Legacy

Chapter 47

Stacie stopped half way down the stairs. She was tired and knew she looked a mess. She quickly stopped and redid her hair brushing with her fingers down and stopping by the mirror by the front door to make sure she didn't look too rough and then walked into the kitchen.

"Hey." Stacie said, trying to sound as confident as she normally does.

"Hi, How's Addy doing?" Miss Holmes cutting straight to the chase which Stacie appreciated.

"Not great, she is in lots of pain, having big attachment issues at the moment which i'm not sure why. I don't think she is going to be well enough for going to school tomorrow and as she literally had a breakdown about being alone just now so going a whole day without being with me sounds unlikely. Thank you for giving the others a lift home and stopping to pick up some bits. Also letting us leave." Stacie said, turning to go back out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Where little did she know Addy had not sat in Stacie's room like she had been asked but sat at the top of the stairs with her leg dangling down in between the banastars holding on to support herself and sit up. Sat beside a very worried Emily who knew that she shouldn't be sat here.

"Ads come on let's go and sit in the bedroom. We can play a game or something. You shouldn't be sitting here. Stacie would flip!" Emily whispered, more concerned about Addy's health and that Stacie is also worried which makes her in a bad mood with everyone.

"Shhh!" Addy replied a lot weaker than she had intended to be. She wanted to hear what was going on but also knew if this conversation ended quickly she wasn't going to be able to move fast enough to get out of the way and not be seen.

"Stacie we aren't finished talking. Please, you look tired and sit down a second. It may help." Miss Holmes said and reluctantly went to sit down giving a big sigh and getting herself a drink of water.

"Have you called the doctors? I assume you haven't actually taken her?" Miss Holmes says.

"No I haven't" Stacie sighed, she knew she should and in different circumstances she would have, but by the looks of what the situation is she couldn't.

"Why not? Let's not kid ourself here, she really really is sick and without seeking proper medical attention she isn't going to get better."

"We don't know that it came on suddenly it might be fine in a couple of days, we can just see then can't we?" Stacie was lying and she could only hope Miss Holmes couldn't see through it. She knew this wouldn't go away suddenly and also knew she would need antibiotics to fight this off cause there was no way Addy could do it on her own.

"And what happens after those first couple of days. You tell me let's wait a couple more and she gets more sick. Stacie. I know you're scared. But you can't fix this one all by yourself. It's okay to ask for help. And in this case a medical professional sounds like a help that you need. Addy needs. You know it's not gonna hurt her by going. We could go right now if you want an adult to sit there too."

"And why would you come? You're not our mom!" Stacie snapped then looked down apologetically.

"I'm not. But I don't see her sat here with you." Miss Holmes replied. She was ashamed of how she acted. She was so tired and confused she needed a rest. She loves caring for her sisters but she didn't know how to handle this. The girls were all a lot older and Addy was too young to go through all of this. Stacie was finding it difficult to see her little sister in so much pain. She didn't know what to do. Scratch that she knew exactly what she should do but she couldn't. It was either go to the hospital and then them file a report. And if nothing becomes of it, face their mother. Or straight up call their mother and get her to come home and look at the situation and get punished for that. Or three tell Miss Holmes everything and hope she believed her. But she just couldn't. And to Miss Holmes' surprise she just started crying.

"I'm Sorry." Stacie said wiping her eyes trying to calm down but it was like she couldn't make it stop. Her breathing started to speed up as she started to panic. Miss Holmes immediately walked around the island table and went over to the girl.

"It's okay. It's hard, your trying to do it all by yourself it seems. It's too much you shouldn't have to. I can talk you your mom-"

"No... Please...anything but that please..." Stacie whimpered out.

"Hey, It's okay I won't say anything. I'm going to hug you okay?" Stacie flinched at first contact but then as she relaxed into it. She immediately hugged Miss Holmes back and relaxed into it. Stacie had always been the one to hug her sisters, being the stronger one it was nice to finally have someone hug her and just let it out. Miss Holmes held the girl and saw for the first time how much the girl was keeping in. Out of all four she least would expect to break down. After a while Stacie pulled away. And wiped her eyes calming down.

"I'm sorry. I'm okay. I'm just worried." Stacie said, regaining composure.

"It's okay. You needed to get it out of your system. Would you like to go to the hospital with me now?" Miss Holmes said, hoping the answer to be yes, even though she hadn't seen Addy since she left school, she doubted she would have been much better.

"No, I'll... I'll call my mom. She will want to know what's happening and be the one to fix it."

"You sure, she didn't seem to react well about it on the phone though are you sure?" Miss Holmes says as Stacie begins to stand up and push her chair in moving her cup to the sink.

"Yeah I'm sure." Stacie replied.

At that Addy from the top of the stairs turned around to Emily and asked for a hand up. She felt fairly selfish. She hadn't really thought about the consequences that were going to come out of all of this. She never saw how really upset Stacie was by it all. And hearing Stacie cry, which wasn't very quiet, hurt Addy. If only she had taken more time to let her back heal. If she hadn't freaked out and decided to have a personality change and snap, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Everyone not just Addy is scared which she sometimes forgets, which all of the girls forget as well. She moved to the spare room as she was asked and played Uno with Emily as she was asked to do in the first place. Thinking on how to take some of the stress off Stacie.

"Addy said sorry and thank you by the way. She didn't say why she just said that you knew what she was going on about but I don't know." Miss Holmes nodded in a somewhat understanding of what she was going on about, and really showed who Addy really was thinking of Miss Holmes even when she was feeling like shit.

"Stacie, what's up with Addy's back?" Miss Holmes said carefully and Stacie stopped where she was crouched down loading her glass in the dishwasher. And was shocked. Stacie's first thought was Beca and that somehow Beca had told them both.

"What do you mean?" Stacie breathed out acting like it was a random question.

"I saw Beca buy bandages, and when Addy was in the bathroom at school throwing up. She took off her jacket and I saw harsh red lines on her back. How did she get those on her back?" Miss Holmes asked seriously.

"Beca bought bandages because we didn't have any in the house that had nothing to do with Addy. I don't know what lines on the back you have seen because I have been with her all day and she has had to change multiple times and I never saw anything."

"Stacie?" Miss Holmes questioned.

"I don't want to be rude but I should probably get back to Addy. She needs me and I imagine she is in a lot of discomfort. Also our mother will be home soon and she will flip out if she sees you here. Thank you for helping my sisters and I. But I have to go. The gates will open automatically when you leave thank you." Stacie finished and went upstairs she was done with the conversation when it got a little too close to the subject. She waited at the top of the stairs until she heard the front door close. She breathed a sigh of relief and went to see Addy.