Chapter 1

Robyn Bray sighed and sat down. It had been a long day; running towards the coffe machine to see if she could get anything for her parents, then realising that she couldn't actually get anything for them because they were.. well... in surgery.

It had happened last night. Robyn had gotten a call from the hospital while she was reading and all she had been told was that her parents were there and she had to come as quickly as possible.

So Robyn raced out of the 8th floor apartment that her and her parents had bought in Brooklyn, NY, hired a cab, and got to the hospital as fast as she could, trying not to think what the worst thing that could've happened to them was.

When she arrived at the hospital, the receptionist couldn't get off the phone to one of her friends and had made Robyn wait a full ten minutes before waving a vague direction as to where Robyn was to go. When Robyn had finally managed to locate the waiting room, the family doctor - Doctor Stevens- had explained to her, in detail, what had happened to her parents.

"They were in a car crash," he had explained gently, seeing her nervousness come out in every action she made, "a lorry crashed into their car- he was driving while drunk. The police are questioning him right now, if that makes you feel a little better." He tried consoling her, "We are doing some tests right now, but if you want to go home, then we wouldn't mind- we'll call you to tell you the details?"

"Oh.. n-no, that's fine, i'll stay here..." She had replied, smiling weakly.

The doctor had left here then, and had not come back since. Robyn was tired, hungry, and most of all worried. She thought people were supposed to forget about hunger when they were scared, that's what always happened in the movies.

Robyn sighed again. She shifted position again, so as her feet were propped up on the seat next to hers, and closed her eyes.. dozing..

"Miss Bray? Excuse me, Miss Bray?" A voice interrupted Robyn's sleep.

A third 'miss Bray' and a light shake from Doctor Stevens finally woke Robyn up. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Yes?" She asked anxiously, "What's happening?"

The doctor paused for a while, as if unsure how to explain.

"What is it? What's happening?" she repeated.

The doctor opened his mouth, but paused again. After a few seconds he eventually said, "Your parents' lawyer is coming to discuss details with you. I'm very sorry, but neither of your parent's made it through the operations: They were both severely hurt... So sorry.."

He waited for an answer, but heard nothing; unsure of what to do, he left Robyn alone, to process his words.

Robyn inhaled sharply, after some more minutes of awkwardness. She blinked back the tears: they could wait for later.

Trying not to feel her heart slowly rip itself in two, she got up and walked slowly to the bathroom. But Robyn could not hold it in any longer. As soon as she had closed the bathroom door, she ran to a cubicle, closed the toilet seat lid, sat down and let a long wail of sadness rush through her body, until all her feelings came out of her in the form of tears.

She thought about her many Thanksgivings with her parents, the fun she had with them. She remembered all the holidays and the happy times she'd shared with them; the moments in her life where she'd craved for food and her mother had made it for her; or when her laptop broke and her father fixed it for her. She reminded herself of every single one of the times that her parents had looked after her, helped her and loved her, and let them all build up into a new set of tears, that would start right after the last set had finished.

Slowly, slowly, Robyn gathered herself together. She managed to stop crying until only the aftershock of hiccups were heard from her. She opened the cubicle door, walked calmly over to the mirror, washed her face and neatened her hair, and walked out of the toilets into the waiting presence of her parents' lawyer.

"Good evening, Robyn. You have my uttermost condolences." He said.

He was wearing a black suit, whereas he normally wore blue, which was strange, but then again, it was kind of normal if two of his clients had just died.

This little observation had distracted Robyn for a few seconds, but she said quickly, "Oh..Uh..Thanks.."

"So... Now I think we have to.. Um.. Discuss where your going to live; since you're only sixteen, you cannot live in your.. parents appartement all alone... We'll have to find you a legal guardian..."

***

The slam of a door was heard coming from a 'classic' american house, on a small road with trees running down both sides of it. It was large with many rooms and built out of wood. It had a wide front door with a front porch, a stretch of green grass that made up the front lawn, and the interior was simply decorated with plain, cream wallpaper, wooden floorboards and used-but-still-very-comfy furniture.

The house was situated in a small town near the border of New York, in Pennsylvania, which was named Siren Close. It was a small town, but was well looked upon, as it often held charitable fundraising events and never ceased to look after itself. The people were friendly - some a little strange, but what can one expect from them, after living all their lives there, being looked after by their elders, who were even more strange than them? Nevertheless, everyone always seemed to get along with each other, in a slightly dysfunctional way.

"I'm home!" called a female voice from the front door, then said, "Ah, what's the point? I live here on my own. No one to look after me..."

The woman who spoke walked into the living room, sighed dramatically as if sad and talking to an audience and flopped lazily onto the floral pattern sofa- letting her bag fall from her hand onto the floor and dropped her keys onto the coffee table, as she did so.

She was, of course, joking about no one looking after her: she had friends all over the town, but she lived with no one. A few years ago, she had moved in with her fiancé, in an apartment in New York, but one day, on her way home, she had caught sight of him with another woman- cheating on her. A few days later, she had already quit her job, bought the nicest house in Siren Close and moved in there immediatley, not waiting for her ex-fiancé to explain what was going on; she had always been suspicious of him, and it was a bit of a cliché anyway, everone knew that.

The reasons behind choosing to live here, in Siren Close were simple: she had always wanted a big house, and here she could find one; but, more importantly, her best friend had moved here after they had graduated from university and they had hardly had the time to keep in touch. This had been the perfect opportunity to start.

But now, she found herself more than a little lonley. The house was too big and she still wasn't completley over Leo, her ex. Totally pathetic, she knew, but she couldn't help it; she had tried dating other people, but she always found herself dumping them because of this 'feeling' that she had when she was with them. It wasn't like it was with Leo.

After lying on the sofa for a few minutes, she dragged herself up, and into the modernised country kitchen, to make herself dinner, but as soon as she opened the cupboard door, the doorbell rang.

She rolled her eyes- or rather her head-, scuffled to the door, opened it and tightened her grasp on the inside door knob to stop herself from slumping down to the floor from dismay.

"Yes?" She said to the towns eccentric mayor.

Immediatley, the mayor started ranting in his usual, annoyed tone, "Yes? Is that really how you address someone of my status? Do you know who i am? I take this job very seriously and this is the kind of thanks i get from ungrateful people like you, missy! Why, I don't even know why I bother sometimes-"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say it like that... I've... had a bad day" She said quickly and restrained herself from rolling her eyes as she tried to put on her best 'I'm-a-good-girl' act.

"Huh, well... never mind."

There was an awkward silence before the mayor started again, "Name?"

"Todd, you know my name! And why do you need it anyway?"

"I have to do the post today, and i need you to officially declare your name to me before i can hand over this letter," he waved a small, rectangular envelope in her face then continued, "So, name?"

"Emma Rosa Maverton" She replied, "And you know, the post usually comes in the morning, so if you're doing it tomorrow aswell, you may want to wake up a little earlier that usuall; people like to know what they've been sent!"

"Now, that's enough of your wit, Emma- Will you please sign here?"

She signed, retrieved the letter from Todd's firm grasp and closed the door.

***

As Emma closed the door behind her, she flipped over the envelope and looked at the return address. There wasn't one. The envelope itself looked formal, like a bank statement, yet it didn't have her bank logo on it, plus she'd already payed her monthly bills.

She ripped open the envelope and unfolded the letter. It read:

Dear Miss Maverton,

It has come to my notice that you are the sister of the late Mrs Fiona Bray, who died yesterday along with her husband Mr Charles Bray, while in surgery, after a serious car crash.I also understand that Mr and Mrs Bray have a sixteen year old daughter, whom you have only met once in her life and who is no in need of guardianship. If you could be so kind, please may you call my office number at the top of this letter to discuss details. Thank you very much for your understanding.

My condolences,

Michael Foster

Smith and Fraser Junior Lawyer

Emma looked up. No one had told her that her sister had been in a car crash. No one had had the decency to even phone her! She was more angry than sad, but nevertheless, she still couldn't hold back some of the mischievous tears that had wriggled their escaped through her tightly shut eyelids, and down her cheeks.

In a haze, Emma put the letter down and picked up the phone. She dialed the number on the letter and held it to her ear. She heard the receiver dialing and waited a few seconds before a clatter on the other end of the telephone sounded, bringing her suddenly out of her reverie.

"Hello?" Said a woman's voice from the telephone, "Smith and Fraser Company, Michael Foster's office, how may I help you?"

"Yes, um. This is Emma Maverton. I was hoping to speak to Mr Fraser, please? Is he in? This call concerns the guardianship of Robyn Bray..."

Emma heard the woman typing on her computer keyboard- it was probably a very old computer with a screen that kept flickering, she hated those- and a minute later the woman said, "Yes, hold on, I'll put you right through to him..."

***

As Robyn walked towards the gathering of non-familiar family relatives, who had all dressed in the classic black outfits, she couldn't help noticing how many people were staring at her with obvious pity in their eyes. It took all her efforts to not suddenly turn around and run away, just to avoid the exposing looks.

She adjusted her coat and took her place near the top of the velvet lined coffins her parents were lying in, next to the reverend.

Robyn inhaled deeply, closing her eyes as she did so, and heard the reverend start the sermon.

"Dearly beloved," he said, in a clear, articulate voice, "We have gathered her today to witness..."

The classical music was playing; the people were chatting to one another and there had seemed to be no problems during the course of the event taking place. Yet Robyn had sat down in a corner, avoiding all eye contact while sipping her orange juice.

The juice had long since been finished, and, having nothing to do, Robyn had decided to check on the guests.

As she was walking through the throng of people, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Robyn?" said a voice from behind her, followed by a cough.

She turned around, it was her parents' lawyer .

He continued, "Ah, yes, i would like you to meet your new guardian, Miss Emma Maverton, your aunt..."