It's been a week and three days since that fateful night. It's been a week and two days since I last spoke to anyone. It's been a week since I got out of the hospital. It's been a day since I last cried.
I'm in the passenger seat of a cherry red BMW on my way to my Uncles' house. He was the only living relative that I had over the age of eighteen. I haven't seen him in almost six years. In the driver's seat was my social worker, Kathy, whose perfume permeated the car filling my nose with the smell of roses. I laid my head against the window and drifted to sleep.
3
I was in a meadow. The grass beneath my feet was a yellowish green, and felt warm and inviting. Wildflowers were scattered around the meadow adding color of all kinds. The sound of a creek dripping came from somewhere behind me.
"Ava." An angelic voice called me. I twisted my body trying to find the source. Finally my eyes landed on my mother in the far corner. She was sitting by a fallen tree. She was wearing a white dressed that billowed in the wind. She was waving her hand toward me urging me to come closer. As soon as I took a step the dream disappeared.
3
I woke up with a jolt running down my spine. I soon felt the tears stinging my eyes threatening to run down my face. I turned my head toward the window so that Kathy couldn't see the trail of hot tears running down my cheeks.
It's been a week and three days since my parents died.
"Ava, honey, are you okay?" Kathy asked staring at me intently. Not being able to do anything else I nodded my head. "Okay, well we will be there in a few minutes. So try to stay awake, alright?" She asked directing her eyes back to the road.
True to her word we pulled into a long driveway a few minutes later. The driveway was covered in a fine layer of dust, and gravel that made it look more like a dirt road. At the end of the driveway stood a large two story house. The house was a pristine white, and everything seemed to fit together except for the stack of wood up the side of the house.
As soon as the car came to a complete stop my Uncle stepped out of the house. Even though I hadn't seen him since I was ten I could still distinctly recognize him. Kathy saw him and got out of the car. All of a sudden I became very nervous and started playing with my long, brown hair. The purple cast that covered my arm made this task very complicated to do.
I watched as Kathy introduced herself and shook his hand. When she realized that I didn't follow her out she turned around, and gave me an exasperated look that clearly said, 'Get out of the car now!' I put my hand on the door handle, and pushed the door open slowly trying to buy some time. I stepped out of the car one foot at a time and just stood there.
The guy standing in front of Kathy was maybe about fifty. He had flecks of grey scattered throughout his hair. And the same piercing green eyes as me. I noticed that he walked with a limp in his right leg when he came down the stairs. I wondered what cause it.
"Ava, come here!" She exclaimed turning back to my Uncle. I started walking toward her hoping that this was all a bad dream that I would wake up from. When I finally made my way next to her she said, "Ava this is your Uncle, Billy."
"Hi Ava. It's been awhile since I last saw you." He stated when I didn't make a move to answer he tried again, "How have you been?" Once again I just stared saying nothing.
That was when Kathy decided to intervene. "She hasn't spoken since the night her parents died." She explained as Billy nodded his head in understanding.
"Ok, well Ava if you will follow me I'll show you where your bedroom is." He said walking inside. I followed behind him with Kathy right behind me almost walking on my heels. I felt like I was trapped with no way to escape my nightmares.
When you go in the front door it leads directly to the living room. The main thing that stood out to me was the fireplace. It was an old brick one that had a fire that was crackling away creating warmth that swept throughout the room.
I followed Billy down a dark hallway. At the end of the hall he opened up a long white room that led into a bedroom. The bed room was spacious with a queen sized bed, two dressers, and a large bay window.
"Through this door is your own bathroom. That way there won't be any conflict between you and the boys in the house." He said this as he pointed to a door right next to my bed. "I'll let you get settled and I will let you know when dinner is ready." He said as he walked out of my bedroom.
As soon as Billy was gone Kathy walked over to my bed and sat down. She patted the space beside her, gesturing for me to take a seat. I walked over and sat on the bed next to her hoping that she wouldn't make me talk.
"Ava, I know I don't need to tell you this but this is a really nice home and he's family. You can't stay silent forever. I want you to try and at least talk to him." She explained as she grabbed my hands trying to look me in the eyes. I turned my head away as I felt the tears once again coming. I didn't want her to think I was weak. "Come on Ava talk to me. Tell me what it is that you need." She begged but I just wasn't ready to talk at the time. I was too afraid that my voice would give away my tears. She sighed and stood up handing me a card. "Call me when you are ready to talk," She said as she walked out of my room.
When she was gone I opened up my suitcase and pulled out the picture that rested on top. It was a picture of my mother and father on their wedding day. They looked so happy and in love that I couldn't help the tears that spilled over. I was so engrossed in my parents' picture that I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until someone shook me awake.
"Ava, dinners ready." The stranger said sticking his hand out to help me up. I took his hand not even caring that I didn't know his name. When I was standing up he let go of my hand so that we could walk to the dining room.
When we got to the dining room I saw four guys including my Uncle sitting around the table. Two of them looked familiar. I sat down in the empty seat that was right next to Billy, while the stranger that woke me up sat next to me.
"Ava these are your cousins Jacob, and Ian." He said pointing to the two boys that looked familiar. So that was where I knew them from I saw them the last time I saw Mike. "And these are there friends Daniel, and Aiden." He said pointing to the other two. The one that woke me was Aiden he looked to be about seventeen. He had short light brown hair that had faint streaks of golden blond, and his eyes were a striking ice blue color. I waved slightly to them all before looking down at my food.
"Hi Ava," Aiden said staring at me intently while I stared back with a blank expression. When he realized that I wasn't going to say anything back he turned back to the other guys and, joined in on their conversation.
"Hey Aiden I bet you could really relate to Ava. Can't you?" Ian whispered across the table, probably thinking that I couldn't hear. Through the rest of dinner I tried to figure out what he meant by that.
After dinner the boys went to watch TV, and I went back to my room to lie down. I laid there for awhile thinking about my parent until I finally fell asleep.
3
It was past midnight when my family and I finally left the party. It was dark out and my parents were fighting in the front seat of the car.
My dad was driving, and he was pretty pedal happy that night going twenty over the speed limit. The green light turned to red but my dad was too busy yelling at my mom to notice. At the last second he slammed on his brakes, and we skidded into the middle of the intersection.
My mom looked back at me with fear reflected in her brown eyes. She held her hand across my body as car collided with ours. The sound resonated of the metal cars and filled my ears with a ringing.
The car hit my dads' door and sent our car tumbling until it landed on its side. I felt a sharp pain in my arm and looked down to see the moon glinting off my blood.
3
I woke up with tears running down my face. My chest felt like it was constricting and I couldn't breathe. I threw the covers off my sweaty body and ran out the door. I ran down the hallway through the front door slamming it behind me. I tripped over my feet and landed next to the wood pile. I grabbed hold of a piece of wood trying to pull myself up.
"Ava? Are you alright?" I heard someone ask. I turned to see Aiden.
He walked up to me, and pulled my frail body into his chest. I cried for my parents' life and their death.
"Shhh, it's alright Ava nothing's going to hurt you." He murmured into my ear. "Would you like to talk about it?" He asked as I shook my head into his chest. "Talking helps. Trust me I've been here before." He said and I couldn't help but spill my guts to this person I didn't even know.
"It's my fault." I finally said.
"What is?" Aiden asked as he looked at me.
"My parents' are dead because of me," I had to take a deep breath before I could continue. "We were at a fourth of July party. I went off with some guy who was twenty-one. He gave me a drink and I drank it. When he gave me more he took me to a room and started kissing me. We were in a full blown make-out session when my parents walked in. Of course my mom went off on me, but my dad said nothing. When my mom asked what he thought of all this he said it was okay, because I was old enough to make my own decisions. The whole drive home my parents argued. My dad wasn't watching the road, and he ran a red light." Tears were coming down my face completely by then. I almost couldn't continue. "The car came out of nowhere and we were in the middle of the intersection."
When I was finished Aiden told me that it was okay that it wasn't my fault. But I didn't believe him.
"What time is it?" I asked finally realizing how dark it was outside.
"Two in the morning. Why?" He asked.
"It's been a week and four days since my parents died." I said staring him in the eyes.