It starts with flowers

What's left of us

"There was once a little princess called sophie , who looked like an angel, as beautiful as the sky" Sam said as she finished setting the table and sat down, only to realise she forgot to get the most important bowl of all: "oops! The salad. Just a second sweetie"

She walked to the kitchen which is only two steps from the dining table in her tiny, newly-rented  appartment, feeling stupid to forget the only thing she actually eats nowadays
She heard lilly, her eight-year-old niece, say something, but couldn't really catch it
"What'd you say?" Sam asked lilly as she sat back in her chair, putting the salad bowl on the table."
"Is the sky that beautiful?" Lilly said, questioning Sam with her dreamy blue eyes looking straight into her aunts eyes
Sam had them too, the sky blue eyes, sparkling as stars and wider than the universe, with dark brown eyelashes and arched red-brown eyebrows
"Ofcourse" Sam said with a big grin on her face "but nothing like you.You are the prettiest,loveiest, little princess my eyes have ever seen"
She could see lilly ckeecks turn tomatoe red because of her words "thank you Samy" lilly mumbled with embarrassment

"How dare you two eat with out me. God, I'm starving!" Amanda, Sam's older sister scholded them, pointing at them with the phone in her hands as soon as she stepped into the living room out of the balcony
"Well, I'd see you were busy with your phone and didnt want to interrupt" Sam teased Amanda with a little smirk
"Shut up!. He was just telling something about work."
"Yeah, right" Sam said rolling her eyes "anyways, we haven't had a bite yet, your stomach can rest easy"
"Alright Miss. Hilarious. Let's see if you really can cook"
"Oh, way better than you do, by the way" Sam teased back. Although she couldn't deny being a little nervous inside watching her sister take the first sip of the chicken soup, because she knows that if there's anything her sister does right, it's definitely food. Then she tasted the pasta with the white sauce, and made a surprised face, putting her thump up "its actually pretty delicious. Do you know what that means?"
"It's the end of the world?" Sam said with a little awkward laugh
"No, it means you are really off on your own, and you wont be coming over for dinner" Amanda frowned looking next to her at lilly, who looked upset too
"Oh guys" Sam reached for their hands and squeezed them a bit
"I promise we're going to see each other, like,all the time. You know i cant live without you both"
"Alright, now thats done with, lets eat because i dont think I'll servive anymore with out food in my system" Amanda said looking at the dishes like she's just discovered a treasure in a sunk ship in the heart of the sea. Sam thought about that. Her love for the sea, any kind of water for that matter, knows no limits. When she was packing to move out from her gone parents house four months ago, Sam decided she'd rent an apartment away from the city, near the seashore, where she'd go to a very normal school and have what she always dreamt of, the peaceful solitude, Where she can feel better and relaxed after what happened on last year's New Years eve.
But Amanda begged her to stay in New York with her and lilly. "I cant get into college here" Sam remembered arguing with her sister when she told Amanda she was leaving to somewhere remote
"Who are you fooling here. You know well you can. I know how you did at school and I know how perfect your grades are for any school you ever wish for" Sam could see Amanda getting a little mad now "We both know the real reason you're leaving". Then she sat next to her on the white sofa her mother picked, placed in corner of the living room in their parent's house. She looked at Sam with the famous blue eyes, and her face softened a little,

that reminded Sam of her mother's face. Amanda was a copy of their mother. And so was lilly. "i feel upset too, Samantha. I'm on the edge, trying to fight every thought telling  me to jump off a cliff, and your....this" she was drawing circles around Sam with her finger "You leaving me to deal with it alone is devastating. Its not going to help neither of us. You dont want to move in with us and dont want me to live here. I dont know what to do. Its destroying both of our lives". Amanda reached to hold both of her sister's hands. "Honey, i want you back. I NEED you now Sam. I want the happy, cheerful Sam around. I want you to hang out again with your friends" she said reaching for Samantha's eyes. "We need each other to get over it"
Sam remembered feeling irritated with her sisiter's words, because 'getting over it' means forgetting that her parents are gone. Forever. Forgetting her mom's kiss before she left for school. And forgetting her daddy-dad's lame jokes that he told just when they were starting to eat. It's become a tradition by then. As soon as the three of them sat down, sometimes Amanda and lilly would be over too, they heard his daily phrase "wanna hear a new one, girls?" Her dad would say, grinning. Then both sisters would look at each other while their dad is telling the joke and wait until he is done to burst into laughters. Because that is how much they loved their parents. Loved. Thinking it in her mind in past tense made her even more reminded and depressed, and that's when she starts sobbing. Amanda started crying, too,  hugging her sister so hard, Sam thought she'd crush her. They were both so fragile, so vulnerable. They really needed each other through this
"Can you continue that story about princess sophie, Samy?" Her niece's voice snapped her out of it all
"I think its time you titled her, honey" Amanda said to lilly. "Considering she's officially grown up" then she looked at Sam, with a clear I'm-mocking-you smile
"I'm not 'officially grown up' just because I've started cooking" Sam said to Amanda, refusing to get older or even to admit she is. "And I dont mind you calling me Samy, by the way." Sam turned to small lilly. "I love it because you're the only one who calls me that, and it makes you special to my heart, little princess" she said  with a huge smile on her face, touching lilly's rosy, freckled cheeks, watching her dimples appear as the little girl's smile got broader

CHAPTER 2