"When?" Kim asked as tears slid down her face.
"An hour ago." The officer said trying to look sympathetic, but there was no good way to tell a sixteen year old girl her parents were dead. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"Has anyone called my aunt?" She tried to stay strong but the sobs were coming and there was no way to stop it.
"Yes, she is on her way here now. Do you need anything else?" The officer whose name Kim had forgotten asked. Kim shook her head and ran to the bathroom where she melted to the floor and sobbed.
She cried and screamed and yelled until it sunk in, her parents were dead. They had died in a car accident and she was an orphan. Kim sobbed some more before passing out on the bathroom floor, alone and devastated.
~One Week Later~
Aunt Casey lived in Eureka, California and now that was were Kim lived. With no other living relatives Kim was now Casey's responsibility.
The drive from Reno, Nevada had been absolutely silent. Kim hadn't said a word since the funeral and that was how she wanted it to stay.
Casey had a good job at some food company and had a nice house on the beach. She worked a lot though and had warned Kim that she would be gone a lot. Kim didn't mind though.
Kim had only brought one suitcase with just the essentials and a few pictures, everything else from her old life was gone. She wanted to start over and Casey said she could go shopping when she got settled. School started in two weeks, Kim would be starting a new school as a junior. At her old school she had been a cheer leader, even dating a football player, but that was all over she didn't plan on ever talking to him or anyone else from there again.
Her light brown hair was blowing around from the window and she decided to dye it, maybe even cut it. The phone in her lap buzzed again, it was another text from her best friend Janet. Kim deleted it without reading it and turned her phone off.
Casey's house was awesome and when they pulled up Kim noticed another car in the driveway it was small and black.
"I thought you'd like to have your own way to get around." Casey said nodding to the car.
Kim said nothing and got out of the car. Her new room was on the second floor it was painted a dark purple color and had black sheets on the bed. The far wall was a giant window, other than that the room was plain and ordinary. There was a desk in one corner though with a laptop on it and a dresser that matched the bed side table and desk. She set her bag on the floor and looked at Casey standing in the doorway.
"Thanks." Kim said quietly and Casey left her to unpack.
Kim refused to feel sad as she unpacked and looked around her new home.
After all of her stuff was put away she went downstairs. Casey was cooking in the giant kitchen and looked up as she wandered in.
"I was gonna go to the mall." Kim said quietly.
"Here, take some cash and here are your keys, the house and car are on there." Her aunt looked so sad.
"Thanks." After getting directions to the mall Kim left in her new car.
She went into the first hair place she saw and asked for a dye and cut. The color she chose was a dark brown that almost looked blackish-blue, the cut was just past her shoulders and layered. Her bangs were hanging in front of one blue eye.
Next she wandered into a clothing store and spent the remaining cash on clothes and shoes. Casey had given her a lot of cash and she had bought a whole new wardrobe to go with her new look.
Kim found her way home and after putting all her new clothes away sat down for dinner with Casey, they were having spaghetti.
"I love your new hair. It looks wonderful." Casey commented, her own dirty blonde hair was cut in a 'pixie' style that really suited her.
"I thought it was time for something new."
"Well it looks wonderful." Kim offered to help with dishes, but her aunt wouldn't let her so she wandered up to her room.
Kim locked her door and went to her walk in closet, in the very back hidden behind a shoe rack she pulled out her bottle of vodka.