Too Good to Be True

The last two weeks had passed ve-ery slowly, and of course invovled me doing nothing more than moping, sleeping and eating. Ok, I did try at the beginning, but knowing that I was going to be Frank-less for all this time was just too painful. Tommy often came in to lie with me, which I at first wasn't too sure about, not wanting him to see me in this state, but I grew to love his little visits, and we would talk about everything, take all the pain away for a few minutes. Except Frank of course. Tommy was smart, he didn't want to hurt me like that. I remembered back to the conversation we had last night, smiling away to myself...

"And you'll take me to Disneyland!?"

"Of course i'll take you to Disneyland!" I chuckled, and he cheered quietly. "But that place is HUUUUUGE, are you sure you want to go?"

"Duh! They have Cinderella, right?" I looked at him in confusion.

"You like Cinderella?" I asked, and he blushed slightly, looking down.

"What? She's pretty!" I threw my head back and laughed, before pulling him into a hug.

"What are you like kiddo?" He shrugged, and yawned. "Tired?"

"Just a lil' bit," he said, and I let him jump onto my back.

"Come on, back to the room we go!" He giggled, and I trotted out of the room, and into the one next door. I lightly dropped him onto his bed, and he crawled under the duvets.

"Night Hailey!"

"Night Tommy," I said, kissing his forehead and tucking him into the covers. I walked out, looking back once more to check that he was ok, before switching the light off and leaving.

"Hailey," I stopped at hearing my voice, and turned around to see Lozza walking from the lounge, holding a cup of coffee.

"Hey..." She put her mug of the coffee on the floor and hugged me. "Hey, you ok?" I asked her, and she pulled away, nodding.

"I just miss you Hailey. We all do..." She looked down, and I held her shoulders.

"Lozza...i'm sorry, I know. I just, I feel like i'm tearing apart. You guys and Tommy are all I have left.." I felt a strange sensation as the memory faded into reality.

"Hailey!"

"You guys and Tommy are all I have left..."

"Hailey! Wake up!"

"You guys and Tommy are all I have left..."

"Hailey!"

I screamed slightly, sitting upright at hearing the loud noise. I looked up in panic to see Iona, looking very annoyed, and holding a phone out to me. "Finally! It's for you," I groaned, but got up and accepted the phone from her hands.

"Hello?"

"Hello Ms Daniels, we were phoning to see if you were free at 3pm today?"

"Who is this?"

"Social Services." My entire body stiffened at the two words, and it took everything I had not to drop the phone. This couldn't be happening. Not now. "Ms Daniels?"

"Yes, yes, i'm sorry. That's fine." I managed to catch my breath, and hoped that I could at least keep steady conversation until the woman had hung up the phone.

"And please bring your little brother. Thank you, goodbye,". The woman hadn't even hung up half a minute when I collapsed to my knees and cried out for help. Lozza, Lena, Elena, Iona and Camille came skidding in immediately.

"Hailey!"

"Are you ok!?"

"What happened?" I allowed Lozza and Lena to help me off the floor, and sit on the bed.

"Jeez, you're shaking really badly!" Lena commented, and I took a breath.

"That was social services..."

"WHAT!?" All the girls gasped at once, and I nodded quickly.

"And...and..." I felt myself on the verge of tears, "...she said to bring Tommy..." I couldn't help but burst out crying.

"Come on," the girls all hugged me at once, in an attempt to cheer me up. I must admit, it did make me feel a little bit more loved, but it didn't take away the fact that something was about to come between Tommy and I.

"I can't lose him," I choked out, and I reached out to grab Iona's hand. Out of anyone and everyone, she knew the most how much he meant to me. I felt her squeeze it back, and as everyone pulled away, I wiped the tears from my eyes, and shook my head, trying to clear some space in my head. "What's the time?"

"1," Camille said, and I sighed sadly.

"Do any of you know where the social services place is?"

"I do, actually. I know Philadelphia quite a bit since I used to live here," she chuckled, and it brought a small smile to my face. "Would you like if I came in with you and Tommy...?"

"Thank you for the offer Cam, but I would rather it was just us two," I smiled up at her apologetically, and she nodded in understanding.

"Well, we better get some breakfast made, shan't we?" She said, clapping her hands. The girls whooped in delight and followed her out of the room. I was the last to follow, but I trailed behind. I hope Tommy hadn't heard any of it.

Unbeknownst to me, he did....