The Misfit

Chapter 1

Lemony Snicket once said, "It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, And that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens. To someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is.=

Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things."

It was a Saturday, a Saturday like the usual, like the one that comes every weekend. Even though it was one of those usual Saturdays, i felt it was colder than most of the Saturday's I've seen and felt before. The cold cannot be defined as the feel of the winter season;it was the near beginning of my junior Year in high school.

I had finished my weekend assignment given to us by Mr. Ryan Johnson. He was the son or maybe grandson of our neighbor Mrs. Johnson. Her name is Maria but everyone in the neighborhood calls her Mrs. Johnson but, due to the fact that she has been present here since the beginning of the 70's and rather back as a child, it'll be appropriate to call her that.

When I was younger my mom always used to drop me at her house whenever she had extra shifts. I'm pretty sure i have played with Mr. Ryan's daughter a few times.

She was a year or two older than me. She is in college now but gives frequent visits to her home. My home consists of my mom and dad. I also have an older sister who moved out of the house when she was 14, the reason - she said that she could never get along with our parents.

Her name's Carolyn Torres, I miss her, but never saw her, at least not since she is gone.

"Eve, come on up, a Saturday does not give you a right to sleep all day", my mom screamed at the top of her lungs, she used to be a dance instructor but left it when she had my sister at an early age.

I and Carol have an age gap of a year. So my parents pretty much had me while they were only practicing to raise their first kid.

I walked downstairs to see my dad watching some weird programme about the sleeping habits of wild bears; i proceeded to the breakfast table, where mom made my favorite Pancakes with maple syrup.

"Hey sweetie, your dad and I have to leave for a catering gig, to the north Linborough, it might take us a while to be back, so be a good girl while we are gone "mom said, well in her mom tone

"Yes mom" I replied while trying to balance between checking out the latest celeb scoop magazine and eating my pancake. My mom kissed the top of my head and dad twisted his hands in his usual way. And then they went out of the door while saying me their final goodbyes.

I proceeded to watch some old DVDs of my favorite movies. It took me all day to partially finish the bowl of popcorn I made for myself, while sipping the soda. I heard the ringtone of the house phone go off.

I juggled my popcorn bowl and soda can in one hand and tried to reach the receiver of the phone from the other hand.

"Is this the Torres house "said the voice of an unknown man I've never heard before

"Yes its Evelyn Torres speaking, who is it?" I asked the man

"This is Officer Edwards, Miss. Torres do you know a woman and man aged between their late 30s named James and Anna Torres ", the man answered while presenting a lot of sorrow in his voice.

"Yes they'll be my parents, why are you asking for them officer? "I answered still confused

"Miss. Torres, can you make it to the city hospital at the north wing of Linborough as soon as possible. Your parents are in the hospital ", I started fearing the worst, suddenly all of my popcorn and soda fell from my other hand, staining the carpet and sofa below it.

"I'll be there in an hour", I quickly took some cash from the emergency box and ran out the door, while taking a lift from Mr. Ryan on the way.

After finally reaching the hospital after a one hour drive, I checked at the reception asking for my parents of Officer Edwards and ran towards the direction the nurse pointed me. I saw a guy in uniform and ran towards him.

"Officer Edwards?" I asked the man who seemed like a guy in his 40s

"Yes, are you Miss Evelyn Torres?" The man questioned and answered me in the same sentence.

"Yes, you said that my parents were brought in here?"

"This way Miss. Torres "he pointed towards the last door on the left of the corridor. There lay my parents exactly the same they were this morning. Only with the difference that my dad lay there lifeless and my mom was hooked up to all these machines, doctors around both of them in surgical wear and they were just lying there.

"Mom, dad ... please god wake up, mom wake up ..."

"Dad" my life was shattered

"What happened? Why aren't you guys waking up ... god please?"

"They can't be, please god damn it wake up"

I don't remember what happened after that. It all happened so quickly. I was in my house and the next moment I was at the place where my dad were to be taken away from me forever, a place which I was supposed to visit every time I missed them, a place which was no longer as happy, as joyous it used to be when my mom cooked for m , as amazing when my dad made me learn how to drive a car, A place as comfortable as it was when my mom used to sing me lullabies, a place felt as safe as when my dad was around. It was lonely, dark and I just can't think about it.

All of my world changed in a sudden moment when someone without thinking just crashed their car into my mom's catering truck, which she was taking to cater a wedding, a wedding which made the bride's dream come true, where she saw the happiness in all of her family's eyes when she was supposed to get married,

It was cancelled because they did not think it was appropriate. Since the Richards were friends of my parents. What about the guy who crashed over my parents car, which made them go to the place where they were not needed so early, they were needed here with me.

The officer told me that this guy is of my parents age. His name is Larry Wilson, the one thing I want to know why he did such a thing, why did he had to do it.

Mr. Ryan and Mrs. Johnson was with me the whole time, the whole time during the hospital, during the arrangements for the funeral, during the time when Carol decided to show up. I saw her but she never met me. She was there to just see them for the last time.

She was ... she was gone, not in the same way mom and dad were, but gone. I was going to be too maybe someday. I felt nothing; it was all empty inside of me. During those trips to the hospital, the funeral, the graveyard, the court.

Yes, the court , the guy looked sorry , but he was missing something like he never did a single thing, not in a murderous way, but in a hiding way he was hiding something. Was he not the one who did all of this, was he not the one responsible for all of this, was he not the one to be apologetic towards me. Or was he?

"When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose them all at once; you lose them in pieces over a long time—the way the mail stops coming.

And their scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in their closet and drawers.

Gradually, you accumulate the parts of them that are gone.

Just when the day comes—when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that their gone, forever—there comes another day,

And another specifically missing part."

- John Irving

I tried to search the missing pieces but allI I got is silence, the silence that lures upon the darkness, the darkness of death. I tried and I was tired, tried to get the answers, tired of waiting for the judge to pass his judgment. But what the judge passed was definitely not what I was expecting to hear.

He wanted me to go stay with my parent's murderer because I was a minor, I was supposed to be taken care of and judgment of lifelong imprisonment meant that there was no support towards me, since we had nobody.

My parents were in love so they left their particular houses without anyone's consent everyone was against it, that's the reason nobody even came to the funeral.

I don't think love is a bad thing, for Carol though,it was bad, because some guy she was dating, cheated on her, she was too young to be cheated and according to our parents too young to even date. Which was one of the reasons, they disagreed on.

Everybody thought she was a rebel but I don't believe it. I just think she was a human and my big sister. That she didn't care for anyone but her. If that were so, then she would not have even come to the funeral, like the others but she cared. that's the reason whenever I'm angry or joyous, jealous or possessive, that I sometimes write my feelings to her. I cannot send the letters I wrote, since I don't know where she is. But it feels good, it feels really good to just get it out.

So,

Dear Carol,

I miss mom and dad, and you. I know if you were here you would never allow for me to go live with the people who killed our parents

For me to not go to this unknown new place called Crystal Hollow, even the name sounds, a little bit too unreal.

I don't want to go there

I don't want to become 'THE MISFIT'

Love, Evelyn