How My World Changed Forever...Again

With One Goodbye Comes Another Hello

Colleen's POV
     "Come on Rach, we gotta go," I say, getting Rachel out of bed.  It's 7:30 AM and we're getting ready to board an 11 AM flight.  I'm really sad to leave the girls.  Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to Katie.  That was so hard.  We made her dreams come true.  And she changed my life.  And I had to walk out the room knowing that, that I might never see her again.  She really did teach me to enjoy every single day.  She's acts so happy, because, really, what can you do in that situation?
     Now we have to face the goodbye of Annie and Hayley and Katie and Billy.  This family is incredible.  They've taught me so much too; I learned from their mistakes.  I try to be conscious of what I'm agreeing too when I sign my name, but I could've easily gotten into a situation like Katie and Billy.  They signed their kids away because what harm could a company who works with children do anyway?  Child labor.  Sexual harassment in the workforce.  Wage gap.  All things you hear about.  But you don't hear about discrepancies in contracts.  Or exploiting children.
     Rachel looks over at me while I'm day dreaming.  "You okay?" She asks.
     "Yeah.  Yeah, I'm good.  I just know it's gonna be so hard."
     "I know," Rachel whispers quietly.  It sounds like if she talked any louder she'd cry.
     Rachel isn't known to cry a lot.  I see her cry on very rare occasions and is usually when she's really tired, stressed, or sick.  Rachel gets mad.  I cry.  All. The. Time.  It's not uncommon for Rachel to come into a room and see me crying.  She'll wrap her arms around me and tell me everything is gonna be okay.  When Rachel cries, I know something's wrong.
     She walks to the window and stares out it.   I walk beside her and put my hand on her shoulder.  "It's okay," I say. 
     "I know."
     Half an hour later, we're carrying bags down the stairs.  The girls are standing at the bottom of the steps watching us pack up.  Billy is taking us to the airport because I think Katie is taking the girls somewhere else they have to be.
Katie says, "before you guys leave, we have something for you."
     "Aww, you didn't have to do that," I say. 
     "No, no, you'll see," she says.
     She brings out two gift bags and hands one to each of us.  "Okay, go ahead."
     I open my bag and pull out a shirt. It's folded up, and when I open it, tears spill out of my eyes.  It's a white shirt and it says, "fight like a kid".   "Fight" is black in all caps and the "I" is replaced with a gold ribbon.  "Like a Kid" is in handwriting and is all in gold glitter.  I turn the shirt around, and on the back, it says, "Let Katie Flip Again" in metallic gold with an orange silhouette of a girl doing a cartwheel. 
     "Oh my god, Katie," I say, wiping my tears, "these are incredible!"
     "Jill wanted me to give them to you.  I hope I got the sizes right.  I actually...have a whole bunch of them for you; even kids sizes.  If you wanna take them, I think it'd really mean a lot for Katie to see a picture of all of you wearing them.  They're getting them on their merch shop and donating all the profits to Family Reach, a company that helps families with kids with cancer.  I don't know if you have any room in your suitcases..."
     I interrupt her, "for sure we will take them. Thank you so much!"
"You don't have to thank us. I think if Katie knew, she'd be thanking you."
I know it's time to go. But I don't wanna.

Annie's POV
"We gotta go," my dad says, sadly.
Colleen and Rachel both hug my mom. Then Rachel bends down and hugs me around my waist. When she let's go, she wipes the tears from my cheeks. "It'll be okay," she whispers.
I think if she talked any louder, she would've cried.
Next is Colleen. She comes over and squeezes me tighter than anyone has before. I bury my head in her chest and cry, and I can hear her crying too. "I'm gonna miss you so much!" I say through tears.
"It's okay. You'll see us again, I promise."
With that, she let's go of me and they walk towards the door to the garage. Rachel takes Colleen hand, looks back over her shoulder, and says, "thanks for everything, Katie. Girls, I promise, we'll see you again soon. Bye!"
Hayley walks over to me and we stand helplessly watching them leave. They were my second parents for over a month. And now they're gone.  Just as quickly and chaotic as they came into my life, they leave.