The Broken Girl

"Camilla, please slow down" Lisa called out panting.

"Aww, my poor baby is tired" I teased.

"One, I'm not a baby. Two I'm not tired. For your information, I'm seven" She pouted. "Now can I please get Ms.Strawberry back?" she held out her tiny hand.

I looked down at the doll I was holding on to, "But I wanted to sleep with Ms.Strawberry tonight" I sighed dramatically.

Suddenly Lisa fought me to the ground and sat over me. Ms.Strawberry flew out of my hand and onto the couch. Slam dunk! We both stared at the doll and started laughing.

Just then mom came in, "Girls, off to bed now," she said lovingly. We nodded and kissed her goodnight.

I went into my room opened window. A light breeze blew by, tickling my ear and playing with my hair. It was a clear night sky. Everything was so peaceful. No noise, no pollution. It felt like a different world. I wanted to go out for a walk, so I waited until mom was asleep and slowly tiptoed towards my main door and went outside.

I took a walk around the neighborhood carefully planning out tomorrow in detail. The next day, mom was getting married and Lisa and I had organized a surprise party for her. I was lost in thought when suddenly, I heard people running and screaming.

I followed the crowd to find a house on fire. As I got closer, I realized it was my house in flames. I pushed through the crowd and burst through the front door. I ran up to Lisa's room and broke down the door. My poor sister was crying in the corner.

"Lisa!" I yelled reaching out to her.

She held my hand and I pulled her into my arms, I dropped her on the front porch, "I'll go get mum, you wait here".

As I was about to go back in, 2 hands were on my waist and my legs were no longer on the ground.

"Hey! Put me down!" I struggled. I felt helpless.

Someone had called 911 and directed them here. An ambulance had arrived and all of us were taken to the hospital. Lisa was crying uncontrollably. I wrapped my arms around her trying to comfort her. We could not see mom as we were sitting in front. As we arrived, we did our check-ups. Lisa and I were fine, but mom was in the ICU. Lisa and I were sitting in the hallway waiting for the reports.

"Camilla?" Lisa's voice almost a whisper.

"Yes, sweetie?" I looked towards her.

"Will mom be okay?" her eyes filling up again.

I pulled her close to me, "Yes darling, don't worry nothing will happen, you'll see" I gave her a weak smile. It felt like I was convincing myself rather than her.

"Lisa, can you tell me what happened?" I asked softly.

"I was playing with Ms. Strawberry and then I heard mom screech. I ran down and saw some men pouring some liquid on mom, the house and then threw a lighter. I ran up to my room and locked myself in. But the fire spread quickly and made its way into my room. Exactly 2 minutes later, you came." she stared into space.

"If you see the men again, will you be able to recognize them?" I asked with a bit of hope.

"No, they were masked" she replied in a dead tone.

Just then, the door opened and the doctor came out from the ICU, looking dull and pained. No, I thought to myself. He walked towards us and looked at Lisa, then at me and shook his head.

"Noooo!" I howled, " Your lying!" Tears rolling down my cheek. Lisa was staring at me. But I didn't care. Mom was our pillar, she was supposed to get married tomorrow. Everything was supposed to be perfect. I sank and cried hard. Lisa understood and hugged me tightly.

It was just the two of us now- a seven-year-old and an eighteen-year-old...