A Helping Hand

When you start a family, you start a new era of love and peace. Where you have their back no matter what or how bad the situation seems to be. Having a family means to love and always be loved for as long as you live--but for this particular family, it was quite the opposite.

The Cole family was once that type of family--a happy one. Once. You see, the Mother and Father--Lily and John--had twin girls. They named them Zoe and Chloe. Everything was perfect. It seemed like they finally got their happy ending once Zoe and Chloe were born, but it turned out to be the end of something else and not quite the happiness they wished for.

When Zoe and Chloe were two months old, Lily and John began to fight over everything.

"You're hogging Zoe! Give her to me before she dies of starvation! I need to feed her!" Lily would yell.

"Feed Chloe! They are my kids too!" John would respond.

"Ugh! I've had enough of you, John!"

It seemed that Zoe and Chloe could feel their parent's anguish because once they started fighting, they cried and seemed to crave their parent's attention.

"Look what you've done, Lily! You made them cry!"

"Psh. It was you!"

"I'm going for a drive. I'll be back in a bit," John said and ran out the door.

"I couldn't care less."

Little did they know, that this would be John's last time seeing his family.

Hours passed, and although Lily would prefer that John stay away, she couldn't help but worry. She called the Police Station, turned on the news until late at night when Zoe and Chloe were fast asleep, she got a call. She rushed to pick up the phone.

"Hello? Yes this is Lily Cole. He-what? So you think he left the country?"

She dropped the phone and sobbed in despair.

Zoe and Chloe were too young to understand the pain and grief of losing somebody you love. Or somebody you once loved.

<20 YEARS LATER>

"Chloe!" Zoe yelled from her room in their two-bedroom apartment. "Come on we can't be late for school today!"

"I know, I know. You don't have to tell me twice. I'm here."

They made their way to Hallwin University. Paying for a decent school was hard since their Mother got sick, so they had to work hard in high school to get scholarships. Lily had to go to the hospital after the heart-stricken grief of losing her husband finally got to her after fifteen years. Up to this day, he was still missing. With Lily in the hospital, the twins were financially struggling. No job seemed to want them except for one that paid minimum wage and only allowed them to work twice a week. That two-bedroom apartment was a luxury in their eyes--one that they may lose soon if they don't find a better and more efficient way of getting money.

"How goes the job hunt, Chlo?" Zoe asked.

Chloe shook her head in disappointment. "We're probably going to have to move into a one-bedroom until we find one."

They rode the elevator in silence.

"Don't worry, Zoe," Chloe reassured her. "There has to be at least one job out there."

"Ya, I guess."

They walked for ten minutes until they reached the University.

"See you after school, Zo," Chloe said.

"Okay," She replied.

The twins knew in fragmented pieces about what happened to their father. Of course, no one knew exactly what happened.

School finished and they went to work.

After a long day of hard work, they headed home to eat ready-made chicken nuggets.

Zoe usually gets home first so she was the first person to see the letter.

"No, no, no. Why?!"

Chloe came into the apartment and found Zoe crouched on the floor.

"Zo, what happened?" She asked in dismay.

"The notice," Zoe blurted and tossed the note to her sister.

"We'll just move into a one-bedroom, it's fine-"

"Fine?! We've been downsizing for a year! It's never 'fine'! We can't keep down-sizing forever. What do you think is going to come next after a one-bedroom? The streets. We'll be homel-"

"Don't finish that sentence."

"It's true."

"No it's not. It's only true if you believe it."

"Well I do. And It's about time you did, too. You can't keep living in your Chloe world where everything is perfect all the time, because it's not. I'm going to take a shower. While I do that, figure out how you're going to face the reality of our situation."

This was the first time that the twins have ever been frustrated and anxious like this. They don't have anyone to take it out on, so they take it out on each other, which won't be beneficial in the long-run.

Days passed and the day came where they finally moved into a one-bedroom apartment.

They were so worried about paying the rent that they had to stop going to school and work. They finally found a good job where both of them could work the same hours. It was hard but they pulled it off for two months.

Pretty soon, they got used to working all day. But all of that changed when they got a call from the hospital.

"Yes, I'm Lily Cole's daughter. Wait, wait, say that again. So she's... She's gone?"

The lady on the phone quickly took back what she said.

"So she's okay," Zoe said with a sigh of relief. "Okay. Thank you, Ma'am."

"Who was that?" Chloe asked.

Zoe broke down into tears and Chloe embraced her.

"I thought she was gone, Chloe. They-they said she's okay for now, but they don't know how much longer her body can handle all of it."

They cried, hugged, and reassured each other.

They got their act together again but it was only a week after the call when Chloe got sick. Zoe couldn't take her to the hospital so she stayed sick for weeks. All the pressure was put on Zoe. When she wasn't working she cared for Chloe. It was hard since Chloe was the one who usually reassured her.

"Please get better Chlo. Please," Zoe prayed silently. " I can't do this on my own. I need you."

Chloe's condition improved over the course of three days.

Another phone call came about. The hospital again. Zoe wanted so bad to let the phone ring, but she couldn't do that. Maybe there was some good news, however small the chance in their life of bad luck.

"Yes this is Zoe Cole. She what? She's... Okay? Ten days and we can see her? Wait, how did this even happen? ...Thank you so much."

"Chloe," Zoe's eyes filled up with tears as she hung up the phone.

"Chloe, Mom's okay. Apparently her condition has been getting better for weeks now and the nurse said that she's coming home in ten days."

"What," Chloe asked in utter disbelief. "How?"

"I don't know. But she's finally coming home."

For every day that passed, Zoe got more worked up as Chloe began to heal. Both of them worked less which made them nervous. They couldn't get kicked out of the only place that they could afford. Their Mom couldn't come home to nothing.

The day finally came where their mother arrived home. A nurse dropped her off since Zoe and Chloe couldn't afford a car.

"Mom!" Zoe and Chloe embraced her at the same time.

"Oh, my girls, how I've missed you! You've grown so much. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there for you two. I realized in the Hospital that I can't keep this up. I need to be there for you. Let go inside, I'm tired."

They talked and talked until the sunset. Something was finally going right after everything going wrong. Lily apologized to her daughters immensely for leaving them to fend for themselves.

"You're back. And right now, that's all that matters."

They were finally happy for a moment. But just for that moment. a paper slid under the door. A paper of a color known too well by Zoe and Chloe. The notice.

"Girls, what's that?"

"We might have to move out again," Chloe said as Zoe picked up the letter.

Chloe stared and her sister waiting for Zoe to say something, but instead she dropped onto her knees and began to cry.

"What is it, Zoe?" Her Mother asked.

"Do we have to leave?" Chloe asked.

"No. Nothing like that. The le-letter says that an anonymous donor volunteered to pay our rent until we don't need a helping hand anymore. And... And they're moving us into a bigger apartment."

"What," Chloe asked as she took the letter to read for herself. "Oh my god."

Zoe and Chloe hugged until they remembered that their Mother was here now. Then they hugged her as well.

"So we'll be okay?" Lily asked.

"Yes," The Twins said. "For the first time in a long time, we'll be okay."

Weeks passed as they moved into their new apartment. Lily was able to get a job and Zoe and Chloe helped her out as well. Everything was finally working out for the Cole family. Well, all but John Cole, their Father. But what happened to John?

Well, some things are better left unsaid for the sake of the Cole Family, but the Father did leave the country. He left because he knew that staying would only mean more trouble for Lily, Zoe, and Chloe. He left everything behind and worked hard. He started his own business and it became a huge success. Of course, neither Zoe, Chloe, or Lily knew of this. For all they knew, he left them alone out of hatred--but it was quite the opposite. Yes, some things happened that made it harder for them, but he did it to help them overall.

Now there was just one question left unanswered. Who was the generous person that volunteered to pay their rent? As I said, some things are better left unsaid, but the person who provided for them was the very person who got them into this mess in the first place. He did it to help them after all that he put them through and he decided to do it anonymously because he knew that if they knew, it would only cause more problems. He is the last person whom they expected to pay. It was their father, John Cole.