Forever Changed

Chapter 2-- The Start Of Something New

I wake up late in the morning and go take a shower. The hot water wakes me up and makes me feel refreshed.

With my long, dark brown hair matted to my head and hanging all the way down to My rib cage, I hop out of the shower and pull on a robe that quickly dries me off. As I go to my room I hum to myself. I get dressed in my skinny jeans and long sleeved blue shirt. Brushing my hair out I decide to leave it to air dry.

I walk into the kitchen and decide to have some captain crunch. I grab a bowl, a spoon, the milk, and the cereal and go sit down. chomping on a mouthful of captain crunch I start to wonder where everyone is. My mom and dad have off of work today. They were talking about it last night and they said that they were excited to finally spend the day with us. Wait, where's Ellen?

I finish my cereal and put my dishes in the sink. I make my way to the grand staircase and walk up, one by one they take turns creaking. I take a left at the top of the stairs and open the first door, Ellen's room. Her bed is nicely made, not something a 5 year old could manage to do. I am guessing that my parents went out with her to go shopping and decided I would like to stay asleep. Relaxing a bit I turn around out of the room and go back downstairs. I go grab a small sheet of paper and write,

Mom and dad,

I will be at Mariah's house, call if you need me.

Love,

Ava

P.S. tell Ellen that when I get back we are going to go head to head in candyland, loser has to wash the dishes. :)

I get my moccasins on and go in my truck. I head to Mariah's house. I pull into her driveway and just as I was about to get out, I see Mariah Is coming toward me with her coat on. I decide to stay warm and have her hop in instead of me getting out.

"We can't hang out here." She says as she hops in.

"Why?" I ask, even though I know the answer.

"My parents are fighting again," she says " can we go to the mall?" She asks.

"Sure. why not." I say as I pull out of their driveway and turn in the direction of the mall. I am usually Mariah's go to when her parents are fighting. they have fought for as long as I can remember. They still haven't gotten a divorce though, they believe that they have to stay together for Mariah, even though she thinks they should get a divorce.

I pull into a parking spot at the nearest mall. We then start our shopping spree. We bought some really nice clothes, which ends up going back and forth between our two houses, since we are the same size.

I get a phone call.

"Hello?" I answer. its an unknown number.

"Hello, is this Ava?" A male voice says over the phone.

"Yes, may I ask who this is?" I ask.

"This is detective Charles Bennett and I'll need you to come over to the police department. I'm afraid we have some news." the detective says.

"Oh...okay. I will be right over there..." I say.

After I hung up, I filled Mariah in on what he said.

We quickly hurry into my truck. As I near the police department I keep thinking to myself that it's going to be ok. whatever he says is going to be some good news.

We step into the building and are soon greeted by a plump woman wearing her uniform.

"Are you Ava Greene?" She asks sweetly. A flicker of sorrow I find in her eyes. I can't find my voice so I just nod.

"And who might you be?" She asks Mariah a bit coldly.

"I'm Mariah, her friend."

"Good, good." the woman says to herself. "Follow me please." she led us through a door that took us into a long hallway. After a few turns and doors we finally came to a small room with a table but no chairs. "Detective Bennett will be here soon." she says with a sad smile on her face.

I quick glance at Mariah who is looking nervous.

The door opens and in comes a tall, and quite young man. He looks to be about 20. And that isn't that big of a difference to my age of 17.

"Hello Ava. I'm Charles, we spoke on the phone." I nod a response. "I'm afraid we have some terrible news." I reach for Mariah, grabbing her arm to brace myself for the impact.

"Your parents and your little sister got into a car accident, a drunk driver swerved into their lane and there was a head on collision." A whimper escaped my mouth.

"Are they okay?" Mariah says a bit stronger than I could manage.

"Ellen is in critical condition at the hospital, and I'm afraid your parents are...." he hesitates knowing the pain the words will give me. he looks up at me and I see a tear falling down his face. "I'm very sorry for your loss." he says.

I cover my face with my hands and sob. I can hear Mariah's quiet cries next to me. I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up expecting Mariah but instead see the detective. I cover my face once again and continue crying. I feel the strong arms wrap around me and give me a warm embrace. I don't want him to let go. and for the next few minutes, he doesn't.

I stop crying and save it for later.

"Can I go see ellen?" I ask as loud as my voice will let me.

" Of course. I will drive you both there." detective Bennett says.

"Ava, if you want to do this alone I can drive your truck home. an from your house I can walk home." says Mariah.

I nod.

10 minutes later I'm giving a hug to Mariah.

"Just remember if you need me, I'm only a phone call a way Ava." She says to me while giving me a tight squeeze.

"Thanks Mariah. ill see you later." I say . I walk quietly to the passenger side of Charlie's car and sit down carefully, afraid that my body would break upon impact, just as my family's had... I take a deep breath and buckle my seat belt as tightly as I can without suffocating myself. I look over to Charlie who has already sat down in the drivers side and buckled up.

This will be a looooonnnggg ride....