The Reason Behind Secrets

Prologue

Heya all! <3 

This is a story that has vampires, werewolves, AND legens. ^^ They're all among us!!!!!! O.o But the main character is a girl who has no 'powers' whatsoever, except for [as you read in the summary] a wonderful musical ear. 

Enjoy now! :D -Corina 

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Prologue

Emmanuel had never understood the reasons behind secrets. The reason behind hidden information that seemed to veil themselves in plain sight. She never understood the day her parents died in that tragic accident, leaving her alone and... so, so lost. 

If only she had noticed something. Something that could unveil the truth, the truth that seemed so hidden. She felt guilty. Guilty that her parents had hidden their troubles from her so well, that nothing was detected. She hadn't even noticed anything wrong. Or maybe she was just too blind. 

Betrayal. Another word Emmanuel felt course deep through her veins. They had left her so quickly, so suddenly. One moment Emmanuel is kissing her mother on the cheek as she walks to work, and the next moment... you hear she's gone forever. Forever in an accident. 

An accident! A goddamn accident! 

Her parents had hidden so much from her. After their death, Emmanuel's soul seemed to die with them. She slowly faded into the backround, avoiding as much as possible. She wouldn't sleep, wouldn't eat. She even refused to get out of bed in the morning, and would just lie there in her dirty pajamas soaked with tears and sweat, as she sobbed the days away. 

Emmanuel had let her misery drown her, as she had realized she's alone. All alone. The rest of her family-- aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparets-- none of them even existed...

Before...  

"Very well then," Judge Werner had said, her voice powerful and clear. "By order of the law, since you are still a minor, will have to be sent to child serv--" 

"Wait!" Emmanuel's dead voice pleaded. The judge looked up from her papers, adjusting her glasses. 

"Yes?"

"Your Honor, y-you can't just send me there. I have family out of state. I'm sure they'll be coming soon. Please, your Honor. I ...want to be with them." 

Judge Werner's calm and composed expression quickly morphed into a confused one. "But, Miss Bennett--" she fumbled through some papers in front of her, before adjusting her glasses once again. "Miss Bennett, you... have no other family." 

Emmanuel's eyes widened. "What? T-that's not possible! I have an aunt! And three cousins! Your Honor, you must check again!" Emmanuel begged. "My aunt's name is Riley Bennett, she's a real estate agent in Colorado. Please, please, there must be a mistake!" 

Tears have begun to flow out of her eyes, sliding down her cheeks, as Emmanuel began to sob nearly hysterically. She forced herself up to the podium where the judge sat. 

Judge Werner was not one to sympathise, but she saw the mess this child was in. Barely even fourteen and she lost her parents, and apparently, entire family all in one day. 

"Look here, Miss Bennett," Judge Werner waved around a loose leaf of thick paper. "You have no other relatives ever existing on this globe. We've accessed your family tree since the 1950s and I'm sorry to say this this, but the only other family that is alive right now is your great uncle..." Judge Werner read the paper closely. "...James Rekell. And he is in no shape to raise a teenager, as confirmed to us by his caretakers." 

Silence. 

"No..." Emmanuel's voice had turned raspy and dull. "No... this is... i-it's not possible. Please... please tell me it's not possible." 

"I'm afraid it is," the judge nodded sadly. 

"Wait!" cried a voice, interupting the agonizing silence like lightning on a clear night. Emmanuel whirled around to see her best friend, Diana, and her mother standing in the back of the courtroom. They both looked quite out of breath. 

But what she was about to hear would change her life forever. 

"I am a mother of three children. I have a good job with good pay, and a big house. Emmanuel is like a second daughter to me, and I request permission to adopt her as my own." 

Now the lightning seemed to have struck Emmanuel, for her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fainted right there. 

Right in front of the judge. 

Present... 

Emmanuel's life, from that day on, had changed from agonizing horror, to pure happiness. She would still cry nearly every night ever since Diana and her mother brought her home. She would still wake up, drenched in sweat, screaming from horrible nightmares of her dead parents chasing her in their night clothes.

But her best friend comforted her; kept her safe through the night. Emmanuel still remembers her dark days, when Diana would skip school just to be with her, to cook her pancakes every morning, to massage her aching back every night. Diana had brought back some meaning to Emmanuel's world. Diana was like the sister she never had. 

And sisters don't have to be blood related. 

It was only even a year or so before Emmanuel's moods began drastically improving. She began to smile again. To laugh. To enjoy life. Emmanuel had even pulled herself out of bed one morning, wobbling around like a baby's first steps. 

She'd even taken up music again. Her most favorite subject. She had such a rare talent at discovering sonnets and tunes, identifying pieces of music, and composing them all on the many instruments she'd learned. 

As much as Emmanuel wished to move on, something nagged at the back of her mind. Something strong and frightening. 

Their secrets... her parent's secrets were deep. So deep in fact, that Emmanuel hadn't even figured out the reason... 

...the reason behind secrets. 

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I appreciate so much all who've read until now. I know you must be thinking 'where are the vampires?!' or 'where are the werewolves?!' and stuff like that. 

Fear not! The next chapter will include enough of those, believe me ;) 

Please comment, vote, enjoy <3 

-Corina