Found (Book 1)

Chapter 13

Lisa's POV

I thank God that I found Jessie when I did. I can't imagine what would have happened otherwise.

Lauren walks home next to me and I see her glancing at me.

"What?" I ask.

"Are you sure about sneaking around and providing for Jessie? What if Christina finds out?" she asks.

"I'm an adult, Christina can't say or do anything about my own choices about my own life and money. But you're going to have to be careful. Don't get too involved Laur," I say. She slowly nods and sighs.

We arrive at our house and walk in. I see Dani, Amy, and Katherine sitting on the couch.

"Where's Christina?" I whisper.

"Backyard," Amy whispers back and I nod, running up the stairs and grab my debit card. I run back down and my sisters look at me confused.

I sit down next to them. First I look at Katherine who, by the look of her puffy red eyes, has been crying.

"Kath she didn't mean any of what she said," I say softly. My older sister nods.

"I know, it just stung a bit. More so, I know I was in the wrong originally and now it all lead to Christina kicking her out," Kath says.

"Don't worry about Jessie. I'm gonna take care of her. Just cover for me because I won't be home tonight, just say I'm at a friend's house and keep begging Christina to let her come back," I tell my sisters.

"Wait so where are you actually going?" Dani asks.

"The less you all know, the better. Just cover for me okay," I ask and they all say they will.

Christina walks into the room just then and I glare at her.

"Stop looking at me like that Lisa," she says. I say nothing and she sighs.

"I'm spending the night at a friend's house so I'll see you guys tomorrow," I say.

"Bye!" Lauren says.

"Have fun!" Amy tells me.

"Thanks," I say and smile at her, she winks back.

I grab my oversized purse with my things and walk to the hotel I told Jessie to meet me at.

Sure enough, she's sitting in the lobby and smiles when she sees me.

We walk to the front desk and wait for a lady to call us up.

"Could I please get one standard room?" I ask and the lady nods. I give her my personal information as well as my debit card to pay for it. She then hands me a room key.

"10th floor," I observe as we walk to the elevators. We arrive on the 10th floor and get to room 1032 as specified on the key. We go in and Jessie goes straight to the window.

"There's a perfect view of the ocean, come see!" she exclaims and I go to the window, admiring the sight.

"It's beautiful," I say smiling. She nods and turns to me.

"Thank you so much Lisa," she says and smiles.

"You're welcome," I respond. She bounces onto the bed and sits there.

"Want some company tonight?" I ask. She looks at me confused. I open my bag and hold up pajamas. She smiles.

"The more, the merrier!" she responds, "Besides... I hate being alone... especially after today."

I understand that. It's been a really rough day for her and she definitely hasn't deserved it. We order room service for dinner but I notice her picking at her food.

"Not hungry?" I ask.

"Just... I don't know. Not really that hungry I guess," she says. I let her away with that excuse.

After dinner I take a shower and then as I brush my hair, Jessie takes a shower. I hear my phone buzz and I pick it up.

Kath: Hey how are you and Jessie? It's Kath and Lauren

Me: Good, we had dinner and now she's showering. I'll be back tomorrow morning most likely

Kath: Okay, sounds good. Christina's calmer now but still adament that Jessie isn't coming back :(

Me: Shoot :( Keep trying!

Kath: We will! Have a good night!

Me: You too! Byeee

I look up to see Jessie watching me. She continues brushing her hair and then sits on the bed, already in her pajamas.

I sit on the other side of the bed. My curiosity gets the best of me and I have to ask.

"Can I ask you something? You don't have to answer if you don't want to," I say. She nods.

"What happened between you and your parents?" I ask. She sighs.

"I was their mistake," she tells me.

"What?" I ask.

"They never wanted me, I was an accident. Then when they planned and had my little sister, they always payed attention to her and couldn't have cared less about me," she explains and it shocks me how parents could do that to a kid.

"Wait, you have a sister?" I ask.

"I did..." she says quietly, I watch tears form in her eyes, "She was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 3 and I was 8. She died when she was 5. It broke my parents and I. It made my parents even nastier than they already were," she says and I have no words.

"I am so so sorry about your sister," I say and she thanks me, "But how did they get nastier?"

"They started telling me that it should've been me instead of Lily. For years they told me I was useless, worthless, that I could've died and no one would care. My 17th birthday present was them telling me I ruined their life and then they kicked me out. In a way it was easier not hearing their crap every day. But it's lonely and scary when there's no one in the world who knows that you exist."

I listen to her story and am hit by how horrible that would have been. I can't imagine being strong enough to survive all that. How could parents do that to their child? How could they just kick a 17 year old out and not care?!

I must've been turning red in anger because I feel a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't. Don't get angry or sad because of this. It's only the past," she says quietly.

"It's not just the past," I shake my head, "It will always affect you and that's not fair."

"Nothing in life is fair," she tells me and I nod. She has such wisdom for 17.

I grab her wrist and she looks at me confused. I slide her sleeve up a little and run my thumb over her scars.

"Please don't ever do this again," I beg.

"I'm trying my best not to," she tells me honestly. I appreciate that she's not lying about this.

Pretty pretty please
Don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than
Less than perfect
Pretty pretty please
If you ever ever feel
Like you're nothing
You are perfect to me

I finish singing and see her crying. A few tears slide down my cheeks as well. I hug her and she hugs back.

"You're not alone anymore," I promise her.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that wish to come true. It finally has," she whispers.