Chapter 8

The judge had seen enough evidence she was better and released Brittany three years early.  The judge did require her to attend a rehab center for six weeks to ensure that Brittany was sure never to do drugs again. While Brittany was there she ran into one of her old friends, Payton. Payton was in there because she had an eating disorder.
Payton and Brittany were getting out at the same time. Brittany told Payton she had nowhere to live because she was sure her grandparents wouldn’t accepter her back. Payton offered for her to come live with her at her apartment. Brittany agreed. Brittany contacted her grandma to ask if she could come and get her things. Her grandma said that she could but that no one would be there.
Brittany and Payton went and got all of her things. Brittany found pictures of the babies among some of her things, she showed these to Payton.
“Awww…they were so adorable. Whatever possessed you to….” She trailed off.
“I wouldn’t have. I was using drugs and was drinking.” Brittany replied as she placed the photos into a bag.
“Oh yeah…I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m sorry.”
“No, you didn’t I’m just still upset about the situation. I loved those kids.” Brittany turned her back on Payton as she wiped away her few tears .
“I can tell.” Payton picked up a picture of Keagan, Brittany, and the twins. She placed this one in her pocket and kept it with her till they got out of the house.
Brittany walked down the hallway and stopped. She dropped the box she was caring. She was standing outside the nursery. In a kind of trance, Brittany reached for the door knob. She reached for the light switch with tears welling in her eyes. On the table she saw a note; it was from her grandparents. She opened it. It told her that her grandparents hadn’t had the time to take everything down and if she did that she could.
She looked around the room. Nothing had been moved or changed. The only difference was that the garbage had been taken out. As she stood there in that room, she started reliving that night. She took the teddy bear out of Lilly’s crib and walked out. She took one last look and shut the door. Brittany picked up the note and wrote on the back of it that she just couldn’t do it by herself.
Payton and Brittany left and went back to the apartment. Brittany sat down and wrote down everything that just happened. She couldn’t believe that seeing the nursery affected her so, but she wrote it all down. That night she called Ms. Thompson. She told her about her day and asked her if she could pull some strings to get her book published. Ms. Thompson was ecstatic that Brittany wanted to give it a try. She said that she could as long as she had copies. Brittany took the journal to Ms. Thompson. Ms. Thompson made the copies. She read over them and stuck them in an envelope. She addressed it to Bob Roberts. She called him and asked him if he would give it a read.
While Brittany was living with Payton, she came in contact with her old friends Caylee, Bree-Anna, Jaymee, and Aryanna. These were her friends from that wanted to help her back in the beginning of Brittany’s downfall. They were the girls from her old youth group and they took her back as if nothing had ever happened. They even took her back to her church. The church, that her and her mother attended for as long as Brittany could remember, welcomed her back. Brittany didn’t realize that so many people could love her. She cried the first time that Pastor Tim hugged her.
“You will never be loved any less. I love you as if you were my own.” Pastor Tim said as he hugged her.
The following Wednesday she went to youth group for the first time in such a long time. She met a few new people who joined the group since she left. Jeremie Andrews was one of them. He had moved to Illinois from Florida. He was planning on attending the University of Illinois on a full football scholarship.