Helping Hands
The sun may have been shining, the skies may have been clear, the birds may have been chirping, but one little girl was very upset. Sitting under her parent's bed, chin resting on her knees, Celina hiccuped through her tears. No one cared. No one listened. Just because she was the youngest, at six years old didn't mean that her family could treat her like dirt. No one ever wanted to listen to what she had to say. She had only said that a cat would have been better than a dog when her older brother, Paul had rolled his eyes and told her it didn't matter what she thought.
Tears slid down her cheeks as she recounted the memory. Her mother had continued working; her father continued unloading the dishwasher and her older sister, Felicia, just walked through the kitchen and up to her room, completely ignoring what she had said. A moment later, Celina had run up the stairs as fast her tiny legs would let her, into her parent's room and dived underneath the bed. It felt like hours later and still no one had come to find her.
"Celina?"
That sounded like Felicia. But why did she care? It's not like she had ever cared about Celina before. Stubborn as she was, Celina stayed under the bed.
"Celina, are you in here?"
Two long, tan legs appeared at the side of the bed. A second later, Celina was looking into the weary face of her older sister. Felicia sighed deeply and held out her hand.
"Don't be dumb Ce, come on lets go."
The short, but feisty little girl quickly crawled out from underneath the bed and scrambled to her feet to look at her sister in the eye, hands on her hips.
"NOW I'M DUMB?"
Felicia sighed, and threw her head slightly back. Celina could hear her mutter under her breath and decided that she had had enough. Turning swiftly on her heel, she walked out of the room with as much as dignity as she could muster. She could hear her sister following her and grimaced. What did she still want?
Reaching her room, she opened her closet and pulled out her Dora backpack from underneath a shelf, where it had been collecting dust since school ended. Marching over to her bed, Celina threw her bag on the bed, whipped it open and began stuffing clothes and toys into it with intense vigor. From the corner of her eye, she could see Felicia leaning in the doorway, an ankle casually crossing the other.
"What do you think you are doing?"
Celina paused, but decided if this is what she was going to do, she might as well be dramatic about it. Taking a deep breath, and not bothering to face her sister, she answered.
"Running away."
She expected her sister to gasp, yell or go running downstairs to tell her parents but she heard nothing. Curiosity getting the better of her, she turned to see her sister in the same position, but now staring intently at her bag. Minutes later, or that's what it seemed like to Celina, her sister turned to look at her and smiled.
"You really are stupid. Do you really think that bag will be enough for all of your clothes? And what about your toys? And Mom will kill you if you don't take that bear Dad bought for you when you were born."
Dumbfounded, Celina watched as her sister crossed the room and pulled out a gigantic suitcase from under her bed. Wiping the dust off of it, Felicia smiled at her younger sister who finally spoke.
"What are you doing?"
"Helping you pack off course! You really think I would let my baby sister do something like this by herself?"
"Well'.," Celina's voice trailed off. "Fine, you can help. But do I have to take a suitcase?"
"Of course," laughed Felicia. "How else are you going to fit this?"
With that, she pulled out, almost from thin air, a shoebox. Not just any shoebox. This was one covered in cutouts from magazines, pictures of Celina's favorite stars, singers and dancers. Inside, it was almost full to the brim of old birthday cards, movie stubs, an old ticket to a Broadway show, art projects and her first disposable camera.
"You know Celina; at this rate you are going to need a new shoebox. Here, I'm going to throw in a couple extras, for your future memories."
With that Felicia dumped the boxes in the suitcase. Walking over to the shelf, she pulled out about twenty books and carried them back to the suitcase, placing them in the suitcase more carefully, knowing how much her sister loved them. She looked back up at Celina who was still standing by the door, mouth gaping.
"What are you looking at? Aren't you going to help?"
Stumbling over her words, Celina rushed forward to go get more books from the shelf. Her sister had already wiped her top shelf that displayed her stuffed toys completely clean and was now putting them into a garbage bag.
"Wait, why are you putting them in a garbage bag?"
"Because silly, they won't fit. We still have to fit games and clothes in there!"
"Oh'..ok."
Confused, but not exactly sure why she was confused, Celina started emptying her drawers, stacking clothes on her bed as her sister put them away. When her sister ordered her to go get the game boards, she silently began handing them over. Her confusion just got worse when her sister began laughing hysterically when she tried passing her Monopoly.
"What's so funny?"
Clutching the side of her waist, Felicia opened her mouth.
"Remember when we played, like a month ago? And by the end of it'"
"Paul had 8 dollars left," finished Celina. A giggle escaped her lips. "That was fun."
Felicia threw the game on top of the clothes. Struggling to fit a deck of cards between her sister's clothes she spoke.
"Well I guess we won't be doing that any time soon."
Celina paused in her act of trying to get a tie around the garbage bag.
"Wait, why?" She watched as her sister sighed loudly.
"Well you are leaving right? And it is your game. We could always buy another I guess'but it's not the same y'know?"
"I guess'" Celina's voice trialed off.
Felicia rambled on about the time when Celina had beaten their father at chess; but Celina wasn't listening. She was four years old and clinging on to her mom's pants because she didn't want to go to school. She was five and learning how to climb trees with Paul. She was turning six and her father finally trusted her with letting her help him make those ships in the bottle. She blinked and she was sitting on the floor to her bedroom, watching her older sister talk and talk. She felt something warm inside of her.
Celina watched as her sister stood up and using both arms, hoisted up the now full suitcase to an upright position. Patting it, obviously satisfied, Felicia walked towards the door, calling over her shoulder.
"I'll be back, just going to get your shoes out and let Mom and Dad know. OH! We didn't pack extra socks did we? I'll grab a couple extra pairs as well."
As the door shut, Celina flopped back onto her bed. Her desk was wiped clean, her closet was empty and her shelf was completely barren. Even her bed was missing her small pillows and stuffed toys. Shoulders slumped and hands wringing in her lap, her eyes fell on the suitcase, so full it was threatening to pop open. Wanting to rid her eyes of this sight than anything, she looked out the window. This proved to be a mistake as well, seeing as her driveway was in clear view. Where she and her siblings had played basketball so many times, where they had spent countless summer nights playing games with the cousins, where their station wagon was parked. Just thinking about all the memories attached to their car made Celina groan out loud and flop back onto her bed.
"Ready sis?"
Felicia was standing at the door, wide smile on her lips. Celina forced herself up and looking at her feet, replied.
"Yeah'I guess."
Flashing another smile at her younger sister, Felicia bounded down the stairs. Sighing, Celina walked to the suitcase and tried pushing it. Nothing. She grabbed the handle and tried dragging it. Nothing. She stood there, staring at the suitcase. What now? A horrible thought struck her mind. If she couldn't get the suitcase out of her room, where would she be able to take it?
"CE! Are you coming or not?"
Felicia was back. As she watched her younger sister look at the suitcase, than around her room in clear confusion, Felicia hid a smile.
"Well'?"
Looking, almost pleadingly at her sister, Celina whispered back.
"I'.I think I'll stay."
Just a small smile could be seen on Felicia's face but she was dancing inside. Turning on her heel, she began walking downstairs, a new skip in her step. A voice called out from behind her.
"But only till Saturday."
Disclaimer: This short story is inspired by a true story that the author read a couple of years ago. Names and many details have been made up.
***
Just something I wrote for a class I took this past month. :) Hope you enjoy it; do comment.
--shabz
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