Twist of Fate

When Fate Steps In: Part 5

She heard noises coming from the spare room and saw that the door was ajar. She peeked in to see her niece rummaging through a suitcase and walked into the doorway and stood there watching what she was doing. She stood there for the longest time before stepping inside.

"What are you doing?" she asked her niece, but Zoe didn't pay her any attention. She just kept busy going through the suit case as she took out the slightly wrinkled clothes and took to the task of refolding them. She walked up to her cautiously thinking the girl would stop and look up but she didn't. "Zoe, stop!" Marla shouted in the hopes of getting a response out of her.

When she still wouldn't speak to her or even acknowledge her presence, Marla snatched the piece of clothing she was folding out of her hands. "Give it back!" Zoe shouted, but Marla refused to relinquish the article.

"Zoe, tell me what you're doing?" she asked staring into the girl's angry eyes.

"Mom doesn't like her clothes all wrinkled, so I thought I'd straighten them out before she gets back," she said and Marla couldn't believe what she just heard. "Can I please have that back? It's mom's favorite blouse."

"Zoe, you mother isn't coming back," Marla said with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, she is and she won't like it if you get her clothes all dirty," Zoe said and reached for the blouse. This time Marla gave in and let her have it. "You know how she hates to do laundry."

"Zoe, please don't do this," Marla pleaded with her, but she continued working until something made her stop. There is an envelope in the pocket and rested in the top the suitcase. It was sticking out so she reached for it and took it out. "Honey, what's wrong?"

Zoe slowly opened up the envelope and found the two tickets and remembered their trip. She had prepaid for them when they arrived in Laurel. They were round trip to Paris with a stop in New York. They were going to spend the day their shopping and getting their hair done and see a Broadway show. Zoe had been longing to see Cats for a while, and they were going to make a night of it.

"It's our tickets," Zoe said and then threw them on the floor. "We were supposed to spend the summer together, just mom and me..."

She looked over at her aunt who had tears in her eyes. She concentrated hard, trying to see the face of her mother, but she could always tell them apart, especially after her mother dyed her hair blonde, but it was something else. They weren't the same. Others couldn't see it, but she did.

"She promised!" Zoe shouted and broke down and cried. She fell to the floor, while grabbing her mother's favorite blouse and clutching onto it for dear life. "Why did you leave me? You promised you never would. Why?!"

Marla sat down on the floor with her and held onto her as she cried. They both cried together having lost something so precious. After a while, Zoe became docile and numb and sat on the bed just staring at the floor. Marla took the suitcase and put it in the corner and sat down next to her.

"You should get some sleep," she said and handed Zoe a nightgown.

Zoe looked up at her sadly. "What's going to happen now?"

"Well, I need to call your grandparents before they hear this on the news," Marla said while stroking her hair. "Then a funeral in a few days."

"What will happen to me?" Zoe asked. There was sadness and fear in her eyes as she looked at her aunt.

"We'll figure something out," her aunt said and embraced her. "For now, I want you to get some rest, and we'll talk in in the morning."

Zoe nodded as she took the nightgown. She looked over at the clock and saw it was after three in the morning. Marla left her room leaving her alone. She changed clothes but didn't even bother putting her old clothes away. She just left them on the floor and crawled into bed. She just couldn't understand why fate had been so cruel to her. Whatever she had, seemed to be taken away without warning and she feared that it would always be that way. 

This is the end of chapter four, but be here next time as the story continues. With the death of Zoe's mother her future is uncertain. What will happened to her? Be here next time to find out.