Little Keeper of Secrets #YoungAdult

CHAPTER 10- DasMontagnes Past

"I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff." - Jon Katz

Julie stopped. She let my hand go and slowly turned around. She looked at me with the saddest face ever.

"Home Sweet Home" She whispered in hope to never be heard. Her eyes were so dark and it seemed that she could just fall apart any time. She stopped looking at me and at turned her face towards the place she called "home", not by choice but because she had nothing else. You could see her body shake a little. Goosebumps rising on her arms. Just by looking at it I felt chills down my spine.

I turned away and looked at the gray building. Yes, I know why she called it the gray house, why she mentioned it as a prison and why she still talks about escaping from it. It looked terrible. One who walked passed it would think "What is that?" or "Man, I'm glad I don't live there".

Truth is, Julie Gargoyle DasMontagne lives in a home for orphans. Miss Delacroix Happy Home for Children to be exact. But it was no happiness in there, only darkness and sadness. Miss Delacroix was a mean old lady that owned a hotel once, but it wasn't very popular and in fear she had to sell it or give it away, she turned it into an orphanage and called it "Happy Home for Children". Now children who live there need to clean their rooms and sometimes the living room, tea room etc... Also there wasn't much food to get there so most of the children were really skinny. They didn't get much sleep either because they knew if they fell asleep they'd get nightmares. So without enough food and sleep most children there were sick.

Although she didn't get much food and she didn't sleep well at night, Julie has always kept her hopes up. She does everything that Miss Delacroix wants and makes sure she gets a lot of free time and she uses it all to be with me. Julie is pretty free and does whatever she wants though. She has always smiled and made her chores happily and if it happened that someone was mean to her she'd just laugh it off. That place was a nightmare and Julie was a dream. That place was complete darkness while Julie was the sun that shined the brightest. Julie does not belong there at all, but still she has no choice but live there.

Julie had a happy family once. Her dad worked at the museum and brought the most amazing stories home about what he had to present that day and what kind of historical things he could find there. Her mum was a florist at the train station. She could have probably done something better with her life but she never wanted to. She wanted to do something peaceful. She could sit there all day long talking about flowers, making bouquets and smiling and laughing all day. When she came home she'd bring the flowers that no one wanted and make the most beautiful bouquets, so Julies home always smelled like flowers.

They were perfect right? Well after a while her dad started to come home late, always working and he almost never called home or spoke to them. One day, a friend of her dads, Detective Rouge knocked on their door. He looked terribly sad and behind him they could see more police cars. He told them that he was terribly sorry, that Monsieur DasMontagne passed away. He told them that Julies dad was involved in a car accident. Once he heard the news he had to get there himself to tell them, as a friend. Her mum who was peaceful had a mental breakdown. She started to throw stuff around shouting that it was no accident that she knew who it was and that she was going to get him.

The police officer called for assistance because Julies mother went completely crazy. She was breaking everything shouting and shouting. She shouted she knew who killed her husband, that "He" killed her husband and of course no one knew what she was talking about. Julie was 8 and had no idea what to do but hide under her bed and pray that it would stop.

Her mum was sent to an asylum and no one knew who could take care of Julie. The only thing Julie got to keep was her stuff, DasMontagnes name and all their fortune which came in handy later.

She went to different host families. But none of those families wanted her. Julie was in shock and she was too little to understand. She didn't talk to no one for a while. All the families gave up on her, all because of the same reason.

"She never talks or says what's in her mind..."

"She just sits in the corner and does nothing..."

"She doesn't eat or show any interest in what we're saying"

"She's inside all day and refuses to do something with us..."

Julie was alone, and no matter how hard people tried to reach her, she'd push them away. In the end they had no choice but send her to Miss Delacroix.

Julie started to think she'd forever be alone and sad, but then she met me.

I remember her telling me her story for the first time. We were 10 and we were sitting on the hammock, eating Ben & Jerrys. I started to cry and she hugged me and said everything was going to be okay. I kept on crying, harder this time and told her that I'm not supposed to be the one crying. I was supposed to be the one helping her and it was totally wrong that I was the one crying. She was the one who had a hard time not me. Still she helped me and told me that everything was going to be okay.

I got back to myself, realizing Julie was trying to talk to me.

"Are ya even listenin to what I'm sayin Vin?"

"Sure! Yeah, I'm sorry..."

She looked at me, then the building.

"So, ya ready to go inside?"