Gen 3: Hope

"Ande, please, wake up..." Aphrodite begged, staring at her best friend. "I should have done more to keep you from going to Bridgeport. I shouldn't have let you go..." Aphrodite couldn't help but blame herself, all that she could think of how things could have been if she prevented Ande from going onto that boat. "I never let on how much I really needed you, Ande. I never told you how much your friendship meant to me and how I wish you would have taken me with you just so I could help keep you safe." Aphrodite sighed and sat her hand on the bed, pulling her chair closer. "I wish you knew how much I need you now."

"Ande," Aphrodite choked out looking at Ande's heart monitor, "I love you, you're my best friend... I don't know where I'd be right now without you... Probably in your position I think... Without you, I'm like... I'm like a pool without water or something. I need you... Please, I know you can't speak, but... Just don't give up."

She shifted in her seat and ran her hand through Ande's hair a couple times, admiring her best friend whom she hadn't seen in far too long. And now that she had, she didn't want to look at her anymore. the pain and torture written on her face....it was all so obvious. Aphrodite couldn't look away though. Ande was put through hell and it was taking full effect now, hitting her dreams, where all her fears came true over and over again. 

"When I heard that you were back, I ran here. I couldn't contain myself...I was so happy...Until I ran into Riley.  She said, and I quote 'That whore of a best friend of yours is back AND GET THIS....She's got a kid.' I wanted to bash her face in...but keeping up the act was more important for you, Ande....

Genesis, she looks so much like you, she's gorgeous Ande, I can't wait for you to see her... I know you'll love her! She's sweet and feisty just like you," Aphrodite let out a deep breath, "I really don't know why I'm crying, I know you'll be okay," She wiped the tears beneath her eyes. "You'll be okay, Ande, I promise, and I've never broken a promise with you." 

"I do need to get this out of my system, and your the only one who would ever listen... You're a good listener. Sometimes. But I don't know what to do Ande...My brain tells me one thing but my heart says another...I'm not in love with Riley...but I'm making her believe that I am for reasons that I can't understand. I know you would never approve of this...How could I even let myself any do anything like this? The torment stopped, though...the second she believed that I liked her that way." Aphrodite sighed, "I feel so bad..." 

 "Do you not realize how much you have to live for? I'm looking at you, and you're just so amazing and wonderful but you've been hurt by people who can't even help themselves....Those people destroyed you. Just look at your beautiful daughter...she's so much like you. She's strong and beautiful, just like her momma. Ande...please...we need you here.." Aphrodite began to sob into her hands, her heart cracked straight through the middle and she was coming undone at the seams....

Aphrodite grabbed a tissue off of Ande's nightstand to wipe her eyes with, "Dammit Ande, you made my makeup run." She laughed, looking at the black eyeliner smudged on the tissue. 

"Knock knock..." Eden said, slowly making her way into the room, "Would you mind if I spent a little while with my sister? I won't be that long..." Eden asked Aphrodite, "Yeah, sure," Aphrodite said, getting up out of Ande's desk chair. As Aphrodite made her way out of the bedroom, she stopped Eden, "Stay strong, kiddo." Eden nodded, she walked over to the chair and plopped herself down. 

 

"Just thought you'd like to know how interesting your diary is, but I didn't realize how much you talked about me in this... I always thought you hated me. Let's face reality, I wasn't the nicest person to you. I guess that's why I thought you hated me. I'm sorry Ande, I really do love you... I've never showed it, I've always been so bitchy towards you and the guilt keeps me up at night, it really does... 

 Your the best sister I could ever ask for, I swear. But someday, when your up and happy again, I want you to tell me about the dance studio in Bridgeport, all the bright lights, all the parties and your memories! The good ones I mean... You make everything sound so exciting! Like, life must of been so thrilling for you. But here, it was just so... So Normal, and blah. But I guess who knows what is normal anymore. Ever since you came back home life has been anything but normal." Eden suppressed a sad sigh before looking at her sister.

"I just don't understand why you were always so nice to me even though I was so mean to you... I just can't get that off my mind. How could I be so evil to someone like you who has been nothing but amazing to this entire world, even those who have hurt you in ways that could never be forgiven. I read your diary and I just can't believe that you had to go through all of this..." Eden looked at Ande, while tears streamed down her face, but she didn't care. "Please get better Ande, I don't want to lose you, I need you, I love you..." 

"Eden, I'm sorry to intrude, but the doctor has to check Ande, he shouldn't be too long..." Della said, walking up to Eden to give her a soft and loving hug. "Go on ahead..." Eden sighed, hoping to spend more time with her sister who she was sure needed the company.

The doctor walked over to examine Ande's weak, fragile body. He asked Adam's help to lift Ande up to check out the scars on her back to see how well they were healing, "They seem to be healing slowly but surely, the infection has decreased majorly, it should be completely healed by next week if my calculations are correct."  As Adam stepped back Doctor Spencer carefully laid Ande back down, supporting her neck and avoiding her cuts. As he tried removing his hands from underneath her neck he suddenly felt a lump on the back of her head, "What is this...?"

Della and Adam sat in the corner watching as he moved her head up and examined it carefully. He sighed and laid her back down gently. "Is there any way I could see that diary? Does she ever mention falling and hitting her head?" 

Della and Adam looked at each other concerned and Della handed him the book. 

"She mentions falling down a flight of stairs and hitting her head at the bottom...and I think she may have been confused afterward because she talks about seeing me..." 

Doctor Spencer flipped the page to where it explains everything and sat there, deep in every word. "Your daughter is very descriptive. This doesn't sound like confusion to me." He sighed and beckoned them to a couch where they quickly sat and listened carefully. "At the hospital, we've done studies on special genes that have merged together to create a sort of...power. When your daughter fell and hit her head that started a sort of...revolution in her brain and it threw her back in time. I know that this sounds crazy but its true. Just look at the truth in her words in that diary. Have you ever seen your daughter before she was born or when she was younger?"

Both Della and Adam nodded and they looked at each other weirdly as if neither of them even knew that the other had seen her. "I was 17 years old when I saw her." Adam started, "I could have sworn she was my sister, but Andria wasn't that beautiful. She didn't have purple eyes and that's what gave it away. She actually looked almost exactly how she looks now, short hair, almost scared looking." The doctor looked at Della expectantly and waited for her story. "I saw Ande for the first time when I was on baby 55 of my 100 baby challenge. I was in Bridgeport with my friends and she showed up in our building."

"And were you dressed from head to toe in pink?" Spencer asked as he scratched his chin and all Della did was nod.

"Whats the deal with you and Riley? I thought you guys hated each other?" Aphrodite and Eden lounged on the couch, waiting for their turn to talk to Ande again. "Oh, that." Aph leaned back on the couch with a aggravated smirk resting on her lips. "I'm not really a lesbian, it's just an easy way to get out of being tormented. I think I've kinda got Riley being a bit nicer to people too..." Aphrodite trailed off, searching her brain for more words to explain exactly what was going on to a tiny 14 year old. "I'm tricking Riley into thinking that she's in love with me." Aphrodite laughed and brushed her hair out of her face. 

"What?"

Aphrodite looked over her shoulder and Riley was standing right there with a look on her face that suggested that Aphrodite actually did hit her hard somewhere around the heart area. But the fact that a Riley has no heart is a major factor in this "heartbreak." that we're talking about. "Aph! I thought we had something. But you wanna know what? I don't care. you were a lousy girlfriend anyway. I swear that you WILL rue the day that you ever crossed me." Aphrodite looked at Eden with a raised eyebrow and broke out laughing. "NICE KNOWING YAH!" She yelled behind Riley who had kicked the little dog in the front yard. Aphrodite and Eden gave each other a quick high five and howled their lungs off, just waiting for Della and Adam to come figure out what on earth was going on.

"There are things people say, and then there are things that people mean...Its the same way with actions. I've heard people say that when a boy picks on a girl it means that he likes her...Well, its true, only I don't like you Ande. I love you. I can't stand seeing you hurt like this. The only way for me to make anything up to you now is for me to sit here and tell you the true feelings in my heart." Arley laid his head back on the couch, millions of thoughts racing though his mind.

"You know, if you were awake right now and would remember it...I would probably kiss you." He stood up and pulled her tiny, fragile hand into his and dropped down to his knees. He pressed his lips to her hand once and then pushed himself onto his feet once again. He told himself not to do it because if she had died, he would remember it forever and memories like that aren't ones you want to keep forever. But he did it anyway. He cupped her face in his hands and just barely touched his lips to hers before letting go of her pale face and walking away....Unknowing that it would probably be his last...and hers.

The last person to usually visit Ande's room every night is Adam. Most times he'll fall asleep with his head resting on the side of her bed. He spent countless hours just talking to his first born daughter. He would sing lullaby's to her and tell her how much he loved her. Della watched through a crack in the door with tears welling up in her eyes. Adam would sit next to her for hours and laugh about old stories and when times were so much simpler and happier. He would remind her of how happy their family was when she was younger, but nothing ever changed.

*Della*

I settled on the couch and threw my feet up on the coffee table and switching on the TV even though Eden had her nose deep in a book. The night was peaceful enough...Ande hadn't shown any signs of improvement but Adam and I had faith. Adam never left her side, talking to her even though there are many times when I'd let him know that her brain cant really soak up the info. 

Finally settled, I fell asleep sitting on the couch when Adam started to scream "DELLA! CALL THE DOCTOR!" I rushed into the room with a small bite of hope that she finally woke up.. But that was the exact opposite...I hadn't heard Adam sob in the longest time...But as he was standing over Ande, pushing on her chest trying to get her heart started, tears were poring down his face and he was saying over and over again "No...Ande, please...Stay strong!"

 and the machine emitted a single, high, continuous tone.

Before I end this post, I need to bring to all you guys' attention that most of this post was written by the amazing Laura Lake (Kalyn Waine) Now, tell me you aren't freaking proud of this girl. This post was so amazingly written and I couldn't ask for any better. I'd like to give you the link to her blog that is just as amazing as she is. And now, you may leave your feedback below...<3 Thank you Laura, and thank you to everyone who reads this :)

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