Smile Again

Chapter 1

"So you can keep me, inside the pocket of your ripped jeans, holding me closer till our eyes meet...", I hear a voice singing somewhere in my bed. "Damn where are you?", I say outloud as I pull my blanket and my phone flies until it hits my carpet. "Finally", I scream, as I rush to pick it up.

"Hello", I say still in a rush.

"Good morning sweetheart", says my mom from the other side of the phone.

"Hey mom, good morning, how's everything?", I ask her as I lay in my bed.

"Oh, everything's great, I just called to let you know that your dad and I will be coming back today"

"That's great I miss you so much, and where is he?"

"Oh sweetie we miss you too, and he went to buy our tickets, he'll be back soon", she says. "Are you at school already?"

"No mom, I was just finishing changing when you called"

"Alright then hurry up or you'll be late, I'll call you before we get on the plane, I love you baby, tell the twins I love them also"

"We love you too mom, take care, give dad a kiss from me, ok?"

"Sure, sweetheart, bye, see you at home", she says and I can guess she is also excited to come back.

"Bye mom", I say and then hang up.

My parents went to visit Spain to celebrate their 20th Anniversary, they've been out for a week already. I've been in charge all this week of taking care of my little siblings and my grandpa. The twins are 4 years old and grandpa is about to turn 80 next month.

As I rush out of my bedroom, I see the twins, Adam and Sarah, chasing each other around the hall and clearly thinking about running down the stairs.

"Hey!", I screm which makes them automatically stop running, "You two come here, now!" I say firmly while I adjust my backpack on my shoulder.

They don't say anything, they just stand in front of me with their heads down.

"I gotta go to school, alright? I need you to stop chasing each other and behave while I'm gone, Rosa can't be chasing you all around the house and Grandpa needs to sleep so stop. Go and play in your room or in the yard but, listen to me, do not run around the house, specially not close to the stairs, you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am", both say clearly annoyed by my speech.

"Alright, I'm leaving now, be good, I'll be back soon", I tell them as I give each a kiss on the forehead. Then I leave after saying goodbye to grandpa.

I arrive school 20 minutes later and go straight to my History class. Then I have Social Sciences, which is in the same building so I go straight to it. After it is over I go to the cafeteria while I wait for my next class to start; I still have about 30 minutes left.

"Are you gonna use this chair?", says a boy standing in front of my table with his hands on one of the three empty chairs surrounding me.

"Eh... No... You can have it", I say and then I try to smile at him but he doesn't even sees me, he just turns around with the chair and gives it to a girl standing next to him.

"Yep, that's all the conversation I'll have for the day", I think to myself. I've never been a very social person, sometimes I think I'm invisible and I actually like that. I don't like going to parties or to clubs, I rather spend my entire afternoon, no, correction, my entire weekend reading than feeling uncomfortable surrounded by drunk people who are just squeezing against each other in a very explicit way in a place where the moment you enter you totally lose your sense of hearing.

Anyway, I actually enjoy being like that, my friends say I'm kind of a hermit. I love spending time with my family, they are my life. Actually now that I think about it, they should be on their way already; we're having dinner tonight.

"Attention students", I hear a voice coming from the middle of the cafeteria. "Silence students, please", a woman tries to silence everyone and as soon as everyone is quiet she continues, "I'm looking for Mrs. Kia Sanders", she waits, "Mrs. Kia Sanders?".

"Wait, what? That is my name", I think.

"I have an important message for Mrs. Kia Sanders", she waits, "It's an emergency", she finally says. And that's when I react. She is calling my name!

Without thinking about it, I stand up and go directly to her, then I tell her I'm the girl she's looking for. She just looks at me with sad eyes and puts her left arm around my shoulders implying for me to follow her. I don't understand what is happening, I really don't know and I'm freaking out internally. We keep walking until we arrive to the Principal's office, It's the first time I'm here, I didn't even know where it was located. She asks me to go in, so I do. When I open the door, there is the principal in his chair and standing next to the desk are two men in suits.

"Kia, take a sit, please", says Mr. White, the principal.

I do as he asks, he also looks sad. Everyone looks uncomfortable and I'm starting to feel that way also, the doubt is killing me, what has happened? One of the men takes a sit in the chair next to me, and introduces himself.

"Hello Kia, my name is Detective Rogers and that is my partner Detective Blunt", he says and then he stops like waiting for me to say something, so I do.

"Mm... Hello", I say poorly.

"Kia...", he makes a pause and then looks straight to my eyes, then he says, "I have bad news".

My heart starts racing like never before. What happened? I'm so scared but I can't manage myself to ask him anything, I'm to scared to talk.

"Your parents... They had an accident...", he hesitates for a moment and I know he is trying to find the exact words to tell me whatever has happen. "... I'm sorry", he finally says. And that's it, that's all it takes for my heart to break, that one sentence manages to destroy my world in a couple of seconds. He continues talking, explaining me what happened but I'm not listening anymore. I'm shocked. This can't be happening, it can't be true. I just talked to them this morning for God's sake! They can't be gone, not like this, not this suddenly. They were supposed to grow old together, to watch their children graduate and get married. Mom was supposed to advice me and hug me during my bad days as a teenager. Dad was supposed to protect me and get jealous of boys. We were all supposed to watch the twins grow up and start school and graduate. This can't be happening! Please God, let this be only a bad dream. Please! I'm begging you! Suddenly I can't see anything anymore and for a moment I hope that maybe I'm right, maybe it is only a bad dream.

"Kia?", I hear a voice calling me as I start to open my eyes.

"Kia, my name is Sandra, how are you feeling, sweetie?", says a woman standing in front of my bed wearing only white, I guess she sees me confused so she adds, "I'm your doctor".

"What happened?", I ask not completely understanding. "My doctor? I'm in the hospital? What am I doing here?" I keep asking.

"You were in shock then you passed out, your school's principal brought you here", she says simply.

"In shock? Why?", I ask. Instead of answering me she looks at me closely and I see that freaking look in her eyes, that look full of pity, then my heart starts racing again. The monitor next to me starts beeping faster and faster informing her that my pulse was higher and higher each second.

"Sweetie, Kia, calm down, breathe", she says and gets a little closer to my bed.

"... It... Is... True...", I manage to say more as an affirmation than as a question because I already know the answer. Then it hits me, all my hopes abandon me at once and I feel how my eyes are filling with water, with tears. They are dead. My parents are dead.