Shifted Fate

Shifted Fate Part 1

Copyright

Shifted Fate is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Shifted Fate: A NOVEL

Copyright © 2021 by Michelle Areaux

All rights reserved.

Editing by KP Editing

Cover Design by KP Designs

Cover Image by Joseph Long

Published by Kingston Publishing Company

- www.kingstonpublishing.com

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CHAPTER 1

The car ride out of town was awkward, to say the least.

In the backseat of my Aunt Amelia's old Ford Explorer, all of my belongings over the last sixteen-years sat in boxes and suitcases, shaking from the rumble of the SUV's movements. My aunt glanced over at me, just barely taking her eyes off the highway.

Slumping further down in the passenger seat, I pulled my black hoodie up over my head and pretended as though I didn't' see her checking on me every few seconds.

I was tired of people checking on me. Their empathic eyes staring at me with a sadness I wanted to forget.

With one phone call, my life had been turned upside down and everything I had ever known ceased to exist...Even myself.

My parents were killed in a car accident nearly two weeks ago. They had gone out for their weekly date night and had opted for a play in the city. We lived in a swank townhome in the center of downtown Chicago, and my parents liked to enjoy a nice night away in the city. A drunk driver had crossed over the median and crashed into them head-on. Of course, the driver walked away with only a minor bump on her head, but the collision had killed my parents on impact.

"Hey, Ava. Are you hungry? We can stop at the next exit," my aunt Amelia asked.

I saw how her face furrowed as she spoke. While I had lost my mother and father, she had lost her sister and brother-in-law. Though they hadn't spoken in years, I was sure their deaths still hurt all the same. My mom had kept pictures of her and Amelia from when they were younger. They were both beautiful with long, brown hair and dark eyes. Even now, my aunt still looked gorgeous, except she had a sort of tiredness to her that my mom just never had. Maybe it was that they had lived very different lives. While my aunt had opted to remain in the small town they had grown up in, my mom and dad left and never looked back.

"No, I'm fine," I said.

It was a lie. My stomach was churning, and I was beyond famished. I had barely eaten over the last few days. Since the funeral, it was decided that I would pack up my life in Chicago and move to live with my aunt in the small town of Hinton, West Virginia. Truth be told, I had never even heard of the place before. I doubted it even made it on a map. The further we drove East, the less enticing the scenery became.