Tremaine

- Chapter 5 -

I fell asleep that night thinking about everything that had happened. Gregory was right. I was not my mother, but everyone thought I was. I was done with being known as the evil step sister.

In the morning I got dressed and went down to breakfast. I ate quickly, ignoring the snickers of the other girls, and walked out to the courtyard. Gregory was nowhere to be found.

I walked around the small courtyard, tracing my fingers along the cold, stone walls. Once I had gone around about 10 times I walked back into the building. I walked through the hallways and up the stairs.

Once I got to the very top floor, I climbed the last staircase that led to the roof. I saw the silhouette of a figure. I sat down next to the silhouette. Gregory looked as if he was lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, remembering that day in the courtyard. The day I first noticed how stunning Gregory was. "I'm deciding whether or not to go down there and help them," he said.

I followed his gaze and watched as two men tried to carry heavy crates to one of the many stands. They were struggling to carry them and it looked as though they would drop them at any moment.

I remembered one time when I was a young girl I tried to carry a box of wooden blocks. The box was very heavy and I ended up dropping it. The blocks all fell to the floor.

I remembered how bad it felt to have my sister, the maids, and my mother walk by while I was picking up all of the blocks, and they didn't offer to help at all. I watched as the men struggled to carry the boxes.

I stood up and walked towards the stairs. I ran through the hallways and down the stairs. I went out the front door and to the men. I looked up on the roof to see Gregory was gone.

"Excuse me!" I said to one of the men. "Would you like some help?" The man smiled. "That would be wonderful! Thank you," "I can help, too," said Gregory, who had appeared beside me.

The men had many boxes and it took a very long time to put them all behind the stand. As Gregory and I walked back to the orphanage I saw it was getting late. I felt good. I didn't feel evil at all. I was starting to get rid of all of the Tremaine in me.

After dinner I walked up to my room and sat on my bed. I held my venetian glass necklace in my hand. I stared at it, and knew what I had to do. I knew what I had to do to start over.

I walked out of the orphanage and through the town with the necklace in hand. I walked until I came to a bridge that Gregory and I enjoyed spending some of our free time on.

I stared out into the water, the beautiful sunset reflecting on the water. I looked down at the necklace in my hand. I ran my fingers along the smooth glass and I wrapped them around the small, delicate chain.

"Goodbye mother," I whispered, a tear falling down my cheek. I raised my arm and I would have thrown it if a hand hadn't wrapped itself around mine. I looked up and saw Gregory standing beside me.

"Just think about it!" he said. "Don't do something you are going to regret. I have done many things, thinking that they will help me cope, but I just regret all of them," I stared into his beautiful green eyes.

"I'm not going to stop you. I just want you to think," His hand slowly left my wrist and he looked out into the water. I looked at the water as well and said, "I'm starting over,"

Gregory looked at me and nodded. I threw the necklace into the water. Tears spilled out of my eyes as I watched the sun dip lower and lower. Gregory put an arm around my shoulder.

He turned me to face him. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. We stared into each other's eyes. I thought about it. I was going to do something I knew I would never regret. I cupped his face in my hands, and kissed him.