The Story of Our Life

chapter seven -:- go slow

Lauren clutched Camila's hand as the little girls sat in the waiting room of the hospital. Demi had signed them out and left them in the kids area of the waiting room to keep themselves occupied while she called Normani and Dinah and informed them that the girls were free to go. The social worker tended to some of the medical information of the sisters, sticking close by to keep an eye on the two until she had to hand them over to their new temporary guardians.

"'member the rules," Lauren whispered to Camila, making the toddler look away from the crayons she was eyeing and glance up to her big sister, nodding her head in agreement.

The sisters had rules they made up on their own (really only rules that Lauren made up once Mr. Rob became aggressive and started doing awful things).

They mainly consisted of:

~no talking unless spoken to

~no making noise

~don't touch anything

~diapers are only changed by Lauren once every two days (in order to make sure they have enough diapers for Camila since they didn't know when Mr. Rob would buy more)

~don't get in the way

~don't ask for things

~and never ever go with an adult into another room

The last one Lauren made sure was followed. She didn't let Camila go anywhere without her because she was a big sister and she had to protect the younger girl from all the scary things she'd seen before.

"'o'o," Camila babbled, patting the front of her pants, and grabbing a bit of her diaper to show that she used it and needed a change.

"Camzi, you had to 'old it," Lauren said, looking around nervously. A nurse would change Camila every time she used her diaper, but now that they weren't in the hospital room where they could be together Lauren didn't want to let a random person change her baby sister.

"Later," was all Lauren concluded as she decided that they would have to wait and see if their new foster parents had diapers that she could use for her sister.

"Owie," Camila whimpered, her diaper rash flaring from the soiled padding.

"I's okay," Lauren whispered, hugging Camila into her side and kissing her forehead.

They sat like that for a while longer before Demi approached with the two ladies from yesterday following.

"Camila, Lauren, you remember Normani and Dinah, right?"

Lauren nodded lightly but kept her eyes down, looking away from the strangers. Don't let them in, was all she could think of in hopes of protecting herself.

"Hi, girls," Normani said, crouching down and offering a bright smile. "Dinah and I are really excited to bring you into our home. Our daughter, Ally, is over the moon about having new friends to play with."

Lauren furrowed her eyebrows. They had a daughter already, something that the first family they were placed with had. The foster family had two kids already, but they loved Lauren and Camila just as much, but then they got pregnant with their third and realized that five kids was too many, so they left Lauren and Camila at the social services office and never looked back.

That hurt a lot. Being abandoned after being loved for the first time for real. It wasn't that their biological mother didn't love them, it was just that it was unsafe home with an alcoholic father and struggling mother who took her own life in a selfish attempt to escape reality.

There was too much ugly in the past of the four and two-year-old, which is why everything these new women say could be reason for them to become bad or leave them one day.