Iris palmer sat on the porch staring at the stars her Aquamarine eyes shone under the moonlight, the cool breeze of the evening  blowed her beautiful golden hair as tears  rolled down her well defined cheeks.

A pair of heels matching her black dress lay carelessly on the ground, her father had just been buried her mother told her that he had died from a heart attack.

The funeral was brief and quick, Iris noticed that her mother had left the funeral before her father was even put into the ground, she was confused by her actions but wasn't too surprised because her mother Helen had completely changed after her father died.... she became cold and distant and she wouldn't even look at Iris twice,  it seemed like she blamed the teenager for what had happened.

Iris could not understand why her once sweet and gentle mother would suddenly change, as the thoughts swirled her mind  a car drove

into the driveway and iris's mother Helen palmer stepped out of the car in a hurry she was also dressed in black, she walked past Sara and opened the door

" come inside and park your stuffs we are moving"

Iris sprang up to her feet and walked towards her mom

"what are you talking about?" Iris asked her with tears in her eyes

It was a regular thing for the palmer family to move they barely stayed in one town for more than a year but they had managed to stay in Misty valley for four years, Iris had actually believed they were done moving

"sara please I beg you don't argue with me on this, just go inside and park your stuffs into the car.... we gotta go right now" Helen spoke to Iris with fear in her eyes

"dad's funeral was a few hours ago, we can't just move again... I actually have a life here and you might not care about me or dad but this house contains my happiest memories of him" Iris said with a tinge of anger in her voice

Helen folded her fist in frustration " I love you and your father more than anything else in the world, I always have... how can you say I don't care"

"you walked out in the middle of his funeral, you have been avoiding me... I understand that you have to grieve but does it have to be at my expense?... you act like I killed dad.... I didn't kill him, he died from a heart attack, you said it yourself" Iris anger had turned into agony

Helen grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door " I don't have time for this, we have to go right now... I'll explain everything later"

"let me go" Iris broke free from her grip and ran away Into the darkness

"Iris, come back" Helen yelled but Iris was already gone, fear gripped Helen as she screamed her daughter's name.

After running for a while Iris stopped to breathe, she looked up and realized that she had actually run for miles because her School was right in front of her, Misty high school was a home for Iris she was the captain of the cheerleading squad and the most popular girl in school her boyfriend Zane was the football team captain, she was adored in misty high her life was absolutely perfect.... she couldn't bear to leave all this behind and for a brief moment she hated her mom for wanting to take this away from her, her family had moved alot but it was at Misty valley that they felt at home.

Her parents had never told her why they were always moving just that it was what was best for the family

Iris sat on a chair by the street whirling away time, she didn't want to go home because she couldn't stand the thought of looking at her mother, two weeks ago they were the happiest family in all of misty valley but now everything had suddenly gone downhill... Iris clearly remembered that afternoon when everything changed, she was in the living room with her best friends Tessy and Brianna they were talking about their new routine for the cheerleading competition in a couple of months when Helen walked into the house crying,  the death of mr palmer had taken its toll on poor Helen who locked herself up in her room for days.

Iris looked at her watch and realised that it was really late, she slowly strolled back home when she got close to her neighbourhood she saw an ambulance outside her house and alot of people standing outside

Her stomach tightened at the sight, she ran to the house and saw her mother carried out of the house on a stretcher, her body was burnt beyond description

" mom...mom" the words came out of her mouth as a whisper, she tried to walk towards what remained of her mother but her legs wouldn't budge and soon her mind lost its will too and she passed out on the ground.

Iris Slowly opened her eyes and realized that she was in a hospital, her vision was a bit blurry

"mom....mom" tears flowed from her eyes as she uttered the words

A woman walked into the ward and smiled at her, she looked a lot like Helen Palmer except younger and prettier she couldn't have been more than 35 she had dark long hair and pretty brown eyes

"you are finally awake" the lady said

Iris sat up when she saw the lady walk in " mom?" she asked, her vision still a bit blurry

she rubbed her eyes and looked up again, she realized that it wasn't her mother

"who are you?" Iris asked

"am Brooke, your mom's sister" Brooke said with a sad smile

Iris looked confused " what are you talking about? ..my mom doesn't have a sister"

" am not surprised that Helen didn't tell you about me we haven't spoken to each other for a very very long time, we parted ways years ago because of a very severe misunderstanding" Brooke explained

"why should I believe you?"

Brooke sighed " don't drag this Iris, you can see the resemblance... its pretty obvious"

Brooke was right and Iris knew it, she looked like the younger version of Helen

" why are you here after so many years?" Iris asked, she knew the answer she would get but deep in her heart she wished that night was a nightmare and her mom was at home baking cookies

"I got a call that Helen was dead, I had to rush down here because you needed to be around someone that was family, you've been asleep for three days.... the doctor administered a lot of sedatives to you because your body was in a state of shock, you kept screaming for your mother each time you woke up"

Iris froze for a bit as reality dawned on her, everything that happened that night replayed in her mind and she broke down into tears

" it's my fault... she wanted to leave but I didn't let her... it's my fault,  she died because of me... it's all my fault" Iris screamed frantically

"calm down Iris, it's not your fault... there was an explosion in the house probably from the cooking gas and she got caught in the middle of it all" Brooke held her trying to calm her down but iris screamed and cried bitterly

A doctor walked into the ward but Brooke told him to give them a minute and he left.

A few hours later Iris was calmer, Brooke had stayed with her

"what's going to happen to me?" Iris asked

"am all you got so you are coming with me to Gilmore falls" Brooke said without any form of enthusiasm

Deep down if Brooke had a choice she wouldn't have taken Iris in and the sixteen year old noticed this

" you don't have to take me in, I can look out for myself" Iris said in a shaky voice

"you are safer with me Iris and am going to do all I can to take care of you" Brooke tried to be as sympathetic as possible but Iris could see in her eyes the same fear that her mother had the night of her father's funeral.

Iris nodded either way and Brooke pulled her in for a hug.

The tears weren't falling from her eyes anymore but deep inside was an ocean of pain and hurt, the kind that she knew would traumatize her for the rest of her life but she wasn't going to let anyone see that part, she made up her mind to stuff it down inside and let it drown her soul, Iris made herself believe that it was her fault that her mother died and she didn't deserve forgiveness.