Clementine

i

MAY

I sat in the cold, bare investigation room as the detective stared back at me. Her name tag read 'Collins' and laid above her chest, clipped onto the pocket of her shirt. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she flipped through the file in front of her. I felt awkward, fidgeting in my seat every so often.

Detective Collins cleared her throat. "So, Clementine, start from the beginning. What exactly happened?" 

I lifted my head and stared at her for a minute before responding. 

"What do you mean, what happened? She's dead."

•••••

JANUARY,  4 MONTHS AGO

Today was the first day of school after Winter break and I was the least bit excited to go back. I heard footsteps coming towards me and suddenly felt an arm on my shoulder. My older sister started to shake me and I groaned. "Mina. Mina. Wake up! Clementine, oh my god!" she yelled.

I opened my eyes and was met with Willow's face staring down at me.

"You're going to be late. Mom and Dad told me to wake you," she mentioned, as she walked out of our shared room. I shoved my face into my pillow and let out a loud groan. When we were younger, my sister and I used to be close, hence the twin bed across from mine, but the older we grew, the more distant she became from me. There was no one in the whole world that aggravated me more than Willow.

I got out of my bed and wobbled to the bathroom for my morning shower and passed the half-painted canvases in the corner. There were three unfinished paintings collecting dust that would probably remain that way until the summer, or until my little sister and I had the time to finish them together. I wasn't the best artist but I enjoyed the way the paintbrush felt in my fingers as I laid delicate strokes on the empty portraits.

After getting ready for the morning, I quickly ran downstairs and saw my father making breakfast. The smell of bacon and eggs wafted towards me as my mother greeted me a good morning.

I was too tired to open my mouth and reply, so I settled for a wave instead. My younger sister Juniper plopped down at our kitchen counter beside me and she gave me a crooked grin. You know how Bob Ross says, "There are no mistakes just happy accidents?" That's how my family would describe Juniper. She was a newly turned eleven-year-old sweetheart that I adored. I'm seventeen, and despite the age gap, me and Juniper were very close. 

My mom turned around and placed brown paper bags onto the table, "Mina, Juni, I packed your lunch for school today. I have to go my loves, tell Willow I said goodbye!" She kissed our foreheads and hurried out the door.

"Vy," my dad yelled after my mom, "what about me?"

My parent's love story had always fascinated me. My mom used to live in New York with her family and that's where she met my dad. She lived right in the center of Manhattan and her parents being lawyers, were well-off. One day, my dad, a short little Italian man from Columbus, Ohio was walking through the city, not paying attention to where he was going, ran straight into my mother. Apparently, it was love at first sight, or so they claim. Within two months, they got engaged and moved to Augusta Springs. I think it's adorable and completely cliche, but I could never fall in love with someone that quickly. That really only happened in books and fairy tales.