What happened?

Part 6: #WeAreSave

Dani

So, we've been back in America. We lived in a great and also cheaper apartment. We all didn't have that much money, which didn't make it easy to afford money for a house or a glorious apartment. But we didn't really care, we used to share rooms when we were younger and this time we were glad to be close. Sounds really weird to be honest. Kath and Lisa shared a room and Lauren and I shared one. Haku slept on the couch, hahah.

We all took Jobs to keep on living. Kath worked in a book store, Lisa became a shop assistant, Lauren started to help out in an orphanage, Haku started in a kindergarten and I worked in a cafe as a waitress. In the evening, Kath and Lauren went babysitting. Lisa walked dogs in the neighborhood. I worked in the evening most of the time. But of course, we tried to spend as much time as we could together. We took free evenings and and made sure there's enough time for us left. Together we made around $4000 every month. From that money we had to pay our $1000 apartment every month and energy, water, heat, wifi and so on. So we had like $2000 left. Sounds much at first, but it wasn't at all. In the beginning it was really hard, cause we didn't have an all-furniture apartment. Food, clothes, furniture and some re-search money, plus some free time money. We also got a cheap old truck from a nice neighbor, which means gas money. Yes, a car sounds hilarious if I talk about "not much money", but in the end we were five people and the public traffics costs were much more than gas after a while.

Wanna know how we handled it in the beginning since we didn't have any home when we came back to America? We lived in cheap hotel rooms and went camping. We started to look up for jobs all day and it took us one up to two months to get a job for everyone. Lisa was the first one who got a job, then me. It was after about 3 weeks being back in America. After 3 months, we could finally look up for an apartment. Everything was really expensive, but we couldn't give up our jobs again so we found that really nice two bedroom apartment, that was alot cheaper than the other apartments. We bought air mattresses to sleep on until we finally got enough money to buy the main furniture.

Since we grew up in a family that has never been poor before, it took us much energy to handle everything at first. We've been on our own, no parents - and without any given preparation. Back then in 2014, I always thought about things that became luxurious after the accident. I didn't think about mechanic things anymore. No cool room decoration or something like that anymore. It became unimportant. I didn't need a phone or a laptop anymore, which doesn't mean I didn't own these, I had a phone and we got one laptop one day. My life changed alot, my image on everything changed.

So, Lauren, Haku, Lisa and I still had contact to our separated lives in Russia, Japan and China. For us it was possible, for Katherine it wasn't because of the poor conditions in the suburbs she lived in on the Philippines. I texted my friends and Hoa weekly, not daily like any other girls in my age. I focused on my family and on my job. Some Saturday, I got a message from one of my best friends from China. She always dreamed about travelling around the world. She was such a nerd at school, haha. I haven't been in contact with her for such a long time back then.

"Hey Dani, how are you? Remember when I dreamed about that international trip? I was actually picked for the international project in India! The project is finally up! Here you can read about it: www.encouragement-school-international.com/projects/india-2019"

I smiled and clicked on the link. The homepage looked really cool! Sadly I didn't have much time to scroll through the article and the pictures. I started to do it but then Katherine called me. Oh well, she wanted to drive me to the Cafe. I used to drive by myself, but she wanted to go to the grocery store anyway since she didn't work on Saturday afternoons. I threw my phone on my bed, picked my jacket and the waiter apron.

"Coming!" I yelled through the floor and met Katherine at the door.

"What's your working time today?" she asked me while we walked out to the car.

"5 to 8 tonight." I said. My working times changed often on Saturdays.

"Do you want me to pick you up?" she asked while driving down the street.

"That would be nice." I answered. Most of the times I took the bus, because I worked until 9pm, which means my sisters were babysitting. Seemed like they didn't have to babysit that night.

"No babysitting today?" I mentioned.

"No, Mrs. Riley told us she's at home tonight. Need something from the store?"

"Can you bring me some of the protein bars I like?"

"Sure Dani." she smiled.

So, we arrived at the Cafe and she let me out.

"See you later." she waved and drove away. I went in and so these three hours went by.

I hated my boss. Whenever he came to the Cafe and I worked at my shift, he told me what I do wrong, how unfocused I am and what kind of bad worker I would present. You probably ask why I wasn't fired yet? The Manager was convinced by me. He said that I was really arranged and made the guests happy. However I did that. Why I didn't drop the job yet? Since we were safe with money at the moment, I could basically drop the job and find another one, but I didn't want to because it was a well paid job and it seemed unfair to let the others work more while I chill at home trying to find a better place to work at.

Well, that day my boss came back and the drama repeated. He shut at me and I just waited for him to end it.

"Fine..." I said after he ended his last sentence and left. Luckily my shift was over so I went outside and expected Kath to wait up for me in the truck, but she wasn't there. I sat down on the sidewalk and waited. The bus came by and I shook my head when the driver stopped to let me in. He closed the door and drove away. She finally showed up at 8:35pm.

"Where were you Kath? I worried about you." I asked her.

"I'm so sorry Dani, I had to go babysitting. Mrs. Riley called me and told me that her sister had to go to the hospital because she's getting her baby. Mrs. Riley needed to go there, because her sister's husband wasn't at home." she answered with a weak smile.

"Ohh, and who's with Mrs. Riley's child right now?"

"She called me when I was on my way to you. I turned around, picked up Lisa and drove her to Mrs. Riley's. That's why it took me longer. I'm sorry."

"It's okay Kath. Let's just drive home." I said and we went home.

I took a shower and Katherine went over to babysitting. I made myself a sandwich and watched some TV on the laptop. Lauren and Haku were still out. Didn't know where they are. I totally forgot about the link my friend from China sent me.

Only about two weeks later, I had the feeling I forgot something. I checked my phone and instantly opened the Chat with my friend. I noticed the link and felt like clicking on it. I read a few posts and clicked on the gallery then. There have been around 800 pictures. I saw some pictures of my friend and liked to play the game "Spot the friend" with myself.

"Ew, her of all teachers.." I said to myself because it was the teacher I really didn't like. Poor Liling (my friends name).

After I said that to myself I got goosebumps, because the next picture let me drop my phone. Christina and Amy...

"GIRLS!" I yelled and swallowed. They ran up to me and I picked up my phone. My eyes wet as water and my hands shaky. They stared at my phone for half a minute until Katherine could finally answer.

"They're save." she said.

"How did you find that??" Lisa asked after a few minutes. Lauren suddenly pulled me into a hug.

"My friend from China went to India because of an international school project thing! She sent me the link like 2 weeks ago, but I didn't see the picture! But today, the link popped up again and I had the strong feeling to go back to that page!"

"Can you ask your friend about it?? Better, CALL HER!!"

So, I did and she told me that she only met one of the girls, but couldn't remember her name. She said that the girl she met was a teacher from Africa. I couldn't thank Liling enough.