Reasons To Try |Completed|

Chapter one

I awoke to a body jumping on my bed. I opened my eyes to see her beautiful face. She smiled when she saw me awake. "Mama!" She screeched happily.

"Where's Cassadee?" I asked her. I sat up and she continued to jump on my bed.

"She's still sleeping." She informed me. I looked at the clock beside my bed. "It says 9 ocwock."

I sighed. "You two are late for school. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" I asked mostly to myself. It wasn't up to my 5 year old child to get up everyday to wake me up so I can get them to school. I wonder why the clock didn't go off.

I got out of bed and she giggled. "Some boy called on the phone earlier. He said he was your boyfriend."

I smiled at her. "And what did you say, huh? You probably said something weird didn't you?" I bugged her.

She shook her head vigorously. "No! I told him that you have a boyfriend already." She giggled out.

I chuckled. I told both the girls that if any guys called for me that they didn't know that they were to tell them I was taken already. "You did?" I squeaked happily. I jumped to the bed and tickled her like crazy. She laughed loudly and I loved it. It was like music to my ears to hear one of my children laugh. I stopped tickling her long enough for her to catch her breath. "Did he say his name?" I asked curiously. Sometimes men would leave a name and number with one of my obviously young children. How desperate did they sound then?

She patted herself down and jumped on the bed again. "Joshawa Wamsay." She told between jumps.

I froze immediately at that name. "Okay, well don't answer to him again okay. If he calls next time you give me the phone, understand?" I demanded. She nodded her head and jumped off the bed.

"Who's your fwend mama?" She asked curiously.

"Umm, he's just a friend from school when I was younger," I lied.

She smiled. "Like me and Cassadee? Were five!" She exclaimed, putting up one whole hand. She was always going on about how she was a whole hand now. She likes being five.

I chuckled. "Sure. Now let's go and wake up Cassadee okay." I headed toward the girls room and the door was already open. Cassadee was very still as she slept in her bed. I walked over and swept my hand over her face, wiping her hair away. I felt how warm she was and noticed she was sweating. I pulled the blankets off her and she moved around. "Cassadee?" I called to her.

She opened her eyes slightly and closed them immediately. I shook her a bit to wake her up a bit more. She sat up and started whimpering. Something is wrong with her. Cassadee is a morning child. She's the one who usually keeps me awake in the mornings. She stared at me with no color in her face and her eyes were a dull brown. "Mama, I feel sick." She whined.

I hated seeing her like this. Cassadee was a very sick baby and she has carried sickness through her whole life. "Okay, I'm gonna go run you a cool bath hunny." I told her. I looked at Maddison. "Watch her for mommy okay. Tell me if she gets more sick." And with that, I walked to the bathroom and ran the water. I made it somewhat cold, enough to bring down the serious fever she was having.

Just as I turned off the water I heard a scream from Cassadee and then from Maddison. I ran into the room and saw Cassadee on the floor passed out. I ran over to her and shook her to wake her up. She didn't move, not a sound escaped her lips. Her skin was clammy and her face was as white as a ghost. I looked at Maddison and she was sobbing. I opened my arms and she ran to me. I hugged her and she cried into my neck.

"Give me one second okay hunny. I'm gonna call an ambulance." I told her. I gently laid Cassadee back on the bed again before running to grab the home phone and calling the ambulance. I doubt they understood a word I said because I just started panicking but the dispatcher said they were sending an ambulance so I hung up and grabbed Cassadee things she would need. I grabbed a change of clothes for myself and both the girls. I slipped mine on quickly and stuffed everything else in a big bag. I grabbed everything that I could think of at the moment that I thought we would need and ran back to the room.