Losing Light

Second Prologue

Part 2

Second Prologue

Long hours of waitressing for minimum wage had killed my feet. It was awful, but it was also my only means of money. It was the money that had kept me living in a tiny, crumby apartment in an unsafe neighborhood. Sometimes I would lie awake and count the gunshots and how long the screams last. I hated living there, but it beat living in the streets by far.

I wished I could have finished high school. Then maybe I could have had a better life. My aunt, who was my guardian for most of my life, was really sick during my senior year. I had to take care of her until she died on a fiery summer day. She was ironically cremated. I threw her ashes in a river in her favorite park a week later.

My feet trudge to that very same park, on a bench over looking that very same river. I usually went by this way to catch my breath, and rest my feet until the last bus came at the other side of the park. It was my only peace, somewhere that I didn't worry about customers without manners or the goddamn leaky faucet that plip-plopped drops on the sink.

What kind of a life was this? What was I living for anyways? For some damn Prince Charming to sweep me up my feet and marry me and live in a rich happily ever after? It wouldn't happen. Happy endings were not going to take place in any chapter of my life. That was what I was certain of. I had no family whatsoever. Not any friends, if the old Russian lady next door who mistook me as her granddaughter didn't count (she did my laundry, so I never complained).

I start to cry, and bury my face in my hands. I was such a wimp, just sobbing alone on a park bench. My aunt would've killed me for showing vulnerability. She hated any "extravagant emotion".

"Hey, what's the matter?" A gentle voice soothes me. I look up and come face to face with a tan, slender woman with a few tattoos on her left arm. She looked about my age, but was much prettier than I was, a brunette with perfect eyebrows and hair and body...

Her gray-blue eyes look into mine with concern. "Why are you crying?"

I found that my tears had stopped as soon as she had arrived. "I hate my life." I answer miserably. It probably would have drove her away. I wish she would. So that, if we would become friends, she'd leave before it would hurt.

"Life does suck sometimes." She agrees. "But why does yours, um..."

"Reyna." I answer. "Reyna Oshiro."

"Oshiro...are you Japanese?"

"Half from my dad's side. My mom was Latina."

"Oh. Okay." The young woman says, noticing the was. She didn't look uncomfortable, or say "I'm sorry". I really hated when people told me that. How could they be sorry, if they didn't even know them? I barely did.

"So, Reyna," she says, interrupting my thoughts. "Why does life suck for you?"

"I have an awful job and I hate where I live. I just wish I could have finished high school or something, so I could have a better job and life. I don't even know why I bother existing." I tell her before I shut up. She probably thinks I'm suicidal now.

"Why couldn't you finish high school?" She asks me curiously.

"My aunt got sick so I had to stay home full-time to help her get better. But she didn't. She died in what would have been my senior year. Sometimes, I almost regret it. She was never kind to me and said all sorts of horrible things to me. I hated living with her, but she was the only one who would take me in." I shiver, but not because of the memories. A wind has picked up and all I'm in are a skirt and a white blouse.

The woman takes off her jacket and hands it to me. "Here, take it. You must be freezing."

"No, no. I'm fine." I assure her, but my chattering teeth and goosebumps give me away.

She smirks and shakes her head. "Yeah, right. Just take it Reyna. I won't take no for an answer."

"Thank you." I tell her and put it on. The jacket is warm, and a bit too big for my petite body. She must be a few inches taller than me. I sigh in content. "You're very kind."

She gives me a sad smile. "Thanks. Not everyone thinks so."

"Well, I think you are." I grin and pat her arm. We both chuckle. A sudden thought strikes me. "Hey. I don't even know your name."

"Oh, right. I'm Violet Ashford."