★ Stardust & Moonlight ★

THE OUTCAST

" Good night , mom ", I said. I barely opened my mouth. So I doubt she even heard that from me. It was only 8:00 , but I was really worn out. My eyes were drooping and I walked towards the stairs. I heard a voice behind me as I climbed. " Goodnight , sweetheart ". I could tell it was her. The sweet voice could only be hers. I entered my bedroom closing the door behind me. It was then 10 'o'clock but I'm still on the bed with my eyes wide open.I was tired 2 hours ago. But I cannot sleep now. I tried to figure out why. And then I heard a voice, "Skye ? " . I looked at the door .There she was standing. " I thought you said good night . ",she grinned. I just smiled back . She said , " I know you have your company selections starting in 2 days .But you don't have to be tensed because it's okay . Everyone faces it in the same way you do. Just tell yourself that you are not the only one. " I just gave another smile and my mom left the room switching the lights off. I was in a complete shock because I forgot about the selections . "Oh crap ! How the hell could I forget this ? " Maybe that was the reason I couldn't sleep. I started wondering as to how I will be entering the interview room 2 days later from now and how I'm gonna deal with it all. And then I slowly slipped into my nap.

I woke up at 2:18 AM when I heard sounds. I briskly got up and ran downstairs to see what was happening. I rushed only to see my mom and her co-workers going through a bunch of papers in a very hurried way. I din't want to interrupt as they were so busy and it seemed very important and critical. So I just sat on the couch and waited . Sitting there silently , I tried to figure out what actually was happening. My mom is a florist at Kimberley's which was quite huge and famous in the town . She was working in a partnership with Joe Kimberley. Joe is a mid 30's man who is very kind and that's why I liked him a lot.The Kimberley's was something that Joe's father had left for him. As a kid , Joe grew up helping his father with the tiny shop back when he was young. This made him get attached to the place and so he decided to stay on the go with The Kimberley's. Time on time , Now it's the biggest Florist outlet in the Country. Joe never married , but he had adopted a boy who is now grown up and is living in Toscain which is in Sceuton. He never cared for Joe and only wanted to get rid of him , so he's gone away from everything. I never knew much about him anyway. Not even his name , if you ask me. While I was pondering about random things is when I realized that people around me started to notice me there , sitting on the couch. And then I heard a person saying , "I found it ! " with a lot of joy in his voice. Everyone were happy and slowly all of them left the house . With all the talks that I barely heard , I understood that there was this huge deal with someone and they needed a very important document which was missing in the files that they had received yesterday. My mom got her car keys and told me she would be back in 30 minutes. She would go pick up Joe , drive to the office to arrange the documents for tomorrow and then drive back home. I locked the door behind her as she left and went back to my bed. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already 4 AM. I went back to sleep and I woke up when I heard the doorbell ring , thrice maybe. It was 5:15 AM in the clock on the kitchen's wall. I wondered why my mom was so late when she said she would be back in 30 minutes. I rushed to the door and opened it only to see two cops standing right in front of me. It was all a perplex for a moment. I was taken in their car and on the way , I was informed that my mom's car had crashed by the lake and that she and Joe were in it. I had no clue as to what the hell was happening. I strongly hoped that I was still sleeping and that I was just dreaming . But a part of me knew that it was real. I was literally frozen in there , not being able to move any part of me. I din't know what was happening and I was holding it the best I could not to panic. It was past 3 hours when they finally found the bodies in the lake Cove. This was always the case with accidents in the lake of our town Xane as it is the biggest lake of Pineshore and the only lake of Xane. Though our town was technologically driven , it was still a small town. After a while , the FBI asked me to join a foster care . But , I refused. Then they had me sign a document and the funeral took place immediately as I had no relatives to call. After all the customs , they dropped me back home. What's a home without a mom ? It's just a house , not a home. I reached home at 7 PM after all the formalities and I burst out into tears for the whole night. Coz' all I had was one single person in my life after Dad passed away during a military mission. Dad was supposed to come home just the day after the mission , But destiny had it's own plan. The same happened again now.

I din't step of out the house for two days. People came by , but I told them to just leave me alone , not caring how rude that might be of me. I went to the Church cemetery on the third day after the accident and laid near the tombs for five hours and just stared at them. Before leaving I laid two roses , one at each of the two tombs which read , ' R.I.P Ashton Trekvard and R.I.P Oscar Trekverd'. My eyes were gaining the pressure of water but nothing came out as I was out of water now. I picked myself up and laid the two bright red roses there. Before I left I said , " It's okay mom and dad , you can go now. I will be okay." I went back home in the evening. I told myself how I should start being independent now and work and live on my own. I told myself that hardships happen and that's what life's all about. I talked shit to myself not knowing how else to persuade myself. After 4 hours , I decided to start living on my own. I convinced myself in some way. I then walked into my mom's bedroom and cleared all her stuff into big cardboard boxes and set them aside. I wanted her stuff to be there but I din't want to remember all those times every now and then and every time I looked at that stuff.. So I packed it all and finally sealed them with a duct tape. I stored the boxes in the store room and took a shower. I saw the time and it was 4:25. It was exactly the time 3 days ago on April 08th when my mom left in her car. Only then I realized that it was just the same day on which my dad had passed away. I quickly tried to divert my mind and I stepped into the kitchen. I saw few utensils that were staring at me in my face and so, I decided to wash them. I washed all of them and opened the refrigerator only to find four empty water bottles. I filled them all and loaded them back into the refrigerator and looked inside to find something that would balance my hunger which was craving to eat even an empty plate since three days. I found just a bottle of blueberry jam filled in by 1/4th , two eggs and little milk. As I looked into the top shelves I found a packet of bread with three slices.There was nothing to eat besides that. I decided to have the bread and the jam and save the eggs for the next day. I started toasting them and I burnt one of them thinking about my life from now on. I had only two breads left now and I had to fine-tune my hunger with those that are left and the blueberry jam which would make a perfect quantity for my two breads. I then went through the documents in mom's room seeing if they were related to money , but it was all related to The Kimberley's . So I decided to return them back later. I collected all the money I can and counted them twice. I had just 5000 dollars. I was happy I had a house of my own and din't have to pay a rent for it. Thanks to Dad and Mom. I looked at the time and it was 5:30 am . I decided to go to sleep all though I din't want to. But my body needed it. I checked if the door was locked coz' the last thing I want is someone to come in and rob everything. So I checked it twice and then went to sleep.