"Mr. and Mrs. Palmer will not be forgotten. They were loved by so many, including their daughter, Alex. The people of this town will miss them. Lord I pray that you heal these hurting hearts, and I thank you that Alex come out of the wreck unharmed. You truly do work in miraculous ways. In Jesus name I pray, amen."
Alex's POV
I watched as Pastor Morrow walked off of the stage. He nodded at the people he made eye contact with, but said nothing to them. When he made it down the steps, he starting walking to the back of the church, where I was sitting. I was sitting by myself. I hadn't said a word to anyone the whole time I was here, and that's how I wanted it to be. I wanted to be left alone. Pastor Morrow continued to walk toward me, but I pretended that I didn't see him. When he made it to where I was sitting he stopped and politely stretched his hand out toward me. I did not take it at first but he insisted, so I shook his hand.
"You must be Alex."
"Yes sir." I spoke in very few words, hoping that he would notice that I really didn't want to talk, but he carried on anyway.
"Well, I'm terribly sorry for your loss dear. It must be tragic. You know, we all loved your parents. I know hoe hard this must be for you."
"Yeah, I've been getting that a lot today." Everyone here sounded like they rehearsed what they would say to me before they came. It was the same thing all morning. "I'm so sorry for your loss, this must be terrible for you, if you ever need anything I'm always gonna be here for you." The truth is, I didn't believe any word that any of them said, and I was really just ready to go home, wherever home was anymore.
After a long conversation with the pastor, I was ready to leave. The same woman I had been staying with since the accident, Mrs. Pearl, left her seat at the front of the church and made her way to me. "Are you ready to go honey?"
"Yeah, I guess," I replied. She nodded to her husband, who was still at the front of the church, and he grabbed her things. She started walking towards the door, and I followed, thankful to be leaving. I got in the back seat and sat quietly. Mr. Pearl got in right after me, started the car up, and waited on Mrs. Pearl to get into the passenger side seat. When she finally found her way to her seat, she buckled up, and we pulled away. The ride back was awkwardly silent. I didn't know these people, so there wasn't much for me to say to them, or for them to say to me.
When we arrived to the house, I unbuckled, got out, and walked inside. I sat down on the living room sofa, and put my head in my arms. I sat for a second until I felt a presence next to me, and then a hand on my back. I lifted my head to see Mrs. Pearl. She was trying her best to comfort me. I gave her a faint smile, and put my head back down. "Well, it's almost lunch time," Mrs. Pearl said, "you wanna order a pizza?"
"Sure... I'm kinda hungry," I mumbled through my arms. She got up, and walked to the kitchen. I sat up, and turned on the tv. I watched a full episode of something on T.L.C, which was about 30 minutes long, and then I heard a car door. I got up, and looked out the window. I saw a younger boy, about my age get out of the car. The wind was rough that day, so when he got out of the car, his curly dark brown hair flew into his eyes. When he pushed the hair out of his face, his green eyes were clearly noticeable, even from where I was sitting. His almost tan complexion could have reflected in the sunlight. I stared at him through the window while he handed the pizza to Mrs. Pearl. She paid the boy, gave him a faint smile, and turned around to come back inside, while he turned around and walked towards his car. He stopped just before sitting in the seat and we made eye contact. He smiled at me, so I smiled back. He got down into the car, and when he looked back up, I was still staring. He waved, so I waved back. Mrs. Pearl walked in, causing me to jump.
"I'm sorry," she laughed, "didn't mean to scare you. Come eat." She nodded her head towards the kitchen, so I followed. I grabbed a slice of pizza, and made my way back to the couch. I turned the T.V. to something Mrs. Pearl wouldn't mind, as she sat down beside me.
Mrs. Pearl was around my moms age. My mom was 37, and Mrs. Pearl was 35. She at once had a child of her own, but lost her in a terrible accident at lake martin one year. Her daughter was only a year younger than me when she died. I'm only 16, which would have made her only 15 the year she died. Mrs. Pearl was depressed after she lost her daughter, and the house felt empty without her there, so her and Mr. Pearl decided to become foster parents. That's why I'm here today. Since my mom and dad were the only family I had left, social services threw me into foster care, and the Pearls decided they would take me in. I'm only here temporarily, so I told myself I wouldn't get attached to them, or anyone else. I'm only a city over from where I used to live, but it was still enough for me to have to move schools, so I'm now enrolled into a new school, with all new people. Since I don't know where they'll put me next, I decided that I'm not gonna keep to myself as much as possible. I don't want to make friends, and then have to move away again, so I decided it would be best to not have them at all. My social worker Linda, said that I might be here for another 2 months, or another 2 years.
