Hand In Hand

FOUR

  4.

The girls laid in Hopes bed side by side staring up at the ceiling in silence. Hope had already given Faith some warm sleeping clothes to change into and some fuzzy socks to keep her feet warm.

"What's really been happening at home? And none of the fluffy stuff Mom tells me when she calls." Asked Hope quietly, Faith didn't bother to turn her head to look at her sister then, she might lose her space on the wall. Tiredly she answered her sister.

"Hope things are happening that I didn't even realize were happening." Faith didn't even want to run through the list of things that could be classified as child endangerment that she brushed off as a dysfunctional family.

"Like what?" Hope asked tentatively.

"Neglect." Faith answered, there was a pause before another question was asked.

"Is it my fault?" Faith turned her head to look at her sister this time.

"I didn't think it was anyone's fault. Our parents are the King and Queen of New Orleans after all, they get busy...but sometimes I don't see them for days at a time. I guess that's not very normal... A lot of times it feels like I live by myself and don't even get me started on the dead bodies I clean up sometimes 'cause Dad has a fit. That's not a dysfunctional family its neglect...and it's not your fault. You're lucky, yes, but it's not your fault. You can come here and be with people just like you. You don't have to be alone if you don't want to. You don't live in constant fear of the next evil to breeze through— well I don't know about that last part anymore, but you get it, and you don't have to be sorry about that." Faith explained.

"I'm sorry." Hope said anyway.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Hope." Said Faith, but her sister sat up in the bed looking down at her.

"It feels like I do." With a huff Faith followed her sisters movements and sat up in bed.

"If you wanna apologize I guess you can be sorry about absorbing everything in the womb but me." Faith joked in a faux-serious tone. Hope seemed to believe her for a second before the two of them burst out laughing.

"That's a terrible thing to say!" Laughed Hope.

"Yeah, probably." Replied Faith. Once the laughter died down the girls just looked at each other for a moment before Hope pulled her sister into a hug. Faith tensed and was pretty much frozen in the embrace, hugging back awkwardly.

"Are you okay?" Asked Hope, refusing to let go. She hadn't held her sister like this in so long.

"Uh, yeah, i'm just not used to full body hugs, am I doing it right?"

"Just...relax you're really tense and making this really cute sister-bonding moment awkward." Hope felt Faith's tense limbs become looser as she laughed. "Yeah that's better."

Eventually they let go of each other and laid back down.

"So what do you and Mom talk about when she calls?"

"She asks me what's been going on, if I've been eating enough, that sort of thing. And she tells me how everyone misses me, but now that I think about it she never tells me what you're up to."

"Wow, so they don't tell you when i've been kidnapped but I get to hear what you have for breakfast in the morning, that's great." Faith said somewhat bitterly.

"How many times has that happened?" Asked Hope.

"How many times do you know of? Minus this time." Faith said instead of answering.

"I remember the first time when someone took both of us. We were like four right? And... I think there were two other times I remember that happened to you, but I'm not that sure... So I guess I'll say three?" Hope guessed.