"I still remember everything. Every detail and feeling of what happened. Something like that you just don't forget," I say simply. Drael nods politely.
"Tell me," she begs as the October wind blows her blonde hair around her face. "Please?"
She rubs the back of my hand as it lays in hers. We were both on our backs staring at the starless night sky in her backyard. Stars would have made it much more magical or classic or whatever. Also if we didn't have to keep swatting away purposeless mosquitoes and didn't have to keep shifting around to find a comfortable spot on the grass less ground. Drael's parents were redoing their yard so right now it was just a bunch of hard, red, California dirt and stiff tree roots that definitely did not make good back rests. I guess lying here without it being the typical movie scene made it special in it's own way. We were together and alone when the rest of the world was fast asleep.
I push her hair out of her face and squeeze her hand tight with my other hand.
"Okay," I say quietly. I don't understand why it took me this long to tell her. Emma already knew and its not like I don't trust Drael or that I trust Emma over her. I guess I was being a baby and didn't want to relive the story again but now, I push through to say what she should have heard a long time ago.
"When I was a baby and I went into foster care," I begin. "It wasn't long before I was adopted. I mean, I was a pretty adorable baby." Even though it's night, I can still see Drael rolling her eyes playfully and I smirk but continue.
"This young couple adopted me as their son. My father was a policeman and my mother was an elementary school teacher. They were really amazing parents and devoted their lives and everything they had to me. We weren't rich, but they put me into the best schools and made me take piano and play chess and smart kid stuff like that. By the time I was eight, I had won several piano and chess competitions and was at the top of my class even though I had skipped a grade."
"Yea right," Drael says.
"No seriously," I reply. "I was different then. But anyways, My parents weren't anything like Carol and Hugh. They were loving and funny and strict when they needed to be. This is really lame, but they were probably my best friends." Drael laughs and I smile.
"Anyways, this is where it starts being more traumatic and stuff. When I was nine, we took a family outing to a new science museum that was opening in Silicon Valley. We took the bus to save gas money, avoid traffic, and such. I was so excited. I was sitting on my dads lap and was telling him random facts about the museum that I had looked up. I nagged him with questions about how long it would take us to get their."
"Aww," Drael interrupts. I nod, but I'm not smiling anymore. Everything that followed that peaceful and loving part of my life ended at this part in the story. I wasn't excited to revisit it just when I was ready to push it out of my mind forever.
"Well we never even got close," I say and Drael frowns and furrows her eyebrows together. "Some heist guy on the bus stood up and aimed guns at everyone while demanding them to empty their pockets and his partner got up and pointed a gun at the bus driver so he would keep driving.
My dad calmly moved me from his lap to my mom's and pulled out his gun. He told the first gunman the typical police thing to drop his weapon and put his hands up but the guy ignored him and shot my dad in the arm. My dad retaliated and shot him in the chest killing him, but then his partner, who was forcing the bus driver to keep driving, took his gun away from the driver and shot and killed my dad. He collapsed into the aisle next to the other gunman.
My mother screamed and started yelling at him. The man came over and grabbed my arm to pull me away from my mom but she wouldn't let go. She kept screaming and tried to kick him so he shot her in the arm that was holding me. She let go and screamed in pain."
