Rachel Mason was sat at her desk on a sunny Sunday afternoon up to her eyes in paper work. She finally decided that she'd had enough for a bit and that she wanted to make the most of the sunshine.
She picked up a jacket and was about to open the door when the phone started to ring. She did contemplate ignoring it to begin with but in the end she closed the door and picked the phone up.
"Hello" Rachel said in a cheery tone
"Is it possible to speak to Rachel Mason please?"
"Speaking" Rachel said reciprocating the formal tone
"I'm afraid I have a bit of bad news for you. Your sister Mel and her husband were involved in a car accident yesterday"
"What are you talking about? Are you sure it was them?"
"Both of their bodies have been identified" the police officer explained
"What about the girls? What's happening to the girls?"
"That's the other thing, Mel and Lee put in their will that if anything were to happen to them they want you to care for the girls. But obviously if this is a problem we can make alternative arrangements"
"Of course they can stay here. Do I need to fly over and get them or what?" Rachel asked as Mel and Lee had immigrated to America about five years ago
"No they're flying over by themselves and then being collected at the airport by a social worker. They should arrive tomorrow morning"
When Rachel came off the phone she let the tears that had been brimming in her eyes fall. She couldn't believe that she was never going to see or speak to her sister again. After a while she composed herself knowing she needed to stay strong for the girls.
...
The following day came and Rachel was waiting for the arrival of her nieces. She suddenly remembered she hadn't phoned school to let them know that she wouldn't be in.
"Nikki, it's Rachel. It's sorted with the LEA, I'm going to need the week off work though. Are you going to be okay?" Rachel asked her deputy
"Of course, I'll manage. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah I'll explain next week" rachel said just before she heard the doorbell "I've got to go Nikki but any problems just give me a ring"
Rachel put down the phone and took a deep breath before opening the door. Her heart melted at the sight of her two nieces sad faces. They both had dark circles under their eyes that were all red and puffy from crying.
"Hi girls, are you going to come in?" Rachel said to her nieces who said nothing but just walked into the lounge leaving Rachel and the social worker to bring in all of their luggage
The social worker stayed for a while filling out all of the appropriate paperwork. Rachel was very happy when she left as she just wanted to concentrate on the girls.
Rachel went and sat in the middle of them on the sofa and pulled them into her chest where they all three sat crying.
"Okay come on then, let's dry our tears eh" Rachel said reaching for a box of tissues
Rachel felt completely useless. There was nothing she could do to make them feel any better so she decided to take them upstairs and let them chose their bedrooms. She then left them on their own for a bit figuring they might want a bit of space.
Rachel was sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in her hands when Rachel's youngest niece Elsie walked in. Even at 12 she was a very confident girl, but she always had been a lot more outgoing and not as shy as her sister.
"Hiya love, do you want a drink or anything?"
"Urmm yes please" Elsie replied
"I went and got you some of your favourite juice" Rachel said getting it out of the fridge
"Thanks Auntie Rach" Elsie said before going to sit at the table with Rachel
"How you doing Els?" Rachel asked her voice full of concern
"I'm alright I guess" Elsie said but even thinking about her parents brought tears to her eyes
"Come here love" Rachel said wrapping her arms around Elsie "I know at the minute you feel like things are never going to get better, but I promise you will"
Rachel felt how cold Elsie was, but then again she didn't really have appropriate clothes for living in England.
"I'll go get you one of my jumpers, it'll probably be way too big for you though. An then how about we go shopping and get you some new clothes?" Rachel suggested thinking it would do the girls to get out and not stay cooped up inside all day
"That would be nice"
"Okay, I'll go and ask your sister then" Rachel said before going upstairs and knocking on Molly's door
"Come in" Molly said after hastily wiping away all of her tears
"Do you fancy coming shopping? We could do with getting you some warmer clothes" Rachel said with a small laugh
"No I don't really feel like it" Molly replied
"Are you sure? It might be nice to get out for a bit"
"No thank you"
"Okay well I'll try and pick you out some clothes you'll like then"
Rachel sighed before walking out of her bedroom. She was more worried about Molly than Elsie because with Elsie you could always tell how she was feeling, whereas Molly was a lot more private and tried to hide how she was feeling.
"What school am I going to go to?" Elsie asked once they were in the car
"I don't know love. Obviously you can come to Waterloo road but if you'd rather go to a different school to where I work that's understandable"
"I'd like to go to Waterloo road i think" Elsie told her
"Okay, we'll talk to Molly about it later and then I'll sort it out. It's probably best if you have this week off school though"
Rachel had a really nice time shopping with Elsie, there was a few times when Rachel noticed how happy she looked.
On the way back in the car, however, Elsie was extremely quiet and was just looking out of the window. Rachel decided to not talk to her as it seemed as though she needed a bit of quiet.
"We're home" Rachel shouted when she got in the house but Molly didn't reply so Rachel went up
"You okay?" Rachel asked although it was pretty evident that she really wasn't
"Yeah I'm fine" Molly said politely putting a fake smile on her face
Rachel went and wrapped her arms around her fifteen year old niece. Molly really struggled to hold back her tears however she was determined not to let them fall. She hated crying in front of people, she would never even cry in front of her Mum
"I bought you some things. It's no problem if you don't like them, I can easily take them back"
"Thank you" Molly said "I'm just going to the toilet"
Rachel could tell how badly she needed to cry and wished she would let her comfort her, but she just let her go before returning downstairs
Elsie was laid on the sofa watching a TV but she wasn't really concentrating. Rachel went and joined her and a little while later Molly came down too. Rachel offered them sone lunch but neither of them wanted to eat.
The day passed by quite slowly. By the time it was tea time Rachel decided that she had to make them both eat.
"Come on girls, you need to eat. You're going to make yourselves ill otherwise."
"I'm really not hungry" Molly said flatly
"I'll get you anything you fancy, anything at all but I'm not going to let you start skipping meals"
"Please could we have an indian takeaway?" Elsie asked
"I think I could cope with that. What about you Molly, could you eat an indian?"
"I guess"
After they'd eaten Molly went straight up to her room but Elsie stayed down with Rachel.
"How about I run you a nice hot bath love, it will make you feel better?"
"Yes please"
Rachel ran the bath for her and then left her to get in whilst she went to see Molly.
"Mols, do you want to have a bath after your sister, I'm sure it will make you feel better"
"No thanks, I'll just have a shower or something later" molly said before turning over so she was facing away from Rachel. Rachel went and sat on the bed next to her and put her arm on her shoulder
"Please talk to me Molly. It will make things so much easier if you just talk about how you're feeling" Rachel coaxed
"I don't want to. Mum and Dad are dead, they're not coming back. What is there to talk about?"
"Anything, everything. Just tell me how you feel"
Molly didn't say anything. Rachel put her head into her hands and sighed in exasperation. A little while later Elsie came in wearing her pyjamas and dressing gown
"Do you have a hairdryer I could use Auntie Rach?" Elsie asked
"Yeah course I do. Come through to my room and I'll dry it for you if you like"
"Thank you"
All three of them decided to have an early night after the exhausting day that they'd had.
Rachel had been happy when both girls went to sleep quickly. She knew a good night's sleep would do them the world of good. However although she was really tired as soon as her head hit the pillow she felt wide awake.
Rachel laid there tossing and turning. She had so many things on her mind and she just couldn't switch off. All of a sudden she was brought out of her thoughts by someone shouting her name.
She jumped out of bed and onto the landing when she realised it was Elsie shouting for her. She rushed into the bedroom and saw the girl dripping in sweat tears streaming down her face
"I had a dream about Mum and Dad dying" Elsie explained through tears
"It's okay darling, I'm here" Rachel said pulling the girl into her chest and letting her sob into her chest. After a while the tears subsided
"Do you want to come and sleep with me tonight? It's horrible being on your own after a bad dream isn't it?"
"Is that okay?"
"Of course it is love, I could do with a nice big cuddle anyway" Rachel said before the two of them walked into Rachel's bedroom
"Think I'll change my pyjama top, it's a little wet" Rachel laughed
"Sorry"
"Don't worry love. It's better to get it all out of your system" Rachel said before changing her pyjama top and climbing into bed next to Elsie
Rachel wrapped her arms around Elsie and Elsie snuggles into Rachel's chest. It wasn't long before they both fell into a light sleep.
A few hours later Molly woke up and suddenly remembered her parents. The tears started running down her cheeks and she realised that what she really wanted was a big cuddle from her Auntie.
She walked across the landing into her Aunt's room. When she got in there she saw Rachel cuddling Elsie and for some reason changed her mind and went back into bed.
She carried on crying getting herself into a real state until eventually she cried herself to sleep.
Please review and let me know if you like the sound of this xxxxxx