I Am Not Alone

1: Meeting Dana Blackwell

TRAILER ABOVE with photo of Dana ^

Ok ok, right, fuck, I hate this. I stare at the cupboard of clothes that I've never seen before and tug at my hair that's shorter then I remember, trying to regulate my breathing. I'm Dana Blackwell, my adoptive mother is Rose Caprilla, I'm 17, I just moved here from California, I grew up in foster care, I have no knowledge of my biological family. I chant this to myself over and over, trying to get it to sink in but I get muddled up with the words I'm supposed to know by heart now. My breathing gets shallower and I clutch the locket at my neck tighter, I can feel it indenting into my skin and somehow that makes me calmer, grounds me. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. It is going to be ok. Just pick something and move onto the next task. Opening my eyes I reach out almost robotically and grab the first shirt and shorts I find which happens to be plain denim shorts and a deep blue shirt. Remembering Rose mention that it's going to be colder here then it was in California I grab a dull green coat to go with it. Still in robot mode, I put the clothes on one by one before shuffling to the bathroom to do my hair.
Not wanting to look in the mirror I felt by brushing my teeth, pointless I know but I need a few more minutes before I take in my reflection. Rinsing my mouth out, I dry it with the hand towel and take another deep breath, grip the counter with my hands and look up. Ok not so bad, I think I actually like this better then what I had before, it's more me. The dark brown waves tumble down my back, I was blonde before and it so wasn't my colour. But black marks are smudged under my eyes, I didn't get much sleep. I do a quick search of the draws trying to find a hairbrush until I find one in the second drawer and yank it through my hair and decide to leave it out. I then go back to the first drawer where I saw some basic makeup and grab the concealer and lightly apply it, just enough to hide the lack of sleep. Sighing I walk back into my room and check my bedside drawer where I find the contact lenses that I put there last night, bye bye green eyes, hello deep brown. I blink rapidly after placing them on my eyes, you'd think after a year I'd be used to this but nope I still hate them. Walking over to my closet, I open it again and pull out a pair of black sneakers and slip them on before grabbing my phone, switching off the light and close the door to my room. I turn the phone on, relieved to see that Rose has already set it all up for me, last time I was treated with the blank white "Hello" screen and had to do it myself. Which doesn't sound that hard but I'm so bad at technology it's not even funny, I swear I was born in the wrong decade. I quickly check my contacts and ensure that I have all the necessary people, I also notice that there is a bunch of random names in there as well with cute emojis attached to their name, fake filler people. I laugh quietly when I see Rose has put her name as "The 🌹to your Jack 🚢", she has an obsession with the Titanic film. She's seen it at least a dozen times and made me watch it twice. I myself am more of a comedy gal, the world is too dark to live in without humour.
Tucking my phone away I creep down the hall and knock gently on Rose's door. Receiving no response I gently quietly open the door and call out her name, "Rose?" Only to release that she's not in there.

"About time you woke up! I'm in the kitchen." I jump at her voice, the house is so quiet I didn't even hear her moving around downstairs. Following the sound of where her voice came from I padded down the stairs and attempted to find the kitchen, I was so tired last night I didn't really pay attention to where I was going and I really only wanted to know where A) my room was, B) where Rose's room was and C) where the bathroom was, cause that shit's important. The smell of coffee lured me into the open kitchen where I find Rose in slacks, blouse and jacket with her hair slicked into a ponytail while she sips in her coffee. The only time I see her look even remotely casual is when we're watching movies together. She smiles at me and hands me a steaming cup which I take gratefully. Lifting it to my lips I pause before taking a sip and open my mouth but she beats me to it, "Yes I added the cream and milk and it was full cream." I smile sheepishly and she winks. Sneakily I try and reach for the sugar when she slaps my hand away, "I already added two! I know how you like your coffee!" She reprimands me, laughing at my addiction to sugar-filled coffee.