Whispers of Shadowed Hearts

Chapter 1

Summer Brooks

It shouldn't be too hard for people to understand each other. 

They shouldn't think that they share the pain just by being silent, they weren't. Pain is much louder when they left the room for silence. 

But what if there's no one left by your side? Who could you run to then? 

When the doctors came out of that white room and told me that I no longer had a family, the only thing on their minds was to return to their warm families waiting for them at home.

Unlike them, after those seconds I had neither a warm home nor a family to return to. 

My life collapsed on the last day of July.

Everything happened so fast that I lost track of time. Just a few days after my entire family died in an accident, I was being driven to my new home in the backseat of a black car with tinted black windows.

I didn't even have time to cry at their graves, I had to go pack my things. I didn't feel the pain, I just looked at their faces while the men in suits told me how sorry they were for my family. After a while they thought I was heartless and let me go. 

Although there were voices and images of the men talking to me, neither of them reached me. I could see them talking, I could hear their voices, but nothing they said reached me. They told me that I would move in with a distant uncle and live with a new house and people.

It wasn't easy to reestablish long-distance relationships in my new home, and I didn't try to.

It became more and more difficult each passing day to go home, knowing that instead of a warm family waiting for me, there was cold violence. It was as if my feet were going backwards. As the years passed by, they left traces on me that I will never forget.

However, my stay there did not last forever either. 

I was in the backseat of a car again, watching the sharp canopy of the forest through the darkened window, with my headphones on. It no longer mattered to me where I would go or who I would stay with, it had been a long time since I had accepted that no matter where I went, I would not have a warm family.

The trees were thick and the forest was dark. It didn't seem like a very warm welcoming town, considering how close we were to town. The fog falling over the trees and the road created a depressing image.

When I took off my headphones and opened the window a little, I felt the icy air in my bones. However, it couldn't have been as cold as that house, I was happy to leave there. I couldn't help but hope that maybe my life here would be easier. I was not wishing for a warm house, just a silent one. 

"We will be arriving in ten minutes, Summer. You better pack your stuff." 

Adam was one of the men in suits at my parents' funeral. It was Adam who had taken me from their graves to my new house, and now it was again Adam who was taking me from there to another house. We had never been close, but I knew he felt warmly toward me, maybe because he pitied me.

"Will you come in with me?"

 He nodded. "I need to check if she is eligible to be a guardian by completing the procedures."

"Oh." 

Neither of us spoke again until we reached the new house. When we finally entered the town, I took a closer look. It looked cold, but I was sure I was imagining it. It couldn't be any colder than the other house.