Second Chances Read Online Free Page B

barely audible.
    There was no answer. Rough hands began patting her down. 
She felt things being pulled out of her pockets. She tried to fight back, but
she was too weak. The pain was overwhelming. 
    She felt those hands on her purse, pulling. She held onto
the strap, refusing to let go.  They grabbed her fingers, pulling and prying
until the strap slipped free. The purse was gone.
    And then the hands were gone.
    She lay there, gasping, finding it difficult to get air. 
The world felt empty, hopeless.  It was an eternity before she heard anything
else. Sirens, voices, all of them distant and muted.  Her entire world was pain
and despair.
    Lakeisha felt her body lifted like a ragdoll onto a gurney.
She tried to tell them to call her family, that she’d been robbed, that
something was wrong and she wasn’t healthy.  She tried to tell them that she
needed help, and that she was scared, but the words wouldn’t come out.
    She felt the world spinning, light coming through pinpricks.
    She felt the world tune out, replaced with a peaceful
serenity as her existence detached.
    And then she felt nothing at all.
     
     

Chapter 4
Four months later
Nichole
     
    “Come on! You’re going to be late for school.”
    It was the fourth time Nichole had shouted up the stairs at her
younger sister.  Kenni hated being woken up early, especially when it meant she
would have to go to the dreaded middle school she hated so much.  Anything
before noon was too early for the twelve year old girl.
    Which meant mornings were always hard.  Rico left early,
usually with only a bowl of oatmeal in his stomach but often nothing at all,
which meant it fell to Nichole to get their younger siblings ready for the day. 
    For Tyler, that was easy. Tyler sat at the counter eating a
bowl of mushy cereal and playing with a toy truck. He was the exact opposite of
Kenni, up every morning before Nichole called for him and in bed by nine
o’clock every night with little fuss. Easy to take care of, friendly like his older
brother, and always happy. He was in kindergarten and still loved school
because it meant going to play with his friends.
    For Kenni, on the other hand, it was no small task to get
her awake and ready in the morning.  More than once Nichole was forced to drag Kenni
out of bed, kicking and screaming. 
    Nichole stuffed Tyler’s coloring books back into his bag. 
“You have your lunch?”
    He held up the bag with his free hand. “Yep. What is in it?”
    “Peanut Butter and Jelly,” she said.
    He frowned. “I don’t like peanut butter.”
    “But you’re going to eat it,” she said.  “There’s an apple
too.”
    Tyler perked up.  “Cool.  I love apples!”
    “I know,” Nichole said.  “Where is your damn sister?”
    Nichole made her way over to the stairs, listening to any
sound from her younger sibling.  She heard rustling, and a thump, but not much
else.
    “Kenni!” Nichole shouted.  “Come on! The bus is almost
here.”
    “Can I watch TV after school?” Tyler asked from the kitchen. 
    “Maybe,” Nichole said.  “If you don’t have any homework.”
    “They never give me homework,” Tyler said, scrunching up his
nose.  “I’m only six!”
    “Kenni!”
    “I’m coming!” Kenni shouted from upstairs. She finally came
staggering down, leaning heavily against the railing and bleary eyed.  “It’s
too early,” she said, pouting.
    “It’s always too early for you.”
    “Why can’t we just go to school in the afternoon?”
    “You never had this much trouble when you were going to
Northmont,” Nichole said. “And you had to get up two hours earlier.”
    “I liked going there,” Kenni said.  “And I could
sleep on the bus.”
    “You still have to go.”
    “Is Rico here?”
    “He’s at work,” Nichole replied. 
    Rico was their eldest brother, having just passed his twenty-third
birthday a few weeks earlier. He’d moved back home in the last few months to
help take care of them and pay the