I stand in front of the closed casket as I had requested, not wanting to see her like that. I knew she was prepped to look as her old self when she was lively but I just couldn't bring myself to see how much I have missed. All I can remember is her reclusive self slowly turning in to an empty being. I can't even picture her smiling. I know she did. She must have been happy when my father was alive but all I can see was her empty stare just struggling to breathe. Before I can spiral into the nothingness of my mind I whisper to the casket hoping she'd hear me somehow, "I'll see you on the other side".
A throat clears as I turn to face Mark. It was already dark outside as I couldn't bring myself to come see her before. I waited until the ceremony was over until the few people that managed to show up left. I didn't care to see anyone besides the Holts. I didn't have energy to have small talks and thank them for coming, I just wanted to scream, I wanted to yell at my mother for leaving me, I wanted her to answer all my questions, but above all I just wanted her to love me. I needed her hug more than I needed to breathe right now but I knew that day will never come.
"There's someone that wants to meet you," he says softly. Before I can protest he stops me, "you need to meet them. They're your new guardians."
Them? I thought it was just someone.
"They knew your parents," Mark continued.
"I thought Maggie and Tristan were going to take care of things," my voice breaks. I hadn't said much as I've been speechless throughout the whole ordeal but I was present. I ate the food they offered me, I sleep as much as I could before the nightmares plagued me.
"We couldn't get them to change their minds since your guardians accepted to care for you once your parents lawyer contacted them. As much as I wished to be your legal family there wasn't much I can do. On the bright side they seem like kind people." Tristan answers from the door. He gives me a small smile before stepping aside and letting a couple walk in.
A woman around my mother's age with a gentle face and bright blue eyes smiles at me. Her expression was of sadness as if she'd lost her mother as well. Tears gathered on her eyes, as she sniffed into a handkerchief. The man beside her held her in a tight embrace as he looked from her to me in a pitiful way. He seemed out of place. He managed a small smile that made his face look kinder, it help his laugh lines show more profoundly.
He clears his throat before speaking. "Hi, I'm sorry we have to meet this way," he kindly apologizes. I stand there motionless staring at these two strangers as my mind runs a million miles around with questions and thoughts.
"We're John and Angela Burke, we're your new guardians." He smiles even more brightly.
I furrow my eyebrows as the woman, Angela, squeaks out, "Angie," she clears her throat, "please, call me Angie." She smiles just as brightly as her husband even through her tears.
"How do you know her parents?" Mark asks for me. I can't even think of forming words as my head spins with all its new questions. Thank goodness I have Mark if not I'd be standing there like an idiot looking completely lost.
"We grew up together, before her father, Jordan, decided to move away." Angie says, but something about the way she said it made me wonder what else there is to the story. From what I knew of my father he didn't rush into something out of the blue, he had a lot of thinking before he set his mind unto something. Even when we did go from city to city I knew that took a lot of thinking and planning.
"Why? Why did they move?" I ask them. My voice came out stronger than I anticipated but I really needed answers and in anyway I could get them the better.
"We-I-umm," Angie was taken back with the sudden question that it seem to have messed up her sense of speech.
"We don't know," John answers warily. A slight movement catches my attention. His hand twitched as he utter those words. I must have been staring too long as he quickly stuffs them in his pockets offering me a sheepish smile.
Something doesn't add up but I push that aside since I barely even know these people and I was just projecting my suspicions onto them. I didn't know what was left or right at this point. I was just there.
I don't trust their answers either, Mark's voice fills my mind. I don't say anything as we all continue to stand awkwardly in the empty room.
The casket behind us being the elephant in the room.
"I think we should get going. Vanessa can stay with us for tonight and tomorrow she can journey with you to her new home." Tristan offers as the room continue to thicken with awkward tension.
Move? I ask Mark through our link.
Yeah, they want to take you back to their home, where your parents grew up. Where you were born. Mark gives me an assuring smile before walking me out of the room. I manage a small goodbye before leaving the strangers behind. I didn't expect my life to change as drastically as it has. I knew one day my mother would no longer be with me, I mean I had lost her long before she even died but I didn't realize how lost I would be. After all the preparations I did to keep afloat once this dreadful day came I was just as hopeless and scared as the day I first shifted.
I walk out that room leaving the Holts to sort things out as I walk out without a single glance back.