How We Got Here; A Sisters Grimm Fanfiction

Day two

When Sabrina woke up the next morning, it took her a few minutes to remember what had happened yesterday, and for that short time, she was content. If she'd known how long it would be before she felt that way again, she would have held on to the feeling as hard as she could.

When she did remember the day before, her mind went straight to Daphne. What would she tell her? How would she react? How could she take care of her?

After a few moment's debate, she decided that she ought to start with the truth, and move on from there.

It was tempting, though, to just let her sleep.

She shook her head. She couldn't do that.

"Daphne?" Sabrina shook her sister awake.

For once, Daphne woke up easily. "Mom?"

"No, she's not back- yet," Sabrina said, "but it's time for you to get ready for school."

"Do I have to go?" Daphne whined, climbing out of bed.

Sabrina sighed. "You have five days left. Besides, you like school. All your friends are there. Why don't you want to go?"

"Because... just because, that's all," Daphne said.

Sabrina ignored this reasoning and dragged Daphne back to her room to help her pick out an outfit- a denim jumper, striped shirt and leggings, and a pair of black Mary-Janes. "But it's just going to be me here," she pointed out, dressing her forcibly, "You'll be bored."

"But you'll be bored if I don't stay here," Daphne pointed out, squirming into her jumper.

"I'll find something to do," Sabrina said, heading for the kitchen. "Do they give you lunch there, or what?"

"They give us a snack," Daphne said, following her as she climbed onto the counter to feel around the top shelf. "We have to bring our own lunches."

"Can you buy?" Sabrina asked warily, feeling around the shelves for the spare change jar.

"Nobody buys in kindergarten," Daphne pointed out. "None of the parents think we're grown up enough."

"Especially not Dad," Sabrina said dryly as she finally found the change jar. "Ah- ha!"

"So what am I going to do for lunch?" Daphne asked. "Or breakfast? And what about brushing my teeth and washing my face?"

"Can you wash your own face?" Sabrina asked. When Daphne nodded, she continued, "Go do that, and brush your teeth too. We'll buy you breakfast and lunch on the way."

Daphne ran off to do that, while Sabrina snuck into her room to get dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She'd brush her hair later. That done, they headed off for Daphne's school, stopping at Veronica's favorite market, a little corner store with a strange old man behind the counter who always gave her discounts. They picked up a strudel for Daphne's breakfast and a sandwich for her lunch, then were on their way again, Sabrina shushing Daphne before she could make any comments about their parents. She'd deal with that later.

Once Daphne was safely in school, Sabrina gave a sigh of relief and strolled back towards the apartment. She loved Daphne, but that girl could sure be a pain!

Walking home, she counted the money left from the change jar: $74.96, most of it in 20s. Cheese! How much money did their parents keep lying around? There was probably more in the couch cushions, and she had $13.52 saved up. Daphne had $5.08. Let's see... that made...$93.56. Plenty of money to last them until Mom and Dad came back. Which was sure to be soon.

Right?

What was she thinking? Of course her parents would be back! She'd probably come home and find them sitting there, waiting for her. Or there'd be a message on the answering machine. But just in case, she'd better buy some food on the way back. After all, they were sure to be hungry.

She stopped at the store she'd gotten Daphne's food from to pick up some breakfast for herself. The man behind the counter was watching her. She smiled at him awkwardly and picked out a cream cheese bagel.

"Where's your mother this morning?" the man asked.

"She's not feeling too good right now. She'll probably be better tomorrow." With that and a small smile, Sabrina walked out of the store, shocked at herself. She'd just lied to him! She never lied!

Why had she done it? They'd be back, so there was no need to lie, right? Plus, the man was a friend of Mom's. But... she'd lied so spontaneously, maybe it was her subconscious. They'd learned about that in school. Sometimes the subconscious knew things that people didn't want to admit to themselves. Like that her parents had abandoned her.

But they hadn't!

Had they?

No, they couldn't have!

She thought about that all the way back to the apartment. Had they been short with her and Daphne recently? Seemed fed up? She didn't think so... But Dad had yelled at her last week for breaking that vase. And Mom had seemed tired, and she was eating more, and weird stuff, too... Could that be a sign of stress? Were she and Daphne being a pain?

It couldn't be that. She was at the apartment now. She'd open the door and they'd be there. She took a deep breath. One, two, three! She swung the door open.

"Mom? Dad?"

Silence.

She started crying then. She broke down right in the middle of the kitchen, collapsing on the floor, and stayed there for a long time. When she got up, she'd made several decisions.

First off, she wasn't going to worry about her parents anymore. They hadn't had any enemies (they were normal, boring parents), so they must have abandoned them. Thus, they were not Sabrina's problem.

But she'd give them a little while to come back before she did anything, just in case. Maybe they'd been mugged or gotten amnesia or something.

Second, she wouldn't tell anyone that they were gone. She could take care of Daphne perfectly well for herself. She knew where Dad's credit card was, and she knew how to forge her mom's handwriting. They'd be fine on their own.

Third, she wouldn't tell Daphne why they were gone. Five was too young to think your parents didn't love you.

Fourth, she wouldn't cry anymore. She had to be mature now, and mature people didn't cry. She needed to be strong.

The rest of the day went much the same as the one before it, but Sabrina took care to live by her decisions. It was her first step away from being a kid, and she didn't even notice that ten, while older than five, was still entirely too young to live with ideas like that.