Everything Changes: The Truth Shall Set You Free (Part 5.4)

*The following is a short bit that should have been in the last section, but when I was copying it over...I missed it, and it doesn't go with the next section very well.**



Granny and the twins arrived home shortly after Natalie had gone. I could tell mommy was relieved that Granny had kept them out so they wouldn't have to know anything just yet. It was going to be hard on them, I knew, and I was afraid at what they would think. They were so young still, though I was young when I had lost daddy and had managed to make it through. But they were my little brothers and sister and I hated anything bad happening to them.

Mommy pulled Granny aside when the trips had gone upstairs to play and started telling her about going to the meeting this morning and then about Natalie coming over earlier. There was the loud slamming of a door upstairs and then Estel came running down the steps crying. Mommy stopped mid sentence and looked down as Estel wrapped her arms around mommy's legs, wailing in despair.

It was Andy who spoke first and he took ahold of Estel's arm. "What's the matter, sweety?" he asked her, slowly pulling her off of mommy's legs. He looked up at mommy and motioned towards the other room with the nod of his head. Mommy nodded and she and Granny went into mommy's room and closed the door.



"Xander pulled my hair b..be..because I called him stupid!" she cried. I almost started laughing, but covered my mouth with my hand.

"Well, that wasn't very nice of you," Andy told her, rubbing her back. "How come you called him that?" I could tell he was having a hard time keeping from laughing as well.

"Well, because! He colors like a baby! He just scribbles on the pages and he ruined my whole brand new color book!" Estel had calmed down a little bit, but then started wailing more loudly the more that she talked.

"How about you go upstairs and tell your brothers to come down here. What do ya say we have a pizza party? My treat?" Estel stopped crying suddenly and ran up the stairs.

It struck me that the smallest things, like coloring books could get them so upset. I knew Estel would take everything the hardest. Here she was, crying over a messed up coloring book, when we all were on the verge of a huge change. Only, she didn't know it. She seemed so fragile to me and I knew that the next few weeks were going to be very hard on her, though, I hoped that the promise of a pizza party would clear the slate.

It was then at that point that I noticed how different that Andy had been to all of us, compared to other guy friends or boyfriends that Mommy had had. I had never before seen any of them comfort any of us kids. We had always been made to feel like baggage that Mommy carried around with her. Too big to easily hide, yet too important to just leave behind. If I had ever respected Andy before, it was after seeing him with Estel that won my acceptance. It was going to be nice having him as mommy's friend.

The boys came downstairs and we all gathered around the table, looking through the ad section for pizza coupons. The trips almost got into a fist-fight again over what kind to get: Estel wanted cheese, but Alexander and Ethan wanted pepperoni. "How about we get one for you guys that's half and half? Would that work?" Andy asked them. They all cheered. "Alrighty, then that's settled. Now...what about the rest of us?"

We took a few minutes and settled on taco. Andy called and ordered it and then called Nori and asked if she wanted him to come get her. She had spent the day out at her aunt's house, he had told me earlier. They talked for a couple minutes and then Andy grabbed his keys. "I'll be right back kiddos! Hopefully I'll beat the pizza dude back!" With that he ran out the door.

He returned a few minutes later with Nori and the delivery guy right behind him. "Perfect timing!" he said, taking the pizza from the man. Mommy and Granny came out of Mommy's room and I could tell they had both been crying at one point.

"Well, what have we here?" Mommy asked with a smile.

"Oh, just felt like a party." Andy chuckled.

"And I wasn't invited to a party at my own house?" Mommy questioned jokingly.

"Well, if you really consider things, this is technically still MY house..." Andy poked at her.

"Okay, you win," Mommy laughed and grabbed a plate. It had turned out to be a fun night. After the pizza, Nori and went upstairs to my room to hang out for a while. The trips got their showers and were in bed early. Apparently, Granny's trip to the zoo had worn them out. That left Mommy, Granny, and Andy downstairs to talk. I knew what they would be talking about, but I knew Mommy was going to need all the help she could get.

Everything Changes: Hope House-The Road to Recovery (Ch. 6.1)

The phone rang at 9am the next morning. I answered it. It was Natalie. "Is this Victoria?" she asked.

"This is." I confirmed.

"This is Natalie. I was over at your house last night. Is your mom home by chance?"

"She is, but she's still in bed." I explained. I was tired myself. We had stayed up late last night. Nori had ended up staying the night and we had played games and talked until almost 3.

"Can you do me a favor and wake her up? It's important that I talk to her." I could tell the urgency in Natalie's voice, so I told her to give me a sec and went in to wake up mommy.

Mommy got on the phone and talked for several minutes. "Well, it's kind of short notice, but I will have to make it work. Keep me posted on what happens and unless I hear otherwise, I'll see you in the morning." Mommy hung up the phone and I could see that she was a bit shaken.

"Natalie says that she was called in to work because they had a gal leave there last night unexpectedly. That leaves an apartment open for us, but we have to be there at 9 o'clock in the morning. She has 24 hours to come back there, so if she comes back by 10:30 tonight, then Natalie will call and let us know. If she does, then she will get the apartment back. But, she says she doubts that the lady will come back."

"What about her kids?" I questioned.

"Natalie said she was just a couple months pregnant and was in one of the big apartments because they were planning on putting some of the other pregnant girls in with her until the were closer to delivering. She says it's a four bedroom apartment, so that would be perfect for us."

"I guess we better start packing then, huh?" I asked, and then stopped. "What about the trips? What are you going to tell them?"

Mommy sighed. "I really don't know. But, I guess I'm going to have to tell them something. Mommy turned and headed up the steps. It was going to be a rough day, I could tell already. I hadn't expected things to turn out the way that they had, but I also knew that if we had to wait much longer, the more likely mommy was to change her mind.



Mommy had gone up and put her hair up and put on a sun dress. She must have called the trips down while up there as well, because they all sat down at the table. Mommy looked up at me and waved me over. I went over and sat down, nervously biting my lip. I wondered how much mommy was going to tell them and I wondered how they would take it.

"We need to have a family talk kiddos. Mommy has some news. Tomorrow, we're going to be moving to a new apartment for a little while, most likely." Mommy finally blurted out.

"A new apartment?! But what do we need a new apartment for? Why can't we just stay here? Did Andy kick us out like Silas did?!" Estel questioned. She was always the talkative and inquisitive one, so leave it to her to be the one asking.

Mommy smiled, though her expression was somewhat pained. "Andy didn't kick us out, sweetheart. I don't think he'd ever do that. No guys, the reason that we have to go to a new apartment is because it's kind of like going to a doctor when you're sick, but only you stay there for a while until you are better."



"You're sick again, Mommy?" This time it was Ethan, and I could see tears in his eyes. I hadn't figured that he would be the one most affected, but neither of the other two seemed too concerned.

"I'm not sick like I used to be, darling. It's a special kind of sick, and mommy needs to get help to feel better. We aren't going to stay there forever. We'll still come back home when Mommy gets better. But this is something that mommy HAS to do, and I need you guys to be strong and help me out when we're there, okay? Can you do that?" Mommy patted Ethan's hand. All three nodded. "I'm going to get us some breakfast quick, and then we better get to packing."

"Pancakes?!" Alexander yelled. It was the first that I had heard him say anything all morning and it startled me.

"Sure if that's what everyone wants." We all agreed, and mommy set to work.

***

Natalie called us at 6pm that night and said that the lady had come back, but had come to get her things. She wouldn't be coming back to stay. So, we were in. Mommy called Andy as soon as she hung up and told him the news. He agreed to take off of work the next day so that he could take us up there.

At 7:30 am the next morning, we were all packed and on our way to Hope House. I don't think any of us really knew what to expect. Miraculously, the trips were quiet most of the way. Granny said that she wanted to keep Sylvia at our house for the first week until we were all adjusted. She didn't want mommy getting too overwhelmed with the big changes, plus having to take care of all of us kids on top of everything else. Andy would bring Granny and Sylvia up this next weekend.

It was a one hour and 15 minute drive to Bloomington where Hope House was. We had really only brought some clothes, bedding, and some food. Natalie had said the apartments were fully furnished otherwise and had everything else we'd need. Andy told us that he'd bring us stuff that we needed if we found otherwise.




I think we were all amazed when we pulled up outside. It wasn't at all as we had imagined. There were two long buildings which appeared to be apartment buildings. There was a large fountain in between them which sparkled in the morning sun and some kind of covered area at the back. It looked nice enough from what we could see. Andy called Natalie and told her we were there. A couple minutes later, she came out to Andy's truck and greeted us.

"Good morning!" she said with a smile. "Well, this is it!" She helped us grab our things from the truck and then led us up the steps and into the first door on the left.



I looked around the room and sat down my bags. The room was white, but there were all kinds of posters and kids' drawing tacked up on the walls.



On the far right, there was a series of couches lined up in somewhat of a circle with a big flat screen tv hung up on the wall. Natalie must have caught me looking around because she offered us a quick tour.

"That over there," she said, pointing to the tv area, "Is a tv/group area. Several times throughout the week, there will be groups for you kids as well, which I think you will enjoy. They'll talk about all kinds of things with you and do activities and things."



"Back over there," she said, pointing beyond the tv area, "Is a homework room. There's several desks with computers that you can use to help you with your homework. Then there's also a few empty desks back there as well that you can study at. Of course, there's a bookshelf back there too with a bunch of different books." She led us around from the tv area down the hallway.

"Over there," she said, pointing to her left, "That's the kitchen. They keep snacks and things over there and occasionally, we'll have a pizza party with the kids and stuff like that in there. Oh, as for regular meals, there are full kitchens in the apartments. You'll have your regular meals over there. There are scheduled groups for grocery trips every day and you'll go once a week on your assigned day. You're expected to have menus planned out for the week so that you can get everything that you need on your shopping day. As for snacks throughout the day, the Childrens' Support staff take care of that. We try to always have fresh fruit and milk available for everyone, and the CSS take care of making snacks in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon for the children. Oh, and by the way, this area out here is for the school-aged children, if you hadn't guessed, so the four of you will spent most of your time out here."



Natalie led us further down the hall. Just beyond the kitchen, there was a set of stairs that she explained led up to the group rooms and counselor offices. "Down here are the infant and toddler room, as well as the preschool room. Infants and toddlers on the left, which is where Sylvia will be for now, and then the preschool room is on the right. We'll probably start transitioning her over there in a month or two when we have a little more room." The nursery was cute and several cribs lined the walls. There was a small white shelf along the front wall with toys and such.



The preschool room was very similar to the nursery, except they had different toys on the shelves and nap mats instead of cribs. There was also a coloring table almost exactly like the one the trips had when they were little. Sylvia would love getting to go over there.

"Sometimes," Natalie continued, "the preschoolers come out and use the school age area for things if the older kids are outside or out on a fieldtrip. It just all depends."

We walked back towards the front of the school age area where Natalie had sat down at a desk.



Behind me, I could hear the scuffling of feet and Estel and Junior whispering, "Bang! Bang!" I turned around and shot both of them a glare.

"Dont be playing guns, you two! I'm sure you'd get in trouble for that here. Now you better behave! Or you're gonna be in BIG trouble." They ran down the hall towards me, and then back into the tv area, where two ladies were standing.



"Hello there guys and gals!" I'm Gloria, said the red-head. "This is Stephanie. Looks like you all FOUR are going to be joining us for some fun this summer, huh?"

Estel looked up at Gloria, unsure of how to react. In reality, it was going to be a change for there to be more than just us around. Besides being in school and the very little interaction we ever had with Silas's dinner guests, we had been pretty sheltered. The trips especially. We had never really gone out much away from the house.

"That's what mommy told us." Estel replied. She still seemed nervous, but had remained surprisingly calm so far. I was shocked.

Mommy had to finish filling some paperwork out, so we sat down with Stephanie and Gloria and they told us all about the room and what happened throughout the day.

Groups started for the mommies at 8:30 in the morning. If you had medicines to take (which you weren't allowed to keep at the apartment, not even Tylenol), then you had to be over here at the med room upstairs by 7:30. Then there were activities that were planned out for each morning. Trips to the park, museums, walks, etc. We went back home at 11:15 for lunch time. We had 2 hours to cook lunch, eat, and come back by 1:15. After that, the moms went back to group again until 5pm, and we got to do more things. Sometimes we'd be going to the pool, skating outside (that's what that covered place was!) playing ball, or working in the greenhouse. The moms and the school age kids were in charge of the gardens in the greenhouse, and everyone got to share what was grown. Mommy was going to LOVE it! We talked some more about rules and such, and then finally, Natalie announced that we were taking our things over and getting to see our new apartment.



Of course, as soon as Junior picked up his pillow, he had to swing it at someone. That someone ended up being Estel. She swung hers back, and the fight was on! They were annoying the heck out of me this morning, and I didn't know why. Of course, at home, they had their rooms with their own things to do, and here, they weren't so used to what was going on. Usually, they had spent their time upstairs or outside. It was going to be interesting to see what being couped up in a small apartment was going to be like.

Everything Changes: Hope House-Road to Recovery (Part 6.2)

**I want to apologize to all my readers for not getting out updates as regularly as I had talked about. The last few weeks I've had alot going on in my personal life, so that has kept me from simming and writing as much as I would have liked. At any rate, I'm still going to try to get back to regularly updating, given that things have calmed down somewhat now. I look forward to comments, thoughts, ideas, etc on where you would like to see this story go. I have it mapped out in my head for the most part, but am open to suggestions and ideas which may/may not fit in to the plans I have for this family.**



We said goodbye to Andy as we walked across the courtyard to our apartment building. He said for Mommy to call him later and she promised she would. She hugged and thanked him for all his help and then waved as he walked to his truck.

Ours was the first apartment in the first building... directly across from the programming area. I was surprised when we finally got inside. I had expected to see another white-walled cardboard box of a place... like a hospital type place. Instead, though, the apartment was very warm and welcoming. The walls were a two-tone with dark trim. Creamy white was on the top half, then a strip of wood trim, and the lower half was a rusty orange/tan. The sun shining through the window lit up the apartment and gave it a hospitable glow. A half-wall separated the living room and kitchen areas. The stove and refrigerator were like new and there was a table and chairs off to the side. I pulled open a couple of the cupboards and drawers and sure enough, there were towels, clothes, spoons, knives...anything you could ever need, sitting right there.



The living room was somewhat small, but was furnished as well. There was a love-seat, couch, entertainment center with a tv, and lamps which sat on wooden end tables. "Wow! It's much nicer than I ever thought it could be!" Mommy told Natalie.

"We try our best to keep the apartments fully furnished and well cared for. We do three apartment checks each day to be sure that everyday chores are being done...such as making beds, taking out trash, doing dishes...things like that. Once a week you will have a "major house" check, which will look at things even deeper, such as dusting, cleaning the bathroom...that kind of thing. You'll get the hang of things soon enough." Natalie responded, smiling. "I'm sure once you get a few pictures on the walls and get all situated, it'll feel more like a home-away-from-home." Standing up, Natalie walked towards the door. "I need to head back over for group, so I'll let you get things settled in and put away. There's a schedule in the binder that I gave you. Go ahead and get settled in and get yourselves some lunch...I'm assuming you brought food with you?" Mommy nodded and Natalie continued, opening the door. "Check the schedule and I would like to have you come back over to programming about thirty minutes before afternoon groups start so that we can get the kids all set and you can get in a couple afternoon groups. I'll see ya in a little while!" With that, Natalie closed the door.



And so it began. Our first few minutes alone in our apartment. Outside, kids were playing on the playground and women were walking across the courtyard. We decided to go upstairs and check out our rooms. Ethan and Xander were going to have to share, and Estel and I would get our own. Sylvia's crib would be in mommy's room. The top of the stairs was bare but for the doors to the rooms.



Each room had two single beds in it, each with matching blankets. The walls up here were all white, but I hoped to fix that with some pictures and decorations. I wasn't sure how long we would be here, but I planned to at least try to feel at home. I knew mommy needed this.



That afternoon, after a quick lunch of spaghetti, we went back to the program building to begin getting in to the routine. Estel was a bit unsure about staying here all afternoon with a bunch of strangers, but mommy assured her that the boys and I would be here with her, so she would be fine. We sat and waited for Natalie for a few minutes, and she finally came down the stairs. She welcomed us once again and asked if we got everything settled in. Mommy nodded that we had, and Natalie waved her hand for us to follow her. She took us to meet the childrens' support staff.



We sat down at the snack tables and a red-headed lady sat down with us. I hadn't seen her there earlier, but she told us her name was Molly. She said that she only worked a couple days of the week but was filling in today because the other staff had taken the kids to the water-park for the day. She went over some of the rules for the room and the schedule for the summer. Then, we were free to pretty much do our own thing the rest of the afternoon.



I spent most of the afternoon playing computer games. The trips took turns playing against me for a while, and then grew bored. Eventually, they fell asleep watching a movie, so I curled up on the couch near them and read a book I had brought with me. It was peaceful until the other kids and staff returned from the water park. Then it was like all hell broke lose. I kept the trips close to me. It was going to take them a lot to get used to having all these people around.



We were allowed to stay home after supper for the rest of the night so we could relax after a big day. We had been up early and the day had been long. We took turns showering and getting on our pjs, while Mommy made us some grilled cheese sandwiches. We talked about our days a little while, but I think we were all too tired and worn out from all the commotion earlier to be too enthusiastic about anything.



We all washed our own dishes, and mommy cleaned up the kitchen. Then she took us upstairs to our rooms. We went willingly and climbed into our beds. She kissed us all goodnight and then went downstairs. The trips fell asleep quickly. I knew, because I could hear them breathing heavily as they slept. I couldn't fall asleep very easily though. I tossed and turned as thoughts of the upcoming days, weeks, and months rumbled through my head.

After a while, I crept down the steps to see what mommy was up to downstairs. I didn't see her at first, but then realized that she was laying down on the couch. She didn't have the tv or anything on, she was just laying there. Just as I started back up the steps, a step creaked and I saw mommy look over at me. "You better get to bed, Victoria. We have some early days from here on out."

"I know Mom," I told her, "Good night!"

"Good night hun," Mommy said again. "And Victoria? I love you baby."

I felt the warmth overcome my body as the words I hadn't heard in so long were spoken. As I climbed into bed once again, I was relaxed and cozy. Hopefully, our family was on the mend.

I'm newly hooked to your story (bad choice of words..) Somehow Martina keeps reminding me of Jenny in Forrest Gump.. In the flashback scene I keep seeing the scene in Forrest Gump where she goes on the ledge. lol, this is probably because how much I love Forrest Gump, but nevertheless good story(:

Everything Changes: Hope House-Road to Recovery (Part 6.3)

The next morning I was up early. I didn't want us to be late for our first full day. I was scared to say the least, but I knew everything would be alright once we got settled into the daily routine. I quickly made my bed and got out some clothes. It was a bit odd to wake up in such a bare apartment, I thought to myself as I walked into the bathroom and turned on the water. I stood in the nice warm water and relaxed for a few minutes until I heard a knock on the bathroom door. I pulled aside the shower curtain and heard Estel's voice. "Victoria, can I come in? I need to go potty." I sighed and closed the curtain.

When I got out of the shower, I realized I had left my clothes in my room, so I quickly threw my pajamas back on. I'd change when I got to my room. As I walked out, I saw that all three of the kids were awake. They had even gotten up and made their beds. "Mom's not up yet, Victoria," Junior informed me. "I tried to wake her up, but she wouldn't. She just rolled over and went back to sleep."



I turned the corner and went into Mom's room. I called her name and she didn't even stir. I walked over to her bed and shook her arm. She barely flinched. I shook her arm again and said her name again, this time more loudly. She rolled over slightly, but didn't wake up. I started to panic. Now what was going on?! I thought all of this would be over. As I turned to leave, I felt my foot hit something beneath the edge of the bed. I knelt and felt around, clasping my hand around something small and rounded. I pulled my hand out and looked. It was a pill bottle. I read the label "Alprazolam .5mg". There was another label which read "May cause drowsiness. Do not drink alcohol when taking this medication. Persons taking this medication should not operate vehicles or heavy machinery." Mommy must have taken a bunch of these. There were only about a half-dozen left in the bottle.

I held onto the bottle and ran into my room to change. I was careful not to let the trips see the bottle. I went quickly over to the program building and looked for Natalie. She'd know what to do.

Natalie wasn't there yet, so I asked one of the ladies to have her come to our apartment when she got in. I quickly went over to our apartment and back upstairs to mom's room. About 20 minutes later, Natalie showed up. She rushed up the steps and asked me what was wrong. "Mom won't wake up. I tried everything I could. And..." I said, making sure the trips weren't around. I pulled the bottle out of my pocket and handed then to Natalie, "I found these under her bed." Natalie sighed and took the bottle from me, placing it in her coat pocket. "Natalie, please get me a cold washrag?" I did as Natalie asked.

When I returned, I watched Natalie wipe mommy's face with the rag and eventually, she woke up. She brushed at Natalie's hand, but Natalie kept wiping her down...her face, her arms, her neck...Finally, Mommy sat up. "Would you stop it already!" she yelled. "Victoria! I said STOP IT!"

"Martina, it's Natalie. Not Victoria. And you need to wake up right now and get out of this bed or I'm going to call 9-1-1 and have you sent to the hospital." Mommy looked around the room and as she wiped her eyes, a look of realization washed over her face.

"Ok, I'm up, I'm up. I'm sorry. I was just...tired." Mommy explained as she climbed out of bed.

"Yep, I know," said Natalie, showing mommy the pill bottle as she got up from the bed. "I'll be downstairs. You need to get moving or you're gonna be late."

Natalie called us kids downstairs and helped the trips get some cereal. Fifteen minutes later, Mommy came stumbling down the stairs. Natalie called her over to sit on the couch next to her.



"Have a seat, Martina. We need to talk." Natalie informed her. They talked in hushed voices in the livingroom while we finished our breakfasts. "So how come you never said anything about the pills?" I heard Natalie ask.

"Because I didn't think they were that big of a deal!" Mommy answered. I could tell by her expression and the tone of her voice that she was getting upset.

"Martina, if this is going to work for you, you have to be honest. One-hundred percent. Above EVERYTHING! The drugs, the pills. You need to turn in all of your medications. Staff will be coming over to check your apartment."



"You know what! To hell with this place and to hell with YOU!" Mommy yelled, and we all looked over. "I don't need people coming over here and going through my things like I'm some little kid hiding candy. I'll just take my things and go. Kids, go upstairs and get your things."

We couldn't believe what mommy was saying. She had seemed so excited just yesterday about coming here, and now she was wanting to leave. "Hang on, Martina. Let's not make any rash choices like that. Let's try and work this thing out."

"I'm not working anything out! I'm leaving. I don't need people like you and all your staff treating me like I'm some damn little kid." I could see the anger welling up in mommy's face. "I said go get your things! Now get upstairs and do what I asked!" I got the trips up from the table and started them up the stairs. I got them into their rooms and had em find something to do. I was pretty sure Natalie would talk mommy out of leaving. I had the trips close theirs doors and I sat at the top of the steps so I could hear what was going on.



"Ok, so let me get this straight. You're going to leave here today. Then, I am going to have to call your mother and she is going to come here and take your children. She has already promised you this, and DHS has been informed. Your mother has custody of your children. You are lucky to have them right now. You need to give this thing a chance, Martina! You haven't even hardly been here for twenty-four hours. It's definitely not as bad as it seems. Like I said though. You have to be completely honest with us...and most importantly...with yourself. You're lying to yourself right now, Martina. You don't think that you have a problem do you? You think that if you're not using the hard stuff, that pills are okay because they're a legal prescription. Believe me, Martina. They are! And possibly even worse because they're so readily available."



The livingroom was quiet for a while, until Mommy finally spoke again. "I don't know what I'm doing, Natalie." Mommy was crying. "I just don't know!"

Are you still alive???? It's been over a month since the last update!

New Update! Everything Changes: Hope House- Road to Recovery (Part 6.4)

New Update! Everything Changes: Hope House- Road to Recovery (Part 6.4)

After a few hours and a few phone calls, Mommy gave up finding a way to leave. She had tried everyone... Granny... Anderson... the few neighbors that she had gotten to know...and no one would come and get us. Granny was furious at Mommy for even suggesting it and Anderson tried reasoning with her, but Mommy was stubborn and ended up hanging up on him. I didn't understand her sometimes. He was only trying to help.

After she hung up the phone, Mommy collapsed onto the couch, crying again. She went on and on about how if she could just get out of this place, she'd be fine. She'd forget all about everything and we'd be a normal family. I was infuriated. "Why don't you just leave here if you want out so damn bad! Walk out the door and go! Granny will come and get us kids and then you can do whatever you want." I yelled. I had tried to go along and support Mommy, but when she suggested leaving, it was apparent to me that she didn't really seem to care. She was willing to lose us kids over having to stay here.

Mommy sat up on the couch and glared at me. "How DARE you talk to me like that! **I** am the mother here! Not you! I will make the decisions around here and I will NOT have my daughter talk to me like that." **CRACK** I felt the burn of Mommy's hand across my cheek and closed my eyes for a minute before standing up. I didn't say anything for a minute and walked towards the stairs.

"You sure as hell don't act like a mother!" I spat. I then turned and ran up the stairs and into my room, slamming the door. Once inside, I collapsed on my bed, as big, hot tears slipped down my face. I didn't want to be here any more than Mommy did, but I knew she needed to be. I had tried to be positive and help keep things in line, but it seemed to be failing. If mommy left here, we'd be taken away from her. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to live with Granny. She'd always taken care of us when Mommy couldn't, but then Granny was getting older. It would be rough on her taking care of all of us kids. It just wasn't fair! Why couldn't we have a normal family that did things together, that had fun and went to ball games, and soccer practices, and... dance recitals. Dance recitals... I had forgotten all about my love for dance. It had seemed like so long ago that I had gotten my Anella doll and my warm-up bar. So long since I had even thought about all of that. I fell asleep then, my mind a whirl of thoughts.



I awoke a short time later to voices from downstairs. I got up from my bed and checked the other bedrooms and found no one. I didn't recognize one voice, but heard that Mommy was talking to someone.

"We've all been where you're at hun, and it's no fun. It's hard to admit when you really need help. Hard to give in and let someone help you, trust me. I DID leave here when I first came. I left and went back to using. Three days later I was laid up in a hospital bed because of an overdose. I ended up back here and tomorrow I'll be getting my three month chip. I never thought I needed help or this place. But had it not been for them, I'd probably be dead right now."

I started down the steps and realized Mommy was standing near the bottom of the steps. The voice I heard was coming from a young lady with short red hair. Mommy looked up as she saw me coming down and as I looked into her eyes, I could see she had been crying. I could also see a glimmer of hurt as she looked at me.

The woman looked up at me as I descended. "Well hello there, Sweetheart," she said with a smile. "You must be Miss Victoria." I nodded at the lady as I stepped off the stairs. She stuck out her hand in greeting and I shook it nervously. "I'm Valerie," she said, "But you can call me Val. I'm your mother's peer support. It's my job to come over and check on y'all and make sure you're settling in okay. I didn't see you guys across the way this morning, so thought I had better check in and make sure everything was okay."

"It's nice to meet you," I said quickly, scanning the living room. The trips were in sitting on the couch. The boys were watching TV and Estel was reading some comics in the newspaper.

Just as I walked into the living room, there was a knock on the door and in walked another woman with a young girl. "Knock knock!?" said the woman. She had black and blonde hair which was spiked into a mohawk of sorts with braids that hung down her shoulders. "Sorry to just barge in, but this is where I heard the party was at. I'm Saryah, and this," she said pointing to the little girl, "Is my daughter Ruby."



The little had on a dark-red velvet dress, quite fitting for her name, and waved when her mother introduced her. She was a cutie and smiled happily. Right away she sat down by Estel on the couch and started talking to her about the comics. I think Estel was a little shocked by her forwardness, but the two were soon talking and giggling happily. Saryah walked back to where Val and Mommy were talking and I heard her join in. I didn't pay much attention to the conversation. My head was still a whirlpool of thoughts.

After about a half-hour, I could hear the three of them laughing and hoped that things were going to be okay. I didn't get my hopes up too much though, because things had seemed okay just yesterday when we came here, and it was quite obvious this morning that they still weren't.

I got the kids a quick lunch of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. Mom and the other two women had gone upstairs to talk more in private without any kids around. I hoped they could work miracles on Mommy. A short time after I finished making lunch, they all came back downstairs. Mommy was now smiling. "Ok kids, I guess it's time to get this show on the road. Get your shoes and jackets and get together anything that you wanna bring with you, cause it's group time." I saw Mommy look over briefly at Saryah who nodded quickly and went to get Ruby ready.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully. The trips played with Ruby, but didn't seem to take too kindly to some of the others. It appeared as if I was the oldest of the kids here by a year. The only other kid close to my age was a snotty blonde girl who kept to herself.

It was almost 8pm by the time we got done with groups and chores and got home. We were all exhausted from the long day and no one really talked much. It was going to take some getting used to. IF we ended up staying. We decided on bowls of cereal for supper and all went to bed by 9pm. We had to be up by 6:30am to be up and over to get meds and be ready for the day.

**BBRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIINNNGGGGGGGG**
**BBRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIINNNGGGGGGGG**



I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing at 2:30 that morning. I stumbled down the steps and tried to make my way to the phone as quickly as I could without falling over toys. "Hello?" I said, picking up the receiver. A moment of silence. "Hello?! Is anyone there? It's two in the morning!" I said, thinking it to be some kind of a prank call. I listened more carefully and could hear someone crying on the other end. "Hello? Who is this?!"

"Victoria...." the voice cried. I recognized it right away. It was Nori. Something was horribly wrong.

I just read all of this and it is AMAZING! One of the best stories I've ever read. I had a feeling that drugs were involved around the time of the 'poker parties' but I didn't realise how big a problem it was or how long it had been going on for. Once all was explained to Victoria it made perfect sense though. Everything fit together perfectly. I'm really looking forward to the next update and I hope it's coming soon. Is this really your first story? Forgot to say, What's wrong with Nori? You love the cliffhanger endings, don't you!

Everything Changes: With Tragedy Comes Realization (Part 7.1)

Wow, that was unexpected! I thought it was her dad or something, would never have thought of her mom. And Victoria's family taking her place, that was, I don't know, it's weird, I didn't think about what happened to the other woman at all, I was just glad that she left. Now finding out, I feel guilty for thinking like that. Amazing update. Thank you!