Life starts now - A Bondi Rescue story

Getting back up Pt.1

A/N: Hey guys! I apologise for updating so late. I had a bit of writers' block and the past few days have just been pretty crazy. Rushing my brother to hospital at 4 am, concert band rehearsal starting again, having some pretty nasty cramps over the weekend...

Anyways, thank you all so much for your votes, faves and comments.

This chapter's style is a bit different as most of it is actually a series of flashbacks. Let me know how you like it. Usually, I'll tell the story in chronological order, but this chapter covers a timespan of around three weeks, so I thought I might try something new :)

Melanie sat on the rocks at Ben Buckler's, swinging her legs lightly, her feet dangling in the water. The morning breeze brushed against her skin and played gently with her sun-bleached hair. It tugged at her clothes, her dark green hoodie wrapping itself around her slim, toned frame.

She watched the ripples of light dancing in the waves, blue and green mixing with silver. With summer having made way for autumn, the beach was still fairly quiet at this time of day. There would still be tourists and locals who wanted to enjoy what promised to be a great sunny day, but not as many as during the height of summer season.

Tilting her head back, the teen closed her eyes, a small smile on her face as the salty air filled her lungs. Even in times when she felt like everything went wrong, when life seemed like a never-ending succession of overwhelming, hollow and lonely days, the beach was her safe haven.

I sure need one, she thought, sadness colliding with determination and faint amusement. And I won't let anyone take it from me.

***

5 days after the accident.

Melanie, Alice and Hailey decided to redecorate their rooms. While doing that, they figured they could also clean them thoroughly, sorting their things into three piles: Yes, maybe and no.

Everthing they no longer wanted to keep was carefully set aside so they could give or throw them away later. The things they weren't sure about yet would be looked at again later, to decide whether the girls would keep them or not.

First, the three sisters did the twins' room, taking their time cleaning the shelves, drawers and cupboards.

Melanie was strickly banned from doing any taxing work, but she contributed by offering her opinion when Alice and Hailey tried on their clothes to see if they still fit or looked good and checking if the stationery was in working order.

She helped Hailey with cleaning and reorganising her art supplies, filed stacks of lose papers that had collected on the desk with Alice, disentangled electrical chords and necklaces, sorted letters and postcards by date and occasion and generally just loved spending time with her sisters.

In the afternoon, they relocated to Melanie's room and sat down to develop a plan for the redecoration.

"I was thinking that we could move your wardrobe over there", Hailey said, pointing to one corner of the room, "and that shelf to that wall, then we can put your postcard collage on the wall opposite your bed."

Melanie beamed and nodded her head enthusiastically. "It's gonna look great", she said when her artistic sister showed her a sketch of how the postcards could be arranged to roughly resemble a world map.

After the furniture was moved to its new positions, Hailey began painting the wall in fresh blues, greens and turquoises.