𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗶 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗼: 𝗨𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱

Lionhearts Discontinued Version: Chapters 7-8

Chapter Seven

Gabi's POV

My eyes dropped to the ice floating in the glass in front of me. "I already told you," I whispered.

"I know and I know you probably don't wanna talk about it anymore, but I need to know so I can help you." Her voice was pleading and I looked up into her eyes.

"Why do you care?" I asked because I had to know. "No one has ever cared."

Her back straightened and she shook her head. "I can't explain it. I saw you and I knew something was wrong."

I closed my eyes, sighing. "Okay. I was adopted when I was young. Like, five or six. I barely remember. But I remember we moved here and everything was great." My mind kept going back and forth, debating if I should say I left my sister. "Then a couple years ago, something just... changed. Like you said, I can't explain it and I don't know what happened, but my parents started yelling at me all the time. I wasn't allowed to do anything and I got punished for being a minute late from school.

"And when I said no one cared, I meant it. People clearly saw the change in me, they saw bruises, but nobody asked if I was okay." By now I was crying and Demi wrapped her arms around me. "I just don't know what happened to them."

"I'm so sorry," Demi said.

We fell into silence as my tears eventually stopped. I explained to her what had made me run away, and even admitted I had tried before, but they found me.

"That's what this scar is from," I said, showing her the inside of my forearm where a burn scar was.

"Oh, my God. Gabi, look at me."

She said it with such conviction and when I looked back at her, her eyes held a certain determination.

"I'm going to make sure you don't have to go back to that. Okay? You have my word."

A small smile graced my lips, my mind still flip flopping.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I-I have a sister. A twin. I had to leave her. I didn't know what was going on at the time." My eyes welled up and I squeezed them shut. "I have dreams about her. Her name is Hailey. I just... I have to know she's okay. That she found a home."

My eyes opened, Demi pulling me into another hug.

"We'll find her. I promise."

~//~//~//~//~//~//~

Chapter Eight

Hailey's POV

"Hailey, I got you something," the voice of my twin said, ringing through the air.

I knew I was in a dream, but this one felt so real.

"What is it?" I asked, glancing down at my body. Hands were on my shoulders, gently shaking me awake.

My eyes snapped open and I jolted up, nearly head butting my foster mom.

"Hey, it's okay. You were just having a nightmare."

My tongue stuck to the dry roof of my mouth and I shook my head. "No, no, it wasn't a nightmare. She had a gift for me." I looked all around, thinking my stashes has been discovered. "Why... um, why'd you wake me up?" I asked.

I knew it was a Saturday, and she normally didn't have a problem with me sleeping in, which was why I had taken a couple Xanax the night before. I didn't have my own prescription for them, but they worked to calm me down when I was anxious and couldn't sleep. And I couldn't go to someone to get a prescription, so I just bought them from a kid at school when I had money, which wasn't often.

"It's almost one. You need to get some food in you."

Shit. I hoped she didn't notice my eyes widen when she said that. Nodding I gestured towards the door and thankfully she left so I could get dressed.

Not planning on going out, I slipped into some black leggings and a pullover sweater.

I slowly made my way to the kitchen for a bowl of cereal, checking my messages from Macy. She asked if I wanted to hang out and insisted that I get to a doctor and therapist soon.

Me: I know I need to but I'm not ok. There's no way I'd be able to make the appointments and if I did, I'd probably cancel them

Macy: Fine I'll do it and I'll make you go.

There was no fighting her, and I was too tired to try. Plus I knew I needed help, but at the same time, I couldn't get fat.

I made my way to the kitchen, grabbing a spoon and a cup of vanilla yogurt.

"You need to eat more than that," she scolded, fixing a cup of coffee for herself.

"I will. Don't worry."

I had to suppress a sigh as I finished the yogurt.

"Do you have plans for today?"

I shrugged. "I think Macy wanted to hang out, but we didn't set a time or anything. Why?"

"I'm just worried about you. Ever since you started having those dreams, you've been different."

I stayed silent. I had lived here since 8th grade and shortly after I started high school, I started dreaming about Gabi and I noticed how pretty she was. Before that, I had dreams about her, but it was just us having fun. Tears threatened to fall as I remembered the first dreams I had where I was a fat slob who ate all the time and Gabi was practically a goddess.

Those kinds of dreams went away, but the effect they had on me remained and I began starving myself and cutting because I wasn't perfect like her.

"I'm fine," I said, fighting to keep my voice from cracking. "I just wish I knew what happened to her."

"If we had the money..." She trailed off, but I knew what she she was about to say.

If we had the money, we could look for her, but we just can't right now.

This had been her catchphrase for a few months now and I was sick of hearing it. I knew we didn't have the money to track down my twin that I hadn't seen in ten years.

Part of me didn't even want to find her. What if she was even more perfect than in my dreams? What if she didn't even remember me? I remembered how happy she was to leave with her new family. There was a part of me that wanted to forget about her, but I just couldn't.