Regina had twisted her back, cracked her head opened, sprained her wrist, and had a concussion. Christian picked up Eden and took her back to the house. Regina was going to stay overnight, but Carl was going home after talking to her doctor. Amelia walked into the house quietly. Christian and Eden were quiet as well. They noticed the moment their sister saw their mother's blood.

"Where the hell have you been?" Eden was pissed.

"What's that?" Amelia asked.

"What do you care? You treated mom like shit and left her here to go hang out with your friends because you couldn't go one night without going out."

"Christian, what's going on?"

Eden didn't let their brother answer. "You are selfish and inconsiderate. Not to mention awful to mom. You treat her like shit on a daily basis. I heard her tell dad that she doesn't know why you hate her. When she told us what happened earlier, she was sobbing. I hate you and hate being your twin." Eden stormed upstairs and left her brother and sister behind.

"Where's mom? Is she alright?"

Christian didn't have a chance to answer, "she's going to be alright."

Amelia turned around and saw her father, "where is she?"

"The hospital," Carl said, "Christian, thanks for staying."

"No problem," the man hugged his surrogate father, "I'll hang out with mom tomorrow so you can work at the store."

"Thanks," Christian left and Carl turned back to his daughter, "sit down." He was stern and in a way that scared Amelia. She went to the couch and sat down.

"What the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea why I wanted someone to stay with your mother? Do you even understand what could have happened to her?"

"I didn't think I'd be gone long."

"I don't want to hear it. Your mother thought you were missing and began to panic when she couldn't find you anywhere in the house."

"Anywhere?"

"Yeah, she went upstairs. Her panic caused her to move faster and she fell down the stairs. She twisted her back, sprained her wrist, cracked her head open, and has a concussion. But hey, at least you got to go out."

"I'm so sorry."

"I said I don't want to hear it. Your mother has been beside herself because she can't understand why you hate her. Yet, when she thought you were in danger, her first instinct was to get help. She left her phone in the living room, so she had to lie on the floor until we got home. Oh, I suppose you purposely gave her caffeinated tea the other night?" Amelia looked down, "she thought you were making a sweet gesture, but of course, you had an ulterior motive. Why?"

"We didn't...I didn't want mom to go to parent night."

"Why?"

Amelia remained focused on the ground and felt tears began to fall down her face. "We always feel embarrassed after she goes to the school. There are kids who make fun of us for having an older mom and because she's not always able to walk on her own."

"You also have an older father."

"It's different with fathers. I don't know why, but it just is."

"Eden feels this way too?"

"She hates what happens after, but she didn't want to not have mom come."

"You're grounded until I say otherwise. Now, go to your room."

Amelia kept her head down and saw her mother's blood as she walked around it to the stairs.

Carl gave Christian permission to take the girls to the hospital with him. Amelia asked if she could go in first, alone. She slowly opened the door and saw her mother lying in the bed. When Regina saw her daughter, she released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

"Are you alright?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, and I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, dad and Eden ripped me a new one when I got home last night. He grounded me indefinitely."

"What would have felt better is to not think my daughter was missing."

"I know and I really am sorry. I don't know what else to say."

"Why do you hate me so much? Do you have any idea what I went through so that I could give birth to two healthy baby girls? So that I could have a chance to be a mother since I couldn't be one to your brother?"

"I don't hate you."

"I don't believe you."

"I have to tell you something. I gave you tea with caffeine on purpose so that you would be up all night."

"What? Why?"

"I didn't want you at parents' night."

"I don't understand. You say that you don't hate me and then everything you do says otherwise."

"I don't hate you."

"Then what is it?"

"It's embarrassing when you show up at school. We get made fun of because of how old and crippled you are. I couldn't take it anymore, okay."

Regina was silent, and Amelia decided to look at her mother. She regretted the decision when she saw how upset and broken her mother was. "I need you to leave."

"Mom?"

"Leave!"

Amelia ran out of the room and out of the hospital. Christian had gone to take a call and Eden didn't want to leave without telling anyone.

Amelia sent her brother a message that she went to their father's store. She ran into the store, crying and rambling to Carl about how sorry she was, how she wanted to be a better daughter, and how her mother hates her and she hates how much she hurt her mother. Carl told Christian that Amelia was with him and that it was alright. He locked the store up early and took his daughter home.

"When your mother was pregnant with you girls, she had a minor stroke. She was supposed to have a c-section but went into labor early. You were born in the ambulance and Eden was born just moments after we arrived at the hospital. Your mother had another minor stroke. Only this time it was more debilitating. She worked so hard to recover so that she could be the mom she felt you both deserved. She'd carry you in a carrier, strapped to her chest while she walked with her walker. She even kept trying to nurse you both until one day, you both finally did."

"Why haven't you ever told us this?"

"She didn't want you two to blame yourselves."

"If she recovered then what happened?"

"She did recover, but she got older. She got the flu and passed out one day. She hit her head and had some lasting effects. It was hell to get her to use her cane. She didn't want to, but eventually the doctor and I convinced her it was the safest thing."

"Why didn't she want to use it?"

Carl looked at his daughter for a moment, "you were both starting middle school and she didn't want to embarrass you."

"Just when I thought I couldn't feel any worse. When's mom coming home?"

"Tomorrow," Carl answered.

"I think that I should just stay in my room tomorrow or maybe longer. I don't think mom wants to see me."