Chapter One
Alone

Stephanie was sitting in the apartment she shared with her Mom. It wasn't very big; it had a small bathroom, one small bedroom and a kitchen/living room. Stephanie and her mother didn't have much, but what they did have was enough. Their apartment was simply furnished with an old couch that was quite cozy, if you sat in just the right spot. Their prized possession was a nice reclining chair that Stephanie's Mom would sit in and relax when she got home from work. Both Stephanie and her mother had saved together to buy it. In the bedroom there was one queen size bed that the two shared. They even had a small black and white TV to watch, but Stephanie preferred to read books instead. In fact, her greatest treasure was her library card.

Stephanie was plain looking for the most part; she had long auburn hair and blue green eyes, the same as her mother. She was tall and thin with a pale complexion. Most of the time Stephanie was the only one home, because her mother worked two jobs to pay the rent and to make sure that there was always food on the table. This made a lonely life for Stephanie as she was fifteen now and she hadn't needed a sitter for a long time. As for friends, she didn't have any because who would want to be friends with a girl who always wore second-hand clothing and didn't have cash for the mall, movies or the arcade?

School had ended for the summer and that made life a lot lonelier for Stephanie. And to top it all off she hadn't been feeling well lately, her stomach had been hurting off and on and she hadn't felt like eating much either. She hadn't told her mother because she already had enough to deal with.

Stephanie was lying on the bed trying to ignore the pain in her stomach and read a book. Both of which was hard to do because the pain was getting worse and she was sweating and cold. Finally after trying to deal with it for another hour it had gotten so bad that she couldn't stand it any longer, and she finally decided to called her Mom at Frankie's , a dinner where she worked waiting tables.

"Frankie's how may we serve you," the voice on the other line said.

"Can I talk to Amy?" Stephanie asked, tying to hold back her tears.

"I'm sorry she busy at the moment," the voice at the other end said. "Would you like to leave a message?"

"Yes, please have her call her daughter as soon as possible," Stephanie said. Then she hung up the phone and let the tears come. She was hurting real bad now and was really getting frightened because there was no one else she could call for help and she didn't know what else she could do.

"Dear Father in Heaven please help me," Stephanie prayed quickly. Just then the thought to call the fire department popped into her head. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of that before. Her Mother had a list of emergency phone numbers by the phone all the time. Stephanie moved over to the kitchen area where the list was hanging next to the phone and called the fire department.

"What is the emergency," the voice on the other line asked. The voice sounded so sincere like there was someone who really cared.

"I need help please," Stephanie sobbed into the phone.

"Take it easy," the voice said, "Tell me what the problem is."

"My stomach hurts really bad," Stephanie told the person on the other line

"We will get some help to you as soon as we can," the voice assured her. "But first we need your address."

"One fifty-six Clark Street, apartment number twenty five," Stephanie said.

"Thank you," the voice said. "We have help on the way. Is there anything else I can do to help you?"

Stephanie wanted to tell the voice to keep talking to her, because that meant she wasn't alone, but instead she replied, "No, thank you," and hung up the phone. By this time she was hurting so bad she could move without it causing severe pain, so she just lay there on the Kitchen floor crying.