Sarah sipped the painfully hot drink until she couldn't stand the heat anymore. “Yeah mom, I’ll be ready in a minute.” she yelled to her mom in the other room.
“Just hurry I don’t want to be late for this interview. It’s very important.”
“Yeah mom I know you’ve only told me like 20 times.”
“I’m sorry sweetie, I’m just really nervous.”
“It’s fine mom. Now let’s go!”
Sarah was glad that she put her chamomile tea in a travel mug almost 5 minutes ago. She quickly put her bookmark on the page she left off on, grabbed her tea, and ran to the front door. Her mom was already waiting in the car when she got there. She got in without a word and her mom pulled quickly out of their driveway. They were going to the library to drop Sarah off while her mom, Kim Porter, was interviewing for a job at a nearby diner.  Sarah loved to read, and was excited because if her mom got the job at the diner it meant she could spend more time at the library.
She jumped out of the car and into the building. “Be careful.” her mom called.
“I will. Good luck.” Sarah replied, and with that she walked inside the library. Inside it looked exactly like it had when she was there last month. The marble floors, the domed ceilings, the walls lined from top to bottom with bookshelves stuffed with books. This would be her new home for  a while if her mom got the job. If  Kim got the job it would change  Sarah’s life for the better: reading all the time, getting out whatever books she wanted. It would be perfect, if her mom got the job. But Sarah wasn’t worried, her mom had been a waitress before, and a good one at that.
First though, Sarah had to get a library card. Her mom had one, but she couldn’t use that if she was going to be here all the time. She walked up to the front desk, and rang the bell to alert the woman at the counter that she was there. The woman quickly turned her head to see who was ringing the bell. She then asked Sarah “Can I help you?”.
“Yes.” Sarah replied “I need a library card.”
“Ok dear, I’ll set you right up.” The librarian said. She proceed to have Sarah fill out multiple papers, and then after about 10 minutes they were done.  “I'll have the card ready tomorrow.” the librarian said.
“Ok.” Sarah replied.  She then walked to the sitting area and grabbed a book from the teen section. It was called The Hunger Games. Sarah started to read until her mom came in and told her the interview went well and she thought she would get the job. Sarah then told her mom that they need to come back to the library tomorrow to pick up her library card. “Ok”, Sarah’s mother said.
  Sarah then got up and put the book back where she found it. After that, she followed her mom out the door and got in the opposite side of the car. Sarah asked her mom every question she could think of about the interview: like who gave the interview, and where she was interviewed in the diner. She wasn’t satisfied with most of the answers her mom gave her, but it would do. Sarah was sure her mom got the job.
As they pulled up in the driveway, Sarah asked “Hey mom, can’t you find another job that pays more?”
“I wish I could, sweetie, but there just isn’t anyone else hiring.”
“But mom I thought you went to college and got some sort of degree.”
“My degree would be in psychology, Sarah, but I left early so I didn’t even get it.”
“Well couldn’t you go back to college and get the rest of your degree?” Sarah asked.
“Well, I could if we had enough money, but I still have to take care of you and your brother. If I went back to school I couldn’t do that.”
“Well, what about night school?”
“Sarah, we don’t have the money, and even if we did I’d need to hire a babysitter for you and your brother.”
“I could look after him.” Sarah suggested
“But we still don’t have the money Sarah. You just don’t get it. I’m never going back to school.” and with that the conversation ended abruptly.
Sarah slowly got out of the car, while still feeling bad for her mom, that she never completed her dream. She walked up her front steps, and unlocked the door with her key. The key had peace signs all over it and Sarah almost always had in the pocket of her favorite blue-gray jacket.  The pocket was in the lining of the jacket, so it couldn’t get lost or stolen. She ran inside the house, up the stairs, and into her room. She locked the door behind her and went to the corner of her room where her laptop rested. Her room had three green walls and one purple one.  Her bed had a yellow comforter, and orange pillows. There was a leopard bean bag chair laying on the red carpeted floor. It was mismatched, but Sarah liked the randomness. It reminded her of a rainbow splattered across her room.
She went over to her black desk chair and sat down. She opened up her laptop and hit the power button. The screen soon lit up and showed her the windows home screen. She clicked on the desktop button with her mouse. She then clicked on the Internet Explorer icon and typed in the search box: ‘Cheap colleges in New Jersey’. The computer came up with about 2,500,000 links in under a second. She clicked on the first one. It brought her to a list with the college name on the left and the price on the right. There were two price columns: one for the in-state price and another for the online price. It looked like the online courses were considerably cheaper. That would also benefit them because that way her mom could work during the day and didn’t have to hire a babysitter for them. It was the perfect answer for their situation.
The only problem was the money. They would need help with that. Sarah logged in to their online bank account and checked the balance: $2,589.67. They would definitely need help from wherever they could get it.
Sarah spent the rest of the night reading, until she was called for dinner. “Sarah, come on down for dinner!” Kim yelled up to Sarah.
“Ok, be right there.” Sarah yelled back. She got out of her leopard beanbag chair and out of her room. She headed down the stairs and into the kitchen. The way her house was set up it was a short journey from Sarah’s room to the kitchen. She just had to go down the stairs, turn left, and she was there. She lived in a townhouse with her mom and younger brother. Her dad had been in “love” with her mom while they were both in college. He then asked her to marry him and they both dropped out of college, got married and had kids. He was addicted to gambling and drinking, and he left them about four years ago.
Sarah missed her dad, but felt it better that he had left. He was just taking their money and spending it. She was worried, though, about how they were going to get enough money for her mom to do online school, and pay the rent at the same time.
Sarah proceeded down the stairs and turned left into the kitchen. She smelled her mom’s famous chicken casserole. It was one of Sarah’s favorites, but Kim only made it when there was bad news. Sarah approached the table fearfully that something bad happened and asked “Hey mom, what's up?”
“Nothing really, sweetie. It’s just that the diner called and I didn’t get the job.” Sarah’s mom said sadly.
“I’m so sorry mom. I was really sure that you got it.” Sarah told her mother sympathetically. Her mom had been trying to get a job for about 4 months now, and this wasn’t her first failed interview. “You can always find a better job, don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, let’s just talk about this tomorrow. Ok?”
“Sure mom. Now may I eat?”
“Sure. Dig in.” her mom replied. Sarah grabbed the serving spoons, put a large pile of food on her plate and proceeded to eat it. She was done about fifteen minutes later. She then told her mom that she was going to do her homework and go to sleep. Her mom replied “Ok, sweetie, good night. Love you.” With that Sarah left the kitchen and went to her room. Before entering, she decided to talk to her brother, Daniel, to see why he didn’t eat with them. She softly knocked on his door. there was no answer. She assumed that he was sleeping, and left him alone.
She went inside her room, finished her homework, and fell asleep. The next morning she didn’t hear her brother’s alarm clock, and decided to wake him up. She got dressed, left her room, and opened her brother’s door. She found him inside, sleeping. She approached his bed quietly, and gently shook his shoulder to wake him. He didn’t reply. She then said his name quietly. he still didn’t respond. SHe yelled in his ear “DANIEL WAKE UP!” still no response. Sarah yelled down the hall to her mom “Mom, Daniel’s not waking up!” Her mom was out of her room in an instant, worried about her only son. 
“Is he breathing?” Kim asked frantically.
“I don’t know. I’ll check.” Sarah quickly put her ear to Daniel’s chest, hoping for a sign of life. She quickly found it. “He’s breathing!”
“Ok, good, but still call 911.” Kim said. Sarah picked up the nearest phone and dialed the three crucial numbers to possibly save her brother’s life. The phone rang once and a calm-sounding woman picked up. “911 what’s your emergency?” she asked as a greeting.
“Hello, umm it’s my brother he isn’t waking up, but he’s breathing.”
“Ok sweetheart, where do you live?” the woman asked.
“I live on 76 Loghorn drive.”
“Ok the ambulance will be there in about three minutes.”
“Thank you. What should I do?” Sarah asked.
“Just sit tight, they’ll be there soon.” She said and promptly hung up.
Sarah took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and told her mom what the woman said. Kim sighed a breath of relief that her son would get help soon. “Put down your bag, sweetie. You’re not going to school.”
“Ok, I’ll be right back.” Sarah said and walked out of her brothers room, and into her own. She found everything just as she had left it. Sarah put down her book bag where it always resids, and walked back into her brother’s room. He was still laying there, and her mom  was at the window looking for the ambulance. They heard the ambulance before they saw it. It came from their right, and swiftly pulled into the driveway.
Sarah ran down the steps to open the door for the medics, telling her mom to stay there. Sarah opened the door, and about 6 people rushed in. “Where is he?” one of them asked.
“Upstairs, the first door on your right.” Sarah told them calmly. She followed them up the stairs, and into her brother’s room. They then began running all sorts of tests on him, like taking his blood, checking his temperature, and then they lifted him up together. They carried him downstairs, and put him on gurney. They wheeled him out the door and into the van. “Is he going to be ok?” Kim asked.
“We don’t know yet, ma’am, but we think he will be eventually.” one of the paramedics said.
“Ok thank you.” Sarah’s mom said.
“One of you can get in the back, but the other either has to stay here or follow the ambulance.” a woman said. 
“It’s ok, I’ll just follow you with Sarah.” Kim said before Sarah could argue. Sarah reluctantly agreed to go with her brother, and hopped in the back of the van. She had never been inside a ambulance before, and was nervous she would do something wrong.
The ride to the hospital was fairly uneventful, and Daniel still didn’t wake up. After the got there, the paramedics took the gurney from the ambulance and wheeled it inside. One of the paramedics, a woman, said, “Follow me sweetie.”
“Ok.” Sarah replied. Sarah followed the woman into the emergency room, and sat down on a chair. She sent out a quick text on her phone ‘Hey I’m in the emergency room, waiting’. After about fifteen minutes of waiting Sarah’s mom finally came in. Luckily Sarah had brought  book with her, and had been reading that. They both waited anxiously until a doctor arrived and pulled them into an office. He said “I’m glad to inform you that your son is slowly stabilizing. He has a failed kidney, though, and you will have to take him for dialysis once a week.” Sarah and her mom slowly breathed a sigh of relief. The doctor continued, “ He should be ready to go home in about a week. We just need to keep him here for observation, and to make sure he’s stabilized.”
“Thank you so much, I’m so glad Daniel’s going to be ok.”
“Yes it seems that way.” the doctor said. Then his page rang. “I have to go bye.” he said hurriedly. “Thank you!” Sarah and Kim yelled out the door in usion.
“Wait where is he?” Sarah asked her mom.
“I don’t know, sweetie” her mom replied. Sarah followed her mom out of the office and to the front desk where the woman behind asked them “Hello, what are your names and what are you here for?”
“I’m here for my son, Daniel Porter. He came here about an hour ago with a failed kidney.”
“It says here in the hospital records that he’s in room 305 in the 5th floor.”
“Ok thank you.” Sarah’s mom replied. Sarah and her mom headed to the stairs, and Sarah bolted up them. When she got to the fifth floor door, she bolted through it, wanting to see her brother again.
There he was just lying on the bed not moving except for the small rise and fall of his chest. ‘I can’t believe he’s ok after all he’s been through,’ Sarah thought to herself.She walked over to his bedside, and quietly said, “Wake up Daniel, I’m here with mom.” His eyelids fluttered, then slowly opened. “Hi Sarah” Daniel said groggily, still just waking up.
“Hi, how are you feeling?” Sarah inquired.
“Tired, I want to sleep!”
“Ok I’ll let you sleep after you see mom.” Sarah said. Sarah then promptly left the room, and waited out in the immaculately polished  hallway. She waited about five minutes for her mom to come out, and decided to ask her about what they were going to do that night.  “Hey mom, what are we going to do tonight?”
“Well, I was thinking I would stay here with your brother, and you should stay with your grandparents until Daniel gets better.”
“Ok, but can I stay here until tonight?”
“Sure, honey.” Sarah stayed with her brother and her mom until it was almost 11:00pm.  Her grandparents had come an hour before, but they stayed to see how Daniel was doing. He woke up a few times, but never stayed awake for long. Sarah’s grandparents went to Sarah’s house, then drove her to their house, and she slept in the guest bedroom. Before she fell asleep she set her alarm for 8:00am so she could make breakfast. Sarah woke that morning to the noise of her alarm. All was silent in the large house, and Sarah went downstairs to make them pancakes.
Before she started making pancakes, the phone rang. Caller ID said it was the hospital. Sarah picked up the phone curious about why they were calling.
“Hello, this is Walbert Public Hospital may I speak to Sarah Porter?”
“Yeah, I’m Sarah.” Sarah replied
“We are sorry to inform you that late last night there was a fire on the fifth floor that killed your mother, and badly burned your brother.”
“Wait. What!” Sarah exclaimed, ‘It’s a prank caller it had to be,’  Sarah thought.
“The fire started with a malfunctioning plug in the room next to your brother’s, and when we were cleaning out the room, and used a cleaning product with ammonia. The floor was still wet when the fire started.  The floor caught fire first, and then the walls did. The rug in your brother’s room caught fire, and then your mother’s cot did. The fire alarm in their room was working, but she didn’t wake in time. I’m sorry. Your brother got out in time, but he is still badly burned. You can come in any time you’d like to see him. Again I’m very sorry for your loss.” and with that the woman hung up. We are sorry to inform you that there was a fire on the fifth floor that killed your mother and badly burned your brother. The woman’s voice kept replaying in her head saying that same sentence. No this couldn’t be real. My mom is fine I’ll see her in a few hours, and Daniel isn’t burned. It was a prank call it had to be. Sarah thought. She tried to convince herself that was true, but in her heart she knew it was true.
With that one sentence, her whole world as she knew it had been shattered.