Close Friends Stick Together

When me and Sonata hopped into a car, I began to think about what Aria’s gonna do now that she’s gonna be cooped up in that hospital for a while. She could probably blow a gasket at how slow the doctors are. Either that, or she would constantly beg to get out. Still, it’s gonna be sad to know that we won’t be seeing her much. And I know how much Sonata is hurting on the inside. I’m gonna have to do whatever I can to protect her from the outside world. She just seems so innocent. She shouldn’t have have to deal with this drama. She looked at me and asked,

“Hey Addy?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you wanna play ‘I spy’?”

“Sure. Can’t say I’ve ever play the game, though.”

“It’s real easy. All you have to say is “I spy, with my little eye”, and then you have to say a certain thing and you have to spot it. I love it!”, she said, cheerfully.

After playing with her for a little bit, I grew a little tired and asked her if she wanted to take a break. She said yeah, surprisingly. I wanted to talk to her for a bit, so I asked,

“So, how did you and Aria meet?”

“Well, from what she told me, about a billion times now…” She pondered in thought for a few minutes. After some time had passed, she spoke. “We met when I was walking by myself on the sidewalk at night. There were some strangers that I bumped into. I asked them if they had anything to eat. But, for some reason, they gave me these weird looks and they told me that they don’t have anything for me to eat, but they said can show me how to have a good time. They grabbed my hand and they started to drag me. I bit one of their hands off and I ran as fast as I could, but they seemed much more faster. I thought that I was dead meat for sure. At least, until I ran into Aria. I begged her to help, along with promising that I would do as she told me, and that I would behave with all my heart. She thought about it for a few minutes, then when those strangers finally caught me, she put me behind her back and she protected me. Nobody, besides my parents, has ever done that for me before.”

“Oh my… I never you were so tough.”, I said, with my mouth dropping.

“Yeah… I guess I am.”, she said, giving a big grin.

I gave her hug out of random. I said to her,

“I’m so sorry.”

“Huh? For what?”

“What you had to go through. You're just a child, and you having to suffer through all this… it’s so unbearable. You don’t deserve this. I’m gonna do what I can to help you through all of this. And no matter what happens… I’m glad to have met you.”

Sonata then burst out laughing for some odd reason.

“What’s so funny?” I asked a little shocked.

“Addy, nobody had to twist your own arm to get you to protect me and Aria. You did it yourself. You stayed with us ever since the day we begged you for something to eat. We know that you will protect us. No matter what.”

I looked out the window of the car and I began to see an orchard. Sonata then tapped me on the shoulder and said,

“I’m glad to have met you too.”

I gave her a nice smile when she said that. Even after all that we’ve been through, we had still stuck close to each other as a family. Maybe it's because she's still too young to understand or it’s because of her parents. I don’t care either way. She’s my sister and we’re gonna make this through. Up ahead, we saw this huge house. It looked like something you would see out of a museum or something like that. It looked so ancient. Just then, the driver said,

“We’re here.”

I continued to look at the building as we drove up to it. It was like something you would see in a storybook. It was so rustic and incredibly outdated. I saw multiple kids outside playing and talking to each other. Then, they saw the car pull in. The same one that I was in. The driver then said,

“Here’s our stop.”

We opened the doors as we got out and we saw these a man with two other people behind him. At least, that’s what I saw anyways. The man approached us and said,

“Welcome. We hope you enjoyed your ride to the shelter. You two remember Bolt and Redheart don't you?”

I was surprised to see them here. But then where's…? No, please don't tell me…

“What are you doing here?” I asked dumbfounded and followed up with, “And what about Aria?”

“She's fine. We're just checking up on you and since we had a few moment to spare, we thought it be best to give you a tour of the place.” Bolt said calmly.

I wanted to question him more, but before I could, I was interrupted by Red heart.

“Well, we hope that you can enjoy yourselves here. There are plenty of activities for you two here. Follow us.”

And so we did. We were shown different parts of this place. Our dorms, mess hall, tv room, bathrooms, and they even showed us the laundry room. Hell, there was even a gym here. This place was so huge that I thought I needed to draw a map in order to remember where I last was. Still, since Sonata was with me, it wasn’t so bad being lost. We eventually made it back to the hall room. The man said,

“So, what do you think? Any ideas to improve your stay?”

“Well… we would like to speak to Bolt and Redheart. Can we have some privacy?”

“By all means.”, he answered.

He left the hallway long enough for us to start talking to Bolt and Redheart. I said,

“How’s Aria?”

“Well, we have some good news and some bad news.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“Well, the bad news is that she has to undergo chemotherapy for a couple months if she wants to make a full recover.”

I sighed as he said that.

“The good news?”

“She will be able to to live here. Her condition has stabilized, so she’ll be alright. However, she needs to be kept under complete supervision, and should anything happen to her, we will be able to get her back to the hospital.”

“When will she be back?”

“Hopefully tomorrow afternoon. If she doesn’t have any more tests to go through.”

“What kind of tests?” Sonata asked.

“Think of them as a practice route when you’re training for a type of sport?”

“What’s that?”

Redheart looked stupefied when Sonata said that.

“You’ll understand when you enter school.” I told her.

“Anyway, that’s all we have for you right now- oh! I almost forgot. If Aria starts getting unstable, give her this.” he said when he handed me this pillbox.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“It’s the medicine she needs if she starts feeling funny. Whenever something bad’s gonna happen to her, I want her to swallow this.”

“What will it do?”

“It’s gonna put her in a state of suspended unconsciousness. It will put her to sleep, but it will calm her down.

“What?!” Sonata yelled suddenly.

“It’s not gonna hurt her. It’s just gonna settle her down.”, Bolt assured.

“Where is she now?” I asked.

“She’s still back in her room. Right now, she’s asleep. She can’t be bothered right now.” he replied.

“I see. I hope she’s doing well.” I wondered.

Sonata still had a worried look on her face.

“Oh Sonata. Nothing bad’s gonna happen to her. No matter what happens, I will keep a close eye.”

What I said seemed to have calmed Sonata down, but she was still afraid for Aria. I needed to do everything I can to keep her happy, but with Aria’s condition, it’s just hard to keep her in line. Later, it was dinner time. We were at the mess hall, waiting in line to get our food. Everything was going well at first, until I heard Minxy’s voice.

“Hey there, Addy.” she said casually like we were friends.

I ignored her.

“So, how’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since your… well, we’re already aware of what happened.” she said with a smirk.

“Huh?”, Sonata wondered.

“Oh, and since when do you babysit? Or did you get kno-”

“Sonata, let’s go.” I said before she could finish her sentence.

The line was moving up a little, witch was fine by me. We kept going until the lunch lady gave us our dinner. I took Sonata with me to sit at a different place, but for some reason, Minxy didn’t follow. Instead, she just looked at me like I was just some puppy, whimpering and crying to be kept as a pet. I hated that look, and I wanted nothing more than to punch Minxy’s nose in until her mother couldn’t recognize her, but how could I? If I gave in to her level, I’d be no different from the monsters I’ve met on the streets. And I had Sonata to look out for. I’d be setting a bad example if I just attacked her. Then, Sonata asked,

“Who was that Addy?”

“Just someone I don’t wanna see.”

“Why?” she asked confused.

“It’s just… it’s just not that easy to think about.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“Okay…”, she said as she ate her food.

We went straight to our temporary room to eat as to avoid any more problems. As we ate, I decided to change the subject.

“Have you gotten a call from Aria?” I asked, changing the subject.

She shook her head and said,

“Nope. Did you?”

“Neither did I. I wonder how she’s doing?”

“Dunno. Maybe we could call before…”

“Lights-out.”, I said, helping her.

“Yeah. Do you wanna try?”

“Count me in.”

After finishing dinner, we got in line in front of everybody to get a phone-call. After waiting 25 minutes, we were finally next. Having to listen to all the gossip just made me cringe to the point that I was close to going on a killing spree. When it was our turn to call, it was actually an old payphone. We didn’t have any quarters, so we were out of luck. I was this close to losing my temper. Luckily, someone gave us some quarters, and we called Aria's room. The phone rang and rang and rang but no response. I grew worried as Sonata looked at me. I hung up the phone and said,

“She's probably asleep.”

“But Addy-”

“Bolt and Redheart said she was fine. Besides, Aria wouldn't want you being a crybaby when she sees you now would she?” I asked, stopping her mid-sentence.

She shook her head and sniffed.

“She would want you to be happy when we see her.”

She nodded reluctantly but didn't say anything back. As she finished her food, I grabbed her plate and placed it near the bedside. As I was about to turned off the light, she stopped me.

“You'll stay next to me, right?”

I shook my head and remembered what Aria said before we left. She wasn't wrong but I knew she had a point.

“You've got to learn to independent someday. We won't-” I stopped myself mid sentence realizing what I was about to say.

“You won't?” she repeated.

“Look, I understand that Aria’s not with us, but you have to learn how to survive without her. I’m not saying that we can’t see each other anymore, but you have to learn how to be strong and not take anything from those monsters out in the world. Do you understand?”

She gave me sad, disappointed look on her face, and then she said,

“I understand.”

“Oh Sonata…”

“Let’s just go to sleep.”, she said getting ready for bed.

I felt terrible for telling Sonata that one day she would have to fend for herself, but why? I didn’t want to hurt her, but she’s not gonna be a kid forever. Sometimes, being a grownup isn’t fun at all. After we walked back to our dorms, we got on our pajamas, brushed our teeth, and went into bed. Before I went to sleep, I said to Sonata,

“Goodnight Sonata.”

“Goodnight… Addy.”, she replied in a sad voice.

Hearing her say that just made me feel worse than I already was. I really hope that I can make it up to Sonata, but with the way things are now that Aria’s in the hospital, it’s just really hard to figure out. I have to say that the bed felt decent and the sheets feel nice. I began to doze off and fall asleep.