Chapter 1
Chapter I: I Regret Opening The Door
Sleep.
That's the only efficient thing I can do while my parents are away. They're headed to Italy for a month. I, personally, hate it when they leave me here by myself, but I can't do anything about it. I just normally wake up, shower, head to school, come home, and repeat.
Productive, I know.
But I didn't wake up when my brain told me to do so. I woke up when my brain told me to do so. I woke up to an annoying knock at the door.
"Ugh, why, why, why?" I mumble to myself.
I sluggishly drag myself out of my bed and trek down the stairs. Last night I went to a party, and it was not boring, to say the least. The knocking never ceased until I opened the door, and part of me wished I hasn't ever opened that door.
"Can I help you?" I face the person who was knocking and I immediately try to regain composure. "Look, if you're asking about last night then I'm not the person you need to be talking to."
The police officer shook his head. "I am looking for you. You are Alice James, yes?" I nodded my head. "This is not about... last night. I- Miss James, it's about your parents."
I straighten my back. "What about them? What happened?"
He hands me a piece of paper. It's a coroner's report. "There has been an accident."
I take it with shakey hands. No tears, no bodily shaking, except for my hands, no nothing. I do nothing but say thank you and shut the door.
A coroner's report.
A couple of hours later I heave myself up from my bedroom's corner and get in my car. I drove to the lawyer's office to discuss my parent's will. They wrote that if anything had happened to them, then I would be transferring schools and moving in with my uncle.
Whom I didn't even know I had.
My apparent uncle, Andrew James, runs a private all-boys school a couple of states away. Since the school was in the middle of nowhere, I would have to live and study there. My uncle lives at the school as well, which to me sounds like it could get very annoying. I guess, however, it's just for convenience.
"How am I supposed to get there? To the school, I mean," I asked my parent's lawyer.
"Well," She started, "They already have a plane ticket ready for you." She went into the file that held the will and pulled it out.
I froze, "Wh- why would hey have a plane ticket for me? Don't they expire?"
She nodded her head, "Yes, they expire within a year from the original date, so, if I remember correctly, they came in less than a year ago."
Why would my parents buy me a plane ticket less than a year from the original date when they would have to have known the ticket would expire? There's something wrong with this.
The lawyer handed me the plane ticket and will. "I'm sorry for your loss." She looked at me with sad eyes, but evidently, mine held nothing. I didn't know what to do other than to walk out the door. I forgot about my car and walked home. It was five o'clock by the time I came home.
I did not eat or sleep, I just packed to leave tomorrow. I just needed to wait for the next morning to arrive.
Truthfully, I had been waiting to move out of this house and away from life. If a person looks like they're having the time of their lives on the outside, it could always be something different happening on the outside.
Except, I was hiding behind drugs and alcohol.
Life was never the same after the fire and my brothers. Nothing was ever the same. Mom would drink, dad would get angry and get drunk with mom. They would disappear for days, so I guess their last trip would be the last and longest.
Before I had packed, I decided to enjoy the last day of my freedom before I moved away. I went to another party hosted by some people from my high school and to say the least, I made sure I would not remember today, or at least forgot about it for a while.
The next day, covered head to toe in a hangover, I proceeded to pack the last of my things. I had a tow truck bring my car back to me (with bribery, of course), then packed it up. By 8:30 a.m, I was ready to head to the airport and then to Minnesota.
Goodbye, Louisiana.
Goodbye, parents.
