When Life Gives You Lemons

Chapter 1

I wake up in a cold sweat.

I'm gasping for breath, clenching my hands into fists. My throat is tight and I feel like I've been screaming. Then I remember, I have been screaming.

Another nightmare. It has been two days since May 17th, the day my parents died; I've had the same nightmare both nights. I see the car, hear the crash, and watch my only family in the world be crushed by the van as I scream for them to stop the car.

They told me what happened. I wish they hadn't.

They were going to the party celebrating the retirement of my mother's boss. It was a lunch do in a hotel on the other side of the city. My father was driving, they said, which is why he died first. The van hit from the side, it had slipped on the wet grass on the side of the road. The man inside was desperately trying to brake, trying to swerve, but he lost control. My parents didn't see the van coming.

The van driver had a minor concussion and a broken leg, but nothing worse than that. Lucky him. It's not fair. The van caved my dad's head in, and he died instantly. Apparently, he felt very little pain. My mother's arm was completely crushed, she was knocked unconscious, and she was rushed into ITU by the paramedics who arrived shortly after the people in the car behind my parents called the ambulance. They couldn't save her. She died from loss of blood within an hour of reaching the hospital. That was when they found my name on the contact list on her phone and called my school. That was when my life changed forever.

***

What happened after I fainted in school is kind of a blur. I was taken to the hospital, where my parents were laid out in clean clothes on the crisp white sheets of the hospital beds. Well, I guess they weren't my parents anymore. Just bodies. Shells of people. Not there, not alive, not breathing. Because they were dead. I didn't believe it, not really, at first. I mean, I didn't really have time to process it. Then I saw the bodies. The broken, empty bodies. And I knew it was true. That was the first time I really cried since I heard the news.

They asked me if I had any other relations, and I told them no, because my mother's parents were dead before I was born, while my father's parents died when I was 3 and 5 and both my parents had no siblings. So yeah, no other relatives.

After that, I don't really remember. Like I said, it was all kind of a blur. They talked at me at lot, and I nodded a lot so that they would leave me alone. I haven't kept track of any of their names. Now, I'm at last with my new 'social worker' in an office with my suitcase. A tall, stick-like man (he told me his name but I've forgotten, so for now he shall be called The Stick) is telling me where I'm going to live. I'm definitely listening now.
"In your mother and your father's wills, they wanted to give you all of their money when they passed away. Your mother named a godmother, too." I don't really care about the money. I'm only 16 and there isn't much that I really care about any more. At the mention of a godmother, my head lifted a little from looking down at the floor.

"A godmother?" I question. The Stick looks rather surprised. I suppose that was expected, I hadn't really spoken since the accident. I'd answered questions in monosyllables, but hadn't asked any, until now, of course.
"Y..yes. Are you familiar with the name Jo Powell?"
I shake my head.
"She was an old school friend of your mother's, and she shall be your guardian from now on."
I frown. Do I not get a say in this? "Does she live alone, then?" I say instead. It would be best to stay on good terms with these people. They can put me anywhere they want if I annoy them.
"No," he tells me, and I raise my eyebrows in anticipation. "She lives with her husband, Peter Longman, and her 17 year old son, Matt Longman."
"She's got a 17 year old son! How am I meant to live with him?" I cry. I don't want to live with three complete strangers, one of which is probably going to annoy the hell out of me!