Steal My Soul

09 | asia

Asia

Allison's dark gray SUV was quiet, its refined engine sputtering along. The seats are cold to the touch. A cold chill trickles down my spine, the hairs on my neck standing up.

I warm it up by blowing hot air into my hands and upping my neck between them. When I sneeze Allison turns up the heat and I pull my black blazer closer to my chest. I rest my head against the car window, closing my eyes.

It's been a long morning. The worst has passed. Allison jumped when the court ruled me for emancipation. Now I didn't have to be shipped to a foster home or shelter.

I should be happy too but instead, my mind was restless causing my body to tremble as a lump in my throat formed, trapping my throat. I can't believe a month has already passed and I still don't feel like I belong here. I didn't expect it to be this hard, I had grown up here for almost my entire life.

The upside is that the house is finished and now there's furniture and dishes, and my room is ready and looks like a house that I live in. I just don't know how I'll manage to live in this huge house all alone. When it's just me every creak, sigh, and screech is deafening.

I stare at the gold bracelet wrapped around my wrist. I found it last night after tossing and turning for hours. I was in the very same room I left when I was thirteen years old yet it felt like a stranger's room and I was just trying to make it fit, like I was a guest only there for a second so I couldn't make it mine, just a placeholder for my body to go to sleep.

I tiptoed down the hall in my oversized t-shirt and pink plush shorts making sure not to wake Allison up. The light in her room was still on. I weaved through my stacks of cardboard boxes making a mental note to put those away later.

When I got to my parent's old room, it was quick, a sharp pain snagged my pinky toe and I was stumbling before I noticed what was in front of me. I silently cursed as I regained my balance. It's a creamy beige leather-bound photo album.

I plopped into the wood floor and pulled the photo album into my lap. My hand glided over the cover, my breath shaky. When I opened it a gold bracelet fell with a note.

It read; to our little cookie, a lifetime of family memories. A tear rolled down my cheek. I quickly put it on and took a deep breath before opening it to the first page where it shows pictures of my birth.

I laugh between sobs as I continue to flip through pages, a wave of nostalgia taking me back in time. I missed my parents so much. I stop when I get to a page where they are on their way to another trip.

My mom is smiling wearing vintage Prada sunglasses with a mini white shirt and shorts. She cradles baby me in her hand. My dad is standing beside her, his face blank.

He hated photos and refused to smile in any of them. They stood against a black limo. A knot lurched in my stomach.

Something wasn't right.

I was blazing, flickering out. My heart was a fiery flame that pressured me to go out, a red hot bomb ticking off. Maybe it was the time or the despair but something clicked in my brain and now I'm not so sure that my parent's death was an accident.

"How did my parents die?" I ask Allison, my voice gruff and thick, my words rasping along my throat.

She sighed. "Don't you already know? Car accident, it says so on the death certificate,"

"I know but my parents were going on a work trip and they never used their cars when traveling," I say.

She groans. "Asia, what are you implying?" She says with disgust, snarling at me. "Look I'll make a call and have them send over everything. Will that make you feel better?"