Free Broken Survivor by Jennifer Labelle Page A

honey.” Darla pulled her forward and held her. “It’s nothing you’ve done, and I’d love to have you here. In fact, my door is always open for a visit, but we can’t do this anymore.”
    “O-okay.” She tried to dry her face, but the waterworks were in effect, and there was nothing she could do other than smudge her makeup everywhere. “When do I have to go?” She whispered as she looked down.
    “Take tonight to pack up, and I’ll be back to pick you up tomorrow,” Charlotte said.
    The two women stood to shake hands, and with one parting look in her direction, Charlotte left.
    “If you’ll excuse me.” Holly rose and went downstairs to pack. This was going to be house number four in less than a year. Life sucked!
    “Hey.” Her sister knocked before entering their room, but Holly could only spare her a glance. She was too choked up to speak. “At least you won’t be too far away and we can still see each other every day, right?”
    “Uh-huh.” She nodded. “Sure, but it still hurts. Nobody wants me, Chrys. I mean, they do, but never for long. Am I that unlovable?”
    “Of course not. I wish we could stay together too, but it could be worse.”
    “Yeah, and like you said, we’ll still get to see each other.” She repeated her sister’s earlier words and tried her best to hide how shattered she felt. “I’m feeling tired right now. Could we talk later?”
    “Sure, let me know if you need anything, okay?”
    Alone again, Holly fell on the bed and sobbed into the pillow. It’s going to be all right. Be strong, you’ve made it this far. You can do anything. She snorted. “What a crock of shit. I’m too fucked up and everyone can see it.”
     
    ***
     
    Charlotte was awesome and really made her feel welcome, but her daughter didn’t feel the same way. Sierra barely spoke to her, and Holly felt as though she was trespassing whenever Sierra was around. The last thing she wanted was to cause a rift between Charlotte and her daughter.
    One night, about two weeks after she moved in, Holly was done feeling sorry for herself and dragged Nadia and Jules to a party because the need to get drunk again was coming on strong. Charlotte had a few rules: Holly had to be in by midnight on weekends and ten thirty during the week, which wasn’t so bad. The tension in the house was the only problem, so she tried to stay out as much as possible to avoid being uncomfortable.
    “Are things getting better?” Jules wrapped her arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
    “Charlotte’s awesome and I know she’s trying. I just get the feeling I’m causing problems, though. I’ve heard Sierra complaining a lot, and she hasn’t been too quiet about not wanting me in the house. I don’t know what her problem is or what the hell I did. The other day, they thought I was sleeping, and I could hear her yelling at her mother about me.” She changed her voice to mimic what she’d heard. “She’s a charity case. Why the hell is she here anyway? Yeah, well she’s not welcome, and I don’t have to pretend she is. If she doesn’t like it, tell her to get the heck out.”
    “Puh-lease, it was nothing you did,” Nadia fumed. “That daughter of hers got too good for us as soon as she started high school. She was pulling the attitude way before what happened with your mom. It just took you that long to notice. It’s like she made new friends at her school and suddenly we were trash.” She chugged the rest of her drink. “What do you say we get another one?” She held up her empty cup. “And start having some fun. All of this talking is seriously ruining my buzz.”
    “Sounds good to me,” Jules said while draping an arm around her.
    They moved through the party guests and spotted Edgar and Ron in the living room. “Look who’s here,” Holly said, pointing them out. It felt like forever since she’d seen her two friends.
    “Well, of course.” Jules smirked and dragged them over to the boys. “Hey,