Me Without You


Brooke McGregor and her parents lived in Chicago, and
their house was about a half mile from a railroad station. But Brooke’s
parents died when she was five. She had no living relatives, so she was
supposed to go to the orphanage. But the rich people who were going to
move into her house thought that she was a very sweet little girl so they
adopted her. Brooke was very glad that she got to stay in her house, and
she liked the family, with the exception of Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was one year
younger than her, but thought that she was prettier, and more mature than
Brooke. James and Robyn Dalton, the people who adopted Brooke, had
another daughter and another son. Their son Adam was Kaitlyn’s twin, and
their other daughter, Sabrina, was Brooke’s best friend. Sabrina was a
year older than Brooke, and they told each other everything. 

Brooke, who was now seventeen, walked out of her bedroom,
and went down the stairs to see if Sabrina was home from the library.
Adam was at the bottom of the stairs. 

“Hi Brooke, looking for Sabrina?” Adam asked. 

“Yes.” Brooke answered. “Is she home yet?” She looked
around. 

Adam shook his head. “She’s running late.”

“Again?” Brooke complained. “You’d think it’s a habit by
now.”

“I guess so.” Adam shrugged. “Hey, do you want to play
poker?”

“Sure.” Brooke said. She and Adam went in the dining room
and sat down at the table. They played a few hands, then someone opened
the dining room door.

“You, Brooke, playing poker? No need to worry Adam, you
might as well play with a five year old, since Brooke plays poker like a
five year old.” 

“I’d bet I could beat you, Kaitlyn, since that you play
like you’re two.” Brooke snapped.

Kaitlyn smiled and tucked a stray strand of her wavy
light brown hair behind her ear. “We’ll see who plays better. Lets play
one game to see who wins. Adam, please deal.” Adam dealt. ”How about we
each bet a piece of our jewelry?” Kaitlyn suggested. “You pick one of my
pieces of jewelry that you like, and I’ll pick one of yours. Deal?”

Brooke nodded. “Deal. If I win, I want your black choker
with the opal charm on it.”

Kaitlyn’s blue eye’s widened. “My choker? But I spent a
lot of money on it!” 

“You haven’t worn that choker for two and a half months!”
Brooke reminded her.

“You’re right.” Kaitlyn admitted. “If you win, then you
get my choker, but if I do, I want your topaz ring.”

“No way, Kaitlyn! That was my mother’s ring! And my
grandmother’s wedding ring! That’s the only thing I have left that was my
mothers!”

“Well then, how about your pearl broach? The flower
shaped one with the garnet in the middle?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Okay.” Brooke shrugged, tossing her red hair behind her
shoulders. “At least it wasn’t given to me.” Brooke and Kaitlyn picked up
their cards. Brooke had two pair. Both of the black nines and red fours.
She put down the card that she didn’t need, and Adam gave her a queen. 

“Let’s show at the same time.” Kaitlyn suggested. Brooke
nodded. 

“One.” Brooke said. Kaitlyn paused. “Two.” She said. 
“Three!” Kaitlyn and Brooke said at the same time, setting down their
cards. Brooke and Kaitlyn gasped. Brooke couldn’t believe it. Kaitlyn had
both of the red nines and black fours! The room was silent, then Adam
spoke up. “Who’s other card is higher?” He asked. Brooke put down her
queen. Kaitlyn put down a ten. 

“Yes!” Brooke exclaimed. Kaitlyn was frowning. Kaitlyn
marched up the stairs. She stomped back down a few seconds later. She
shoved her choker in Brooke’s hand. Adam smiled and congratulated her.
Brooke grinned. Then the front door opened. Brooke’s blue-green eyes
sparkled. “I hope that’s Sabrina.” Brooke said. She ran to the door.
Robyn and James walked in. 

“Brooke, don’t run in the house!” Robyn said while
shutting the door. 

“Sorry Robyn.” Brooke apologized. She looked out the
window on the door. Sabrina was walking up the stairs leading to the
house, and she had a huge smile on her face. James and Robyn walked up
the stairs, when Sabrina walked in. 

“Brooke, come upstairs with me.” Sabrina ordered
excitedly. They went up the stairs and into Sabrina’s room. They sat down
on her bed. 

“What took you so long today?” Brook demanded. Sabrina
grinned.

“I bumped in to the cutest boy at the library.” Sabrina
exclaimed. Her hazel eyes shone with delight.

“By accident?” Brooke asked.

Sabrina looked away dreamily. “Almost.” She said. Brooke
giggled.

“Is that why you were late yesterday too?” Brooke
questioned. Sabrina nodded. 

“You’d like him, Brooke. He’s so sweet.” Sabrina said.
Then, someone knocked at Sabrina’s door. Sabrina opened it and Kaitlyn
told them that supper was ready, then went back down the stairs. Sabrina
and Brooke walked down the stairs together. 

“I beat Kaitlyn in poker today.” Brooke said. “We bet a
piece of jewelry, and I got her choker.” Brooke showed Sabrina that she
was wearing it. 

“Oh Brooke, it looks great on you!” Sabrina exclaimed.
“Especially with your dress!” Sabrina complimented, looking down at
Brooke’s silky, blue dress. “Why are you dressed so nice?”

“The Paterson’s are coming over after dinner.” Brooke
reminded her.

“Oh, that’s right.” Sabrina said. They walked into the
dining room. 

“What took you two so long?” Robyn asked. ”Dinner’s
getting cold.” 

“Sorry mother.” Sabrina said. Robyn looked at Brooke. 

“Oh Kaitlyn, I see that you’ve let Brooke wear your opal
choker.” Robyn looked over at Kaitlyn. “That was very sweet of you.”

“Actually, I gave it to her.” Kaitlyn grumbled. Brooke
and Sabrina sat down and ate their dinner.

* * * * * * 


“What a night.” Brooke complained. Sabrina nodded in
agreement. Brooke and Sabrina were bored out of their minds. Everyone had
fun except for them. The adults had talked, Kaitlyn and Adam played a
board game with Jason and his girlfriend Nancy, Brooke and Sabrina played
the game once, then went upstairs for the rest of the night. The
Patersons had just left, so Robyn carried the board game upstairs. She
knocked on Sabrina’s door, and asked Brooke to take the game back up to
the attic. Brooke took the game and went up the stairs leading to the
stairs. When she reached the attic, she put the game on its shelf, when
her toe bumped a big, dusty box. 

“What’s this?” Brooke wondered aloud. She opened the box, and
found a book at the top. She took the book out and looked in the box
again. She saw a veil, and under it was a wedding dress. Brooke looked
back at the book. She opened it, and found that it was a diary. Her
mother’s diary. Brooke gasped. She closed the box, but took the diary
with her. She ran back down the attic stairs and raced into her room. She
sat down on her bed, and opened the diary. But when she opened it, a
picture fell out. It was a picture of her mother and another girl, but
the problem was that she couldn’t tell which girl was her mother. That’s
when Brooke realized that her mother had a twin. Brooke looked at the
picture closer. On both of the girls’ hands, they had an identical ring
on. She saw that one was her topaz ring, but there was still another one.
Brooke started to read the diary from the middle. 

March 13, 1887
I still can’t believe that Julia is dead, my own twin. I never
imagined that she would die so young. Brooke never met her, but I wish
that she could have. Brooke is too young to know what’s going on, I’ll
have to tell her when she’s older. She probably would have gotten along
wonderfully with her cousin, Alice. I met her once, and even though she’s
two years old right now, and Brooke is four, they would have been great
friends, but she probably will never meet her. Alice is getting Julia’s
topaz ring, the one that matches mine, and someday, Brooke will get mine.
Oh, if Brooke could only meet her cousin. 

“Oh my gosh!” Brooke exclaimed. “I have a cousin?” She looked
back down at the diary and started reading again, but this time from the
beginning. There wasn’t a lot about her mother’s twin and her cousin,
until about eighteen pages later.

October 4,
1886
Julia, Richard and their baby Alice were going to visit all the
way from Manhattan, but Julia wasn’t feeling well, so they couldn’t. I
wish that they would move closer, but Richard wants to stay in New York
practically forever. Maybe we can visit them some time instead.

“Manhattan!” Brooke exclaimed. “I’ve always wanted to go
there, maybe James and Robyn will let me go!”

* * * * * * 


“Absolutely not!” Robyn almost shouted. “None of us want to
go, and you’re certainly not going by yourself!”

“And something might happen to you if you go, which you
definitely can’t, so just drop the subject.” James said.

“But…” Brooke tried to say.

“No buts.” Robyn said. “You’re not going and that’s that.”
Brooke frowned and went into Sabrina’s room. Sabrina looked up from the
book she was reading. 

“They’re not letting you go, are they?” Sabrina asked. Brooke
shook her head. “I’m sorry, Brooke.”

“It’s okay.” Brooke murmured. “If I did go, I’d miss you the
most.”

“I guess you wouldn’t miss Kaitlyn, would you?” Sabrina
chuckled. She pulled her auburn hair back with a ribbon. 

“Not much.” Brooke joked. Sabrina and Brooke talked for a
little while longer, then Brooke went back to her room. 

“I’ve got to find a way to go to Manhattan, but how?”
Brooke wondered. Then she thought of a way. She didn’t want to do it, but
it was her only chance.

* * * * * * 

At eleven thirty that night, Brooke got out of bed, got
dressed, packed a suitcase full of her things, including her mother’s
diary, put on her topaz ring, Kaitlyn’s choker, then packed the rest of
her jewelry, and almost all of her things that would fit in her suitcase.
She picked up four notes that she had written earlier, and walked out of
her room. She went to Adam’s room first. She left one of the notes on his
pillow that said:

“Dear Adam,
I am leaving on a train for Manhattan right now. I will miss
you very much, but I really have to go and try to meet my
cousin, it’s the only chance that I have to meet someone in my family
that is still alive. 
Love, Brooke.”

When she had put the note I his room, she went into Robyn and
James’s room. She left another note there that said:

“Dear James and Robyn,
I am leaving for Manhattan right now to meet my cousin. You have been
very good to me, and I will miss you. I love you very much.
Love, Brooke.”

She went into Kaitlyn’s room next. Her note read:

“Kaitlyn-
I’m going to Manhattan. I guess I’ll miss you some. Don’t go
near any of my things.
Brooke.”

Brooke went to Sabrina’s room last. Her note was the longest.
It said:

“Dearest Sabrina,
I have left for Manhattan to see my cousin. I will miss you so very
much. I will write you every chance I get. I will tell you how I like it
in New York, what I do, and where I go. I will tell you if I find my
cousin, and if I do, I’ll tell you what she’s like. You are my best
friend and you always will be.
Love your friend, Brooke.”

Brooke sighed. “I guess I’d better go.” She thought. She picked
up her suitcase, and went downstairs to get some food. Then she realized
that she had forgotten her money. She ran up the stairs as quietly as
possible, went into her room, and grabbed her life savings; seventy-three
dollars and eighty- four cents. She walked back down the stairs, grabbed
her suitcase and the bag that she had put her food in, and walked out the
door.

* * * * * *

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