Searching For Hope

Chapter Five

I get up and take a walk in the park. I study the leaves, the insects, and the plants around me. I have never done this before so I began to think why I thought this would be a good idea. I came to to the bench a couple of minutes later with writing on my hand. It says all the information I saw and why it was important. It actually helped me feel better!' I say to myself and I walk farther away from the restaurant. I find myself in the neighborhood stores and walk into a jewelry shop. I don't know why because all I have is 5 dollars in my pocket and these looked expensive. I pull out my phone and take pictures. I then realize that I have not pulled it out since the fire. Mom and Dad would be happy with that! I take a look at the jewelry in the back and as I am talking pictures something cuts me. I open up my phone case and find 200 dollars hidden in the back! It also was what gave me the paper cut! I scream in happiness and I immediately run back to the fake silver ring and look at the price tag. $40! I grab it and dash to the cashier and we exchange, she examines it and I blurt out, "IT'S REAL! JUST TAKE IT! THIS RING IS BEAUTIFUL!!"

She makes an annoyed face and hands me the ring and 160 dollars change. I squeal and put in on. "THANK YOU SO MUCH, THIS IS LOVELY, HAVE A GOOD NIGHT!!" I say and I hear her muttering something about a young girl carrying around $200 but I ignore it. I run back to the bench to find Lola and Amanda sitting there. "Um...hello," I say.

"EMERALD! I have been worried sick, thank God your OK!" Lola says.

"How did you know I would come back?" I ask.

"We didn't know. We just wanted to get out of there before your mother yells again," said Amanda.

"What is wrong with her? She has been so snappy." I question.

"I have no clue." Amanda utters.

"I know what wrong." remarks Lola, "She is sick. she never acts this way unless she is sick. When you were a baby Emerald, Mom came home with a tired face and the next minute, she is yelling at everyone she sees. It was scary but we went to a doctor and he said she was sick. She's sick. Mom is sick. OMG, SHE IS SICK!!"

"OK, she is sick but she gets better right?" I exclaim.

"Emerald, this is the bad kind of sick, if Mom does not get help right now, she going to die." Lola gulps

"This has to be a mistake! Mom is strong enough, she has had a bad back for a long time! How is she sick? What kind of sick? LOLA TALK TO ME!!" I demand.

Lola justs looks down and a teardrop falls off of her cheek and onto her pants. I run back to the jewelry store and buy a charm bracelet for Lola. I tell the cashier thank you for the 2nd time that evening and I dash across the park back to the bench. "Here you go, I have never seen you cry before the day our home burned down. I hate seeing you like this. I hope this helps you feel better." I beam as she does it too.

"Thank you, this is beautiful." She says, "But, where did you get the money?"

"Hehe, funny story, so I literally just found 200 dollars in my phone case," I explain.

"OMG! LUCKY! Wait a minute..." She feels her back pocket at pulls out her own phone. She checks the case and a green bill falls out. "EMERALD!!! $150! NO WAY!!" She screams.

"WERE RICH!" I say.

"Hey, that is plus 3,000 dollars." A voice says.

"AMANDA!! OMG!! I FORGOT!!! EEEEE!!!" We all squeal together.

"We can live on our own if we wanted to! Wait, that sounds like a good idea. We just live by ourselves for a couple of weeks and reunite with our family! Amanda and Lola could be me and Derek's 'parents'! Agreed?" I ask.