Teenage Mother
"BABY SISTER! I'M HOME!" Olga threw open the door to Helga's apartment, it had been nearly two years since she had seen Helga last, their last visit being Helga's wedding in France. It was such a beautiful sight, white lights had cascaded across the aisle, soft pink petals floated down upon them from the tree's that overlooked the night of matrimony.
Helga had never looked so beautiful in her life. Miriam had of course had a fit when she noticed the white converse peeking out from underneath her smooth princess like wedding gown, but Olga could only smile and wipe away the tears from her eyes.
Her favorite part of the entire ordeal was seeing the grooms face light up with joy, a sense of awe and inability to breath caressing over his body as she walked down the aisle. Their eyes never left one another throughout the entire ceremony.
Olga giggled recalling Helga's embarrassed face as he kissed her cheek and down to her lips. The way that she scrunched up her face, unable to hide the joy s he felt as he hugged her. And just like that, her little baby sister had gone from an awkward teenager with too much anger to a glorious and elegant woman. A woman in love.
She started calling herself Helga Shortman after that night, her Pataki name gone forever. Olga couldn't help but feel like she was glad to be rid of it, rid of the memories that the name burdened. Once that name was lifted off of her shoulders her anger and hate disappeared with it.
That was why Olga was so surprised when she received the call from Helga asking her if she wanted to come and visit the two in New York. Without even a moment of hesitation she screamed yes into the phone and began packing.
What she saw when she opened the door however was not what she had expected in the least…
Olga suddenly shrieked as though she had seen some sort of horrible monster had crawled into her skin. Helga took a loud and rather obnoxious bite of her beef jerky, hiding her growling as an odd type of knaw as she chewed.
"Good to see you too Olga." Helga muttered angrily. Olga's eyes traveled over her sister who was now lounging in a rather large lazy-boy, her eyes glued to the t.v, her ankles had swollen up to almost twice their normal size, her feet barely fitting in her pink bunny slippers.
"You're- you're-"
Helga stared at Olga in a rather bored manner as Olga pointed shakily at the rather large and protruding belly that Helga had produced. Helga rubbed it absent mindlessly as Olga dropped things in the door frame. Her high heels clunked loudly against the wood floor as Olga ran towards her little sister. She dropped down on her knees, her finger poking at the round mass.
"Are you…or-…or did you just get fat?" Olga asked hopefully. Helga twitched and hit her sister upside the head. Olga whined and leaned down on the floor as Helga rolled her eyes.
"It's a kid, not my lunch Olga."
Olga blinked for a few moments, taking her spot peeking over the arm rest like a small child. She poked it again, her face twisted in confusion as she did it again. Suddenly her eyes went with with shock as she quickly threw up her arms.
"Helga I can't feel the baby kicking! Something's wrong!" Olga screamed. Helga twitched and threw out her arm, grabbing onto Olga's wrist before slamming Olga's palm over her belly. Olga waited in fear, her entire being focused on the nerve endings on that hand. And then- there it was.
Thud.
Olga jumped pulling her hand back. Something had actually moved. Something had moved inside of her sister's stomach. Olga quivered as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, a small high whimper leaving her lips before her head hit the ground.
Helga glanced over at her sister who now lay unconscious on the floor. Helga sighed before getting up.
"God damn it Olga."
oooooooooooooooooooooo
"Damn it what is it Miriam, I'm KINDA busy here." Bob bolted out in his normal irritated voice as Miriam stood in front of him, eyes far off from where she stood. Her cheeks were bright red and the bags underneath her eyes had become heavy on her young face. When she didn't speak Bob looked up at her, not moving from his seat.
"Miriam you been drinking?" He asked, for once concern actually present. Miriam hiccuped, a quick answer to his question. Miriam fell back onto the couch, staring at the wall as she wiped her dry eyes. From how red they were it was obvious she had been crying.
"Come on Miriam spit it out, what's wrong?" Bob grunted.
Silence followed as Miriam opened her lips, the words escaping her. She started to sob, diving her head into her hands and Bob rolled his eyes. He threw out his hand standing up as he started to yell. A small girl stood outside of her home, hand tenderly sitting on the door knob. Her hands shook as she turned the handle.
The front door creaked open as a small girl crawled through the home front. Her long blonde hair, braided neatly down her back moved gently with the breeze as she approached the living room quietly. Navy blue eyes cast small glances up at her parents as she hugged her books to her chest.
"Filthy drunk!" She heard her father screaming. She flinched before quickly running into the room.
"Dad, dad guess what, I got an A on my test!" She suddenly yelped out. Bob's face quickly turned to the small girl, dressed in a long blue plaid skirt and white blouse with black mary-janes. His face slowly melted from anger as he laughed out, throwing his hands into the air.
"THAT'S MY OLGA!" He laughed out picking her up quickly. Olga forced a smile nodding quickly.
"My perfect little girl." He cooed hugging her to his chest. Olga patted his back, letting out a breath of relief as she closed her eyes. After years of searching she'd finally found her father's calm button, winning and perfection.
And lord help them when they gave him anything less. She flinched in recollection of city academic completion she had competed in fourth grade. It was down to her and her best friend from Sunnydale Elementary School, Robert Nicholas. He was a sweet kid, thick glasses and straggly hair. She would often go over to his house after school to avoid facing her parents. They had studied for the completion for weeks together.
They were close…
At least she thought.
He knew all about the pressure placed upon her, while some parents threatened their children with the loss of video games or time with friends, a failure on Olga's part meant utter rejection or worse yet, attention of the worst kind.
The stage lights were bright the night of the competition, Olga was dressed her best and sweat dripped down her brow from the heat. She pummeled in answers one after the other, trying not to allow her parents to see her in a bad light.
"What is the capital of India?"
Her hands were shaky and missed the button, Robert buzzed in with the correct answer. Olga felt her breathing become heavy as she shot her eyes toward the score. They were tied even with less than one question to go. Her eyes darted to her parents in the audience, hoping for some kind of support.
Instead she watched as her father screamed, though his voice was unheard through the crowd. Her mother looked at the wall blankly trying her best to ignore him as he shook her thin shoulders, on a rampage she had become all too familiar with.
"What is the state bird of Maine?"
He bunched his hand into a fist, waving it at her warningly. Miriam rolled her eyes and pushed him away in disgust. Olga's lips fell apart as tears glittered in her dark eyes.
"The chickadee!"
Olga gasped and looked over at Robert quickly. The announcer yelled out that he was correct and the crowd went wild, but it was all quiet to Olga. She gulped not even daring to look at her father's face. That night he made sure she never forgot that answer again…
"Why is mommy crying?" Olga asked quietly. Bob rolled his eyes and grunted.
"Hell if I know, she's drunk, that's the fourth time this week." Bob let Olga go to plop himself down on the couch once more. Olga made her way over to her mother, gently rubbing her soft blonde strands as she leaned into her.
"Mom what's wrong? Are you ill? Did something happen?" Olga asked lovingly. Miriam stared at the wall, not making a sound as Bob flipped through the channels. Without any warning she suddenly doubled over, vomiting over the floor. Bob jumped and scooted away from her as Olga quickly moved to hold her mother's hair back.
"Mom?"
"JESUS MIRIAM!" Bob yelled out already edging out of the room. "Couldn't you have gone in that bathroom to do that? Look it's all over the carpet!"
Miriam's brows knitted together in fury as she snapped her head up, wiping her mouth quickly.
"I'm pregnant you jackass." Miriam muttered. Olga and Bob both stared at her, taken back by her sudden confession. Olga had just turned twelve only a few months ago so having another baby right now didn't seem ideal but…
"Oh Mom that's wonderful! A new little life to bring us joy, I'm so excited! Congratulations!" Olga giggled out throwing her arms around her mother. Miriam didn't hug her back however as she stared at Bob in contempt. He growled and threw the remote down on the ground, shattering it.
"We already have one perfect daughter Miriam, that's all I wanted, ONE! And we're almost rid of her! Now you're telling me I've got another eighteen years stuck in this hell hole with you?" Bob screamed. Miriam scowled and shook her head.
"Fuck you Bob."
"Yea, say when's the last time you've done that huh, so whose kid is this, is that fucking newspaper boy that keeps coming around here. I know that way you look at him, have you two been screwing around my back?" Bob yelled.
Olga detached herself from her mother and looked between the two, they fought a lot but something about this one was different. Something about this fight was…scarier.
"Dad, um, my teacher says that I can probably go to a special middle school for really smart people. She keeps saying how gifted I am. A-a-and, I got invited to play at a classical concert in San Francisco, and…and…" her father couldn't hear her over his own screaming as Miriam rubbed her temple.
"Trust me it's yours. I can already feel it kicking like a damn racehorse." Miriam muttered. Bob scrunched up his face before mumbling under his breath, still cursing her in a small voice. Miriam stood, not bothering to clean herself up as she headed into the kitchen.
"I need a drink…" She mumbled.
"What you need is a coat hanger." Bob snapped out. Olga looked back and forth between her parents fighting back tears as she started up the stairs unnoticed. Olga narrowed her eyes gently onto her mother as she started to chug a bottle of vodka. Her eyes drifted to Miriam's stomach and with a gentle gulp Olga clenched onto the stairwell tightly.
"…don't worry baby sister…I'll protect you from them…you'll see."
oooooooooooooooooooooo
"Baby sister did you spill your drink?" Olga's eyes wandered down as Helga suddenly blinked.
"Oh…well it looks like my water broke. Call the hospital would ya sis? Tell them I'm coming in." Helga let out a whelp as she pushed herself off the chair, wobbily making her way to the front door as she grabbed her keys. Olga yelped and grabbed them from her, quickly grabbing her coat and throwing it over Helga's shoulders.
"Oh my god! You're giving birth! What do we do? Hot water! And towels!" Olga yelled out, going into a frenzy. Helga rolled her eyes and took the keys once more.
"I'm not giving birth you dumb ass, that won't start for another couple of hours. Just get in the damn care and grab my bag would you, I kind of can't bend over." Helga admitted. Olga nodded quickly and grabbed Helga's overnight bag from beside the door.
"A-ah alright, here I'll drive, you're not fit to right now!" Olga demanded as she tried to grab the keys. She dropped the bag in the process and quickly leaned down to grab it. Helga raised a brow and shook his head.
"Actually I think you're more impaired than I am, there's a paper bag in there for when you start hyperventilating." Helga stated flatly. Olga crossed her brows in annoyance as she took in a long breath.
"I am not going to start- ahh" Olga felt her chest tighter as she gasped for breath. Helga rolled her eyes and passed her the lunch bag from her backpack. Olga clasped her lips around it and started to breathe in and out quickly.
"Come on Miss Perfect, I want to get to the hospital before the searing pain kicks in if you don't mind."
The birth of Helga was done and quickly forgotten. When asked what they were going to name their daughter Bob promptly replied-
"I don't know…what's that other name for Olga? Let's just go with that. "
Miriam and Bob held her for a moment in the hospital, at least until the nurses left. Olga had sat in the waiting room until she saw her mother wheeling out. Bob commented that he had some beeper business to attend to and promptly left.
Miriam still as dazed as ever wheeled herself down to the food court leaving the room unattended. Olga looked around for a few moments, expecting the doctor to come back with her sister but no one came. It was only when she heard a paralyzing cry that she realized the truth. Helga had been left in the room unattended.
Olga quickly ran into the room, her heart sinking as she realized that the first thing Helga had ever seen of this world was an abandoned room.
She reached down picking the girl up from under her armpits. Helga fussed but stopped crying, that was good enough for Olga. Her eyes lit up as she studied the small girl.
"…you're so little." Olga giggled out.
"Nnn?" Helga tilted her head making Olga coo as she quickly hugged the girl to her chest. Helga made a grunt of annoyance and moved her hands quickly against Olga's skin. Olga sat down, moving her finger to poke the baby's nose. Helga squished up her face before sneezing gently.
It was the first time that she had held a baby but she'd watched a lot of movies on the television where the mother tilted her elbow to hold up the baby's head. Olga repeated the movement and gently cradled the innocent creature.
"Hi Helga…I'm your big sister…"
Helga blinked up at her, tuffs of blonde hair already showing on her nearly bald head.
"I have a feeling that we're going to be the best of friends baby sister…I just know it!"
oooooooooooooooooooooo
"Mom I'm home…"
Olga walked through the door, her green plaid skirt playing against her legs as she started to undo the bow. Thanks to a recommendation from her elementary school Olga had been transferred to a specialty school only a few miles away. Her father drove her there every morning right at the stroke of seven.
Each day Olga would go through her classes, piano, yearbook, school government, and scholastic science bowl with an after school club for each day of the week (including weeknds). It was a long and tough schedule but Olga had learned to handle it with ease.
"Mom?" Olga peeked her head in the living room with a sigh as she noticed her mother asleep on the couch. Olga rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen to start dinner, her father would be home soon and there was no way she was going to get screamed at for her mother's incompetence.
Olga grabbed some noodles from the cupboard, breaking them into three as she boiled some water. She stopped as she thought she heard a faint cry from the upstairs rooms. Olga quickly slammed the cupboard shut and ran into the living room. Helga's play pen was set up right?
Olga headed over to it, peering in, her eyes widened as she gasped and ran up the stairs.
"Helga! Helga?" Olga screamed as she threw open the doors to each of the rooms, scanning quickly for the small child. It would be her first birthday in a few months, and although she was showing to be highly intelligent for her age she still had some developmental issues. The doctors silently suspected it was because of Miriam's heavy drinking throughout her pregnancy.
All of the rooms were empty.
Olga felt herself going into an asthma attack as she realized that the baby was missing. Olga threw her hands on top of her head and yelled, the only action she was capable of doing with such high strung nerves.
And then-
Olga's head popped up as she heard a ever so faint and soft cry coming from on of the doors near her. Olga held her breath, tip toeing across the carpet so that she could hear the cry as well as possible. She stepped into her mother's room and it became louder. Olga opened up the door to the bathroom but the sound only became fainter.
But that only left-
Olga threw open the doors to her parents walk in closer, her body sighing with relief as she spotted the faintly crying baby sitting on the floor. Olga shook her head as she picked Helga up, smoothing down her bright blonde hair before kissing her cheek over and over.
"It's ok baby sister, I'm here." Olga whispered to her. She tossed the girl up and down comfortingly, noticing how thing she had gotten. How often had mom been feeding her? Olga pulled Helga at an arm's length, noticing for the first time how weak and malnourished she had become.
Helga blinked sleepily as Olga shook her head, she always fed Helga dinner when she got home since her mother always 'forgot' but she had at least trusted Miriam to give her SOME attention while Olga was off at school.
She sighed heavily and grabbed a bottle from the mini-fridge inside of her parents room. She tipped Helga back gently, pressing the bottle to her lips as she moved down the stairs and outside of the house. The hospital was only a few miles away, she could walk it…
Helga looked up at Olga gratefully as she sucked down the milk quickly, her feet starting to kick with the newfound energy. Olga looked down upon her sister with care as she patted her back. She was so innocent and full of life, she didn't cry too much and all she ever wanted was her parents love and attention.
So why didn't get they ever give it to her?
Olga sighed already thinking about how she how she could rearrange her schedule to get home to feed Helga during her lunch hour. She'd had to drop all the after school activities too so she would be able to baby sit until her father got home…
Olga flinched as she felt Helga pulling at her hair. She twisted up her face trying to get it out of her tiny fingers.
"You've got a grip kiddo." She laughed out as she kissed the small girls nose. Her favorite place to be kissed…
Helga let go, squealing in delight as she suddenly threw out her back, arching up into Olga's lips. Olga smirked and kissed her again, sending the child into pure ecstasy as she laughed. Olga hugged her soft body into her own as she sighed.
"…why don't they love you like I do…?"
oooooooooooooooooooooo
"AAHHH! WHEREVER YOU ARE FOOTBALL HEAD I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU SO MUCH!"
Helga screamed out filling the hospital halls so that her voice carried throughout all of the rooms. A nurse stood behind her, quickly wheeling her into the room they had reserved for such a date. Olga ran beside her sister, biting her fingers and casting a glance around her.
"You're doing great baby sister." Olga cooed as Helga doubled over crying out. Olga gulped and quickly moved to the side as Helga threw out her arm in a feeble punch wanting to hit something, anything to make her feel better.
"Here baby sister just squeeze my hand before you hurt someone." Olga offered laying out her hand gently onto Helga's arm. Almost a little too quickly Helga grabbed onto it like a steel claw, her fingers digging into Olga's skin as she screamed bloody murder once more, her grip becoming tighter with each throbbing contraction.
"AHH! GOD THIS SUCKS!" Helga screamed tossing her head back and forth as she squeezed onto Olga tighter. Olga whimpered, watching as the blood flow to her hand was cut off.
oooooooooooooooooooooo
"I loathe you." It was the first thing that came out of Olga's mouth as she entered the door. Almost teasingly Helga sat in her baby walker, sucking her thumb right in the middle of the damn hallway, staring her down like a pest that just wouldn't go away. Her eyes brightened at the sight of her caretaker as she yelped in happiness, holding out her arms as is to say-
'Good you're here, now, get me out of this damn contraption so I can make your life a living hell!'
Olga stared the small child down, slamming the door behind her. The slam seemed to trigger something in the baby's mind and her lip went into a pout, a typical cute reaction to deflect Olga's anger. Oh yes babies had it all figured out didn't they? You get mad at them, they cry, you don't pay attention to them, they cry, they make your life a living hell and need a way to get away with it? They cry.
God kept that baby in its mom's womb for nine months for a reason, and that reason was so the mother would have so much invested in the stupid thing she wouldn't kill it. Right away that is…
But Olga didn't carry the child in her nor did it have her beautiful green eyes or her chin or nose. No, Helga had nothing of Olga's, in fact; she didn't look a damn thing like her.
"You're an ugly baby." There, she said it. Yes, not all babies were cute and adorable and just so freaking fuzzy wuzzy like the lifetime movies would have you believe. Helga was an ugly baby. Sure her features might have been considered cute by the vaguest of standards, but her inside was dark and cold and ruthless and mean.
At least Olga had convinced herself of that.
Olga slammed her keys and backpack down on the floor in one drop. Helga's eyes watered. They said in some study that babies could read people better than adults could, Olga didn't doubt this, after all they had to know when to look cute and cry. It wasn't as easy of a task as they made it out to be.
"Don't think that you're getting out of it this time Helga, I'm mad at you. You've ruined my life and I'm not going to pretend anything different for a moment longer!" Olga screamed. Helga's lip trembled as she started to hiccup, rubbing her eyes with her tiny little baby fingers. Olga's pose wavered.
Cunning baby, cunning…
"Oh let me guess you're going to cry is that it?" Olga placed her hands on her hips even though her heart was shaking inside. Helga didn't seem to notice this and burst into tears. Olga rolled her eyes, kicking the walker lightly with her feet so that Helga was caught in the one corner of the room she could never seem to get out of.
Olga had had to fish her out of that spot a million times.
Helga blinked the tears from her eyes and wiggled in her walker trying to push off of something to get out of her conundrum. She started to panic, her eyes going wide with terror as she flailed her arms this way and that. She quickly turned to where Olga was walking, her small arms reaching out for her.
"Eh! EH!" Helga cried. Olga rolled her hand nonchalantly, not looking back at her. She went into the kitchen instead, leisurely pulling open the refrigerator door. Olga stuck her head into the fridge, pushing aside a container of ketchup and some left over pizza.
Olga grabbed a soda from the back of the fridge placing her fingers underneath the tin before popping it up. She could still hear Helga's screaming from the hallway as she chugged down half the can. Olga quickly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, walking out into the hallway. Olga glared down at the crying toddler, sitting down on her knees so that the two were face to face.
"Do you know WHY I loathe you little Helga?" Olga asked raising a brow. Helga did not answer, not that she expected her to. Olga stood up gulping down the rest of her soda quickly. She crushed the can in her hands and tossed it into the hallway basket.
"I'll tell you baby sister, it's because you've officially ruined my life." Olga snapped. Helga wailed louder interrupting her explanation; Olga leaned down and picked her out of her walker, tossing her in her arms roughly until she got quiet.
"For instance, do you know how many times I've had to tell my friends that I couldn't go hang out with them because I had to babysit you? Even today I had to tell the hottest, sweetest, most wonderful boy in school, Spencer Crawford, that I couldn't go to the spring fling with him- because of you."
Olga placed Helga down in her play pin, at least this way she could find something to do with herself while Olga vented. However even when surrounded by her favorite toys Helga's young eyes remained fixated on her big sister.
This pissed Olga off.
"You know, I could be the best big sister in the world and you won't remember a thing come two years from now, so really why should I even try?" Olga yelled as she threw her arms up in the air. She could hear Helga answer her in a soft gurgled response.
"Why not just be cruel to you until your memory's wiped clean right? Payback for being so mean to me?" Olga asked the small girl. Helga's long lashes flickered in response making Olga bite her lip. She threw her hands down onto the play pen, gripping it harshly.
"All I wanted was to be normal you know! Why'd you have to come along and ruin all of that! I wish I never even had a sister!" Olga screamed. She closed her eyes in fury, almost unable to believe her own behavior. A small sound, or rather, a word slowly called Olga out of her head as she felt silky skin touching her tight knuckles.
"…what did you say?" Olga whispered. Helga grinned a large nearly toothless grin at her.
"Sister!" Helga sounded out sloppily. Olga blinked down at her. Did she-
Olga reached down numbly, holding her up into the air as Helga giggled in delight, tossing her arms back and forth happily.
"Sister!" She repeated.
"…Sister…Olga…Olga, your sister." Olga whispered. She gulped as Helga merely giggled, repeating the word over and over again. Her heart started to fill with something she hadn't felt in a long time, something she almost didn't recognize. Olga carefully cupped Helga's small frame to her chest as she dug her head into her puffy blonde hair.
"Sister!"
Very cunning baby….very cunning indeed.
Olga sighed heavily and hugged her baby sister tighter to her, biting her lip as she fought back years. Why did she have to go and say all of those mean things to her? Even if she didn't remember them a year, or two from now, Olga still would.
"…I'm sorry…it's not your fault. It's just…it's been a long day." Olga mumbled under her breath. She pulled Helga back to look at her face, she continued to giggle and wiggle about on Olga's arm. Olga decided to take that as a sign she was forgiven.
"Alright baby sister, time to for your nap, would you like Elizabethan poetry or Shakespeare sonnets today?"
oooooooooooooooooooooo
Olga groaned as her door creaked open, the sounds of her parents screaming making her open up her eyes. The light shined into her dark room as she sat up, rubbing her eyes softly. The small pitter patter of feet against her carpet floor gave her the clue to her midnight visitor.
"Olga…are you awake…?" Helga asked. Olga sat up nodding as Helga tried to climb onto the bed. Her pale fingers gripped at the sheets, her mouth grunting as she started to pull herself up. Olga smirked and moved her hand underneath Helga's feet, giving her a gentle push. Helga plopped next to Olga with a huff before sitting up straight.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Olga asked quietly as Helga squirmed on top of the pink blanket. Helga nodded her head and flinched as a particularly loud yell erupted from the hallway. Olga moved her hands over Helga's ears as an earth shattering slap ran through the house.
Miriam cried out, spouting out curse words. Olga closed her eyes tightly as she felt Helga shaking from underneath her grip.
"What is he doing to mommy? Why is he doing that?" Helga whimpered out quietly. Olga flinched as a vase broke, she forced on a smile and quickly turned to her little sister, holding up a finger.
"Baby sister I have a present for you, would you like to see?" She asked lowly. Helga blinked for a few moments, curiosity getting the best of her as she quickly nodded. Olga smiled a bit bigger, glad she took the bait. Slyly she headed over to her dresser, pushing the door closed with her foot as she searched through her drawer's contents.
"Hmm let's see here…" she pushed aside her favorite necklaces and bracelets, things that would be unfitting for a little girl. With a small 'aha' Olga pulled out a bright pink ribbon, tying it around her wrist as she closed the drawer.
Helga's eyes immediately brightened as she spotted it, her arms becoming fidgety as she quickly climbed over Olga when she sat, anxious to look the new present over. Olga giggled and picked Helga up, placing her down in her lap quietly as she extended out her arms to present the gift.
"What is it?" Helga asked quickly as she prodded the ribbon. Olga laughed and untied it from her wrist, letting it hang.
"It's a ribbon, pretty and pink, just for you." Olga stated. Helga's eyes widened as Olga moved open her tiny fingers, placing the silk tie on her palms. Helga held it like a treasure before quickly exclaiming-
"It matches my dress!" She yelled out happily. Olga smiled and nodded, taking the ends in her fingertips.
"Would you like me to put it on for you?"
She was glad that Helga didn't notice the loud crash from downstairs.
"Yes please!" Helga exclaimed, moving anxiously as Olga giggled, pressing her long blond hair apart.
"Alright alright, sit still…" Olga pulled Helga's hair up and off of her neck, slowly moving the ribbon underneath as she pulled it besides Helga's ears, her fingertips working quickly to form a perfect bow a top of her head. When Olga was finished Helga hopped off quickly, standing on her tip toes to see herself in the mirror.
Helga suddenly blushed and touched it gently.
"…it's beautiful." She whispered. Olga smiled.
"You look wonderful in it Helga…it really suits you…" She whispered with a smile. Helga became a deep red and shook her head, her fingertips working to take it off.
"N-no, I can't…I can't have it, it's too pretty for someone…someone like me…I…I don't deserve this, Olga you should have it." Helga whispered as she tried to untie the bow. Olga frowned and walked over to Helga, getting down on one knee as she pushed back her sister's hair. Since when had thoughts like 'I'm not worthy' started to pop up in her head?
"No Helga…it's my gift to you…" she placed a hand over Helga's, stopping her from her.
"So treasure it….ok?" She asked happily. Helga looked down, her cheeks tinting red again as she nodded, her hands fidgeting with one another.
"...o-ok.."
Olga quickly grabbed Helga, throwing her in the air with a 'wee' as the front door slammed open and shut. She could hear her mother's sobbing as the car started to screech away. Helga's eyes moved to the door, knowing full well what was going on. Olga placed her down before rubbing the small girls back gently.
"Do you want to know a secret Helga?" She asked nervously. Helga seemed to come back from her sad thoughts, her eyes wandering to Olga.
"What kind of secret?" She whispered. Olga rubbed Helga's cheek with the back of her hand, pushing the stray hairs out of her eyes.
"A magical secret." She said lowly. Helga's eyes brightened for a moment, but then returned to her normal skeptical face. She raised a brow, moving her arms over one another as she scrunched up her nose.
"Alright, I'll bite….what's the secret?" She asked quickly. Olga smirked and placed a soft kiss on her sister's nose, a smile overtook her which she quickly tried to hide. Olga giggled and sat back on the bed, her baby sister in tow.
"It's a secret about a thing called love…"
