Who Am I?

Chapter 1. Memories

I sat at the dark wooden table, holding the newspaper in my hands. The cream coloured walls still reminded me of them, and the day that they painted them that colour. I looked down at the newspaper article. Even though the story had been told to me more times then I could recall, I still stared. The headline was horrific and broke my heart no matter how many times I read it.  

“Young couple killed in Destiny Falls” 

A silver teardrop ran down my face and fell. I wiped it off quickly before it soaked into the brittle paper. My parents had died that day and I was left alone at home. My so-called babysitter had put two cans of baby food into a bowl, sat it in front of me and locked me in the house while she ran off to the nearest bar and got drunk. 

I laid the newspaper down on the table just as my grandmother walked in. Rosemary Jane Hunter had jumped into the scene out of nowhere and saved me from being sold on Ebay by some random and raised me as her own. Even though she was half deaf and blind, I was still grateful to her for all she had done for me. 

“Good morning Scarlet my dear!” I looked up at her and smiled. She had a smooth face, surrounded by long grey hair, which hung down to her waist. She was smaller then me, but her voice made up for that. 

“Morning Grandma Rose.” I answered.

She smiled warmly then squinted at the newspaper. I held my breath. My Grandma had never liked thinking about the past, and constantly reminded me to 'move forward'. 

Her face broke into a grin and she laughed.

“Reading the newspaper I see! Ah, always good to keep up with the news, back in my day we always read the newspapers, bought them off young boys yelling out the headlines on the sides of the streets you see.”

I nodded politely, breathing a sigh of relief, and picked up my spoon, dunking it into my bowl and pulling out a spoonful of soggy cornflakes. I looked at them, held my breath and shoved the spoon into my mouth. I forced myself to swallow the wet cereal, then shuddered. I hated soggy cereal. I bent down and picked up my school bag, sitting beside my chair.

“I’d better go Grandma Rose, don’t want to be late for school!” I grabbed my silver lunchbox, sitting alone on the kitchen counter and stuffed it into my bag. I looked up.

There it was again. The first time I'd noticed the blue figure had been years ago, and it had never disappeared like I thought it would. Where Grandma Rose was standing, was a blue, weeping figure. She was partially transparent, and was bent over, with silvery tears running down her face, landing in invisible puddles on the floor. Her eyes wear a bright topaz colour and were framed with dark lashes. She was wearing a light pink, old-fashioned dress and a halo hung above her delicate head.

“It’s ok.” I whispered to her quietly. 

She looked up at me, and dabbed at her eyes with a light blue handkerchief. She gave me a small smile, which I returned before turning my back and walking out of the room with the cream coloured walls.