I feel like no one can hear me scream, But I still thrive

   Friends come and go

In the end, the true friends show

Loss and pain can hurt

To the point you may have an outburst

But just know in the end,

The most broken friendships can still mend.

     A long time ago, I met a girl named Molly Morgan. She was a fearless fifteen year old in poverty. When her father fell ill she stole a loaf of bread for her family. She was arrested and then sent to a workhouse in 1883. Around the same time, I was sent to the same workhouse for trying to steal medicine for my little sister Katherine. When I met Molly, she immediately started looking after me.

    Back then, workhouses worked you till you dropped. Molly and I needed to escape. We barely escaped with our lives. One of the policemen’s dogs got a hold of my leg while we were running. Molly had to grab a log and hit the dog with it in order to get the mongrel off of me. 

  “Elizabeth, you have to get up!” Molly shouted.

  “I can’t! It hurts!” I yelled.

 “Fine. I’ll just have to carry you then.”

  “Molly, you’ve done so much for me already. Just go on without me.”

  “No, I can carry you!” Molly exclaimed.

  “I’m deadweight. I will just end up slowing you down.” I said

 Though I was limping, Molly put my arm over her shoulder and helped me walk. In the distance, we could hear dogs barking and men yelling for us to come back, but we just kept going.

  “Drown out the noise.” Molly said.

  I didn’t see any point because I knew that they would still be tracking us, but I started humming. 

    Though it was hours later and the trackers lost sight of us, Molly kept telling me everything was going to be alright. She kept saying that I would see my little sister again. Just picturing Katherine in my arms one last time was the thing that kept me going. Katherine truly needed my help. She was suffering from a deadly disease that the doctors couldn’t diagnose. The doctors were treating her more like a lab rat than a patient. People always treated my Kathy differently because of her Down Syndrome. But in my book, different just makes the person all that much more special. I’ve always had the responsibility to look after my little sister that I never truly have had the chance to have a moment to think about myself. So when Molly had my back and took care of me mentally and physically, it felt different. 

    Hours later, Molly and I came upon a cliff that had a waterfall below. We stood there for a good few minutes staring at each other and the drop down. I knew that we had to either turn back or keep pushing through. I personally believe Molly did as well. 

  “What do we do now?” I asked

  “Lizzie, we have to jump.” Molly gulped

  “Come on, your not really expecting me to jump off the side of a cliff when I have an injured leg, are you!” I shrieked 

   She just gave me a glare and then turned away from me.

  “I’m not going back.” She said painfully 

  “I can’t. I won’t. Many bad things have happened to me in my life, but in this case I can do something about it.” 

   I knew how she felt, but I was still very terrified. I didn’t know how to swim back then because I was mainly used around the house when my parents were alive. Then they both died and I had Katherine to look after. So, I personally never have gone swimming.

  “I don’t know how.” I mumbled

  “Don’t know how to what? Molly asked

  “I don’t know how to swim.” I shamelessly exclaimed 

  “Well that’s fine. You can hold onto me. I planned on carrying you anyway.” 

  “There they are!” I heard a man yell

  “By the cliff edge!”

  “We have to go!” Molly panicked

  “I’m scared!” I wined

  “Do you trust me.” Molly said seriously 

     I looked back at the men running towards us with no reply. The dogs truly looked so vicious. Their drool was trailing behind them as they were racing towards us.

   “We will die if you don’t try to!” Molly yelled

     I understood what Molly was saying, but I was petrified. I couldn’t even move one inch.

   With a serious look on my face, I turned to Molly and blankly said, “I do.”

     I woke up on pointy rocks. The first thing I did was check to see if my leg was still attached. Luckily I only banged up my knee from the fall. But when I tried to get up I lost my balance.

   “Woah, Take it easy there.” 

     I couldn’t tell who said those words because they were standing in the sun. I looked up with squinting eyes and breathed the words Molly. 

    “Where am I?” I asked touching my head

    “You are not in good shape miss.” A man said

    “I found you lying on the rocks by the waterfall unconscious.” He said

     He hesitated for a moment after he said that.

    “I couldn’t just leave you there.” He exclaimed

    “Well, thanks. Wait! Did you see another girl?” I pleaded

    “No, I only saw you lying on the rocks.”

    At that moment, all I could think was negative thoughts. For example, maybe she left me behind, went to go get supplies for us both, or she drowned. I didn’t want to believe that she could be dead, but it was a possibility. But if she did leave me to get supplies I left her behind. 

     “We have to go back!” I screamed at the man with tears running down my face

     “Look, I’m sorry for the loss of your friend, but you need medical attention.”

     “You don’t know what I need because I need Molly!”

   Then it dawned on me that she probably would look for me at the hospital. 

     “We can go to the hospital.” I played off glumly 

     “I’m glad you came to your senses. Sometimes you need to put yourself first. Oh, and my name is John.

     “Elizabeth, my name is Elizabeth.”

    Once we got to the hospital I rushed to the waiting room for visitors and there she was. Waiting for me. I will never know how she knew to look for me there and to wait, but I trusted her.

     As soon as I saw her, I cried like I’ve never cried before and rushed over to her and wrapped her into my arms.

    “So, do you trust me?” She said with water in her eyes

    “Of course I do Molly!” I shrieked 

   Now I learned that you have to go through the hard times to get to the good ones. Once you get to the good ones, you will find good people. So learn to trust, but also be smart and careful. Molly is still my best friend to this day. We are grandmothers and we live in a top notch nursing home together, but the point is we are still together. John wanted me to write all of the events that happened down and to share them with others. So you can thank him for forcing me to do this. Once he died, Molly and I decided in his honor this book will be dedicated to him. We still go to his grave everyday. Hope this story brought some emotions and memories out for some readers.