an effort to keep her sister's courage up as high as she could. "We'll wall in there, heads held high, and forget the rest of the world!" she continued, enthusiastically.

Rosy wrapped her arms around her sister and squeezed her tight.