Ghost•l.h.

death waviers and friendships are the same thing

"Lighten up, will ya? Consider it a fresh start."

"Why should I?"

"Well, you have to remember that you are alive. Be grateful for what you have because it could be gone in the blink of an eye."

"Do you even remember who you're talking to? Next time think a little before you open your mouth."

"Don't speak to me that way, Alma."

I tensed my jaw, and adverted my eyes to the outside, watching orange-red colored trees fly pass the automobile I so desperately wanted to jump out of.

I don't understand why now of all times they finally put me under Aunt Victoria's care. She's only nine older than me. My grandmother had her and my mom more than ten years apart, so by the time by mother had me, her sister was wasn't even a decade old yet.

I've been perfectly fine without an adult for four years. I had even managed to go to school and pass with excellent grades, so they didn't suspect I was coming home to an empty house. The hardest part was proving residency, when they asked for it, at least.

I had inherited my parents money early with some help from their lawyer, and worked when I can to support myself.

Last year though, I made the mistake of trust. I made the mistake of making a friend. I let her come over, and when she realized that I didn't live with anyone, she alerted the school. They immediately sent the social workers to come take me to my aunt, because I wasn't legal yet.

I used to live in a foster home, when Victoria was too young, too selfish, to take me in. I refused to accept family that wasn't mine, so I ran. I ran and I ran until they stopped looking for me. Apparently, they didn't stop for three years. Apparently, they loved me. But I left my heart back at that barn along with my precious family that was taken by it. I didn't have the capacity to love anyone else.

To say this town was strange was an understatement. With a scarce population of only 1526-now 1527- people, Reapings, Maine, was a quiet and isolated city, if that's what you'd call it. It's like as if it never occurred to the sun to light up this place; it was constantly raining. I've always adored rain, but this kind was the light drizzling that never seemed to go away. The kind that irritates you like an annoying mosquito buzzing in your ear.

A small house on the corner of the empty street was what caught my attention. I only got a quick glance of it, but it seemed to be made entirely out of wood. It stood tall and proud, despite looking like it's been through war. It didn't seem like anyone inhabited it.

I pushed my thoughts to the side as the car rolled into the parking lot. With my aunt and parent's fortune combined, the many stares we got when climbing out of the car wasn't surprising. It was very nice, so the girl that emerged from the vehicle must have looked like an alien to them. With my wavy midnight-tinted hair flying around in my face, and stormy eyes, matching the color of the sky. My elevated cheekbones gave my face a depth, a maturity, some would say, and it didn't help that I was nearly always scowling, even when I didn't acknowledge the fact. If someone took a quick glance, you wouldn't be able to tell I was half Asian.

As soon as I stepped foot onto the muddy ground beneath me, I scanned the horizon of people and frowned at what I saw. There was little to no individuals that stood out; it was just like a sea of fish drifting along the current. Where was the one that would chose to swim against it?

It looked to me that they were impressed with what they were seeing out of me, though, which I found quite strange. I was never one to be noticed.