Mated To My Heartless Stepbrother

   It was a beautiful July morning. The air was silent,the birds sang a symphony and the trees coated with soothing colurs swayed to the rhythm.  

  While I sat down on the pavement,I saw a little girl. Despite the heat of the scorching sun,she still managed to ride her pink bike with a smile on her face ringing her bell with much enthusiasm. It was hard to not smile at her. It gave me a slither of hope that there is still happiness in the world. It went with her and my eyes darted to see my father packing our things to the front lawn. 

  I didn't want to leave California seeing as it was the only connection I had to my mother, well that and the lovely crescent necklace she gave me before she passed on. The events that led to her passing are still as clear in my mind as if it happened yesterday.   

  "Dad watch out!!!" I screamed as I saw a bus heading directly towards us. Dad was too occupied with shouting at my mother for not making lasagna as he wanted,to see the incoming vehicle. 

  I should tell you that my father has anger issues. His doctor, Doctor Robin,has placed him on a lot of therapies and medications for the past two years but nothing seems to work. The last report he got had a comment "Mr.Brown,we have tried the best we can but you are a tough nut to crack. Nevertheless,we will not give up on this journey."

  The bus did not stop coming and dad only saw it when mom shouted out (a little too late if you ask me). All I could remember next was the glass shattering,my glasses falling off my eyes and the last bang before I slipped into unconsciousness. 

  When I woke up,I was greeted by the sun staring directly at me. I blinked my eyes a few times to see clearly, scrambled on the floor to find my half broken glasses. I put them on and searched earnestly for my mother and that's when I saw my father pulling her out of the passenger seat.  I went to help him with it because I could not picture myself surviving without her. We succeeded in pulling her out of the passenger seat just in time for the car to explode therefore extending us few kilometers away from it. 

  At that point,my entire body hurt more than it has ever hurt in my entire human existence. I forced my eyes open,grateful that the sun did not blind me like before,and I saw my mother looking at me with tears in her almond shaped eyes and I knew she was about to utter her last words to me,so I held on to her with my last strength.  "Amelia,you are a beautiful and intelligent girl,do not allow anyone to tell you otherwise. You come from a line of fighters and we fighters never stop fighting even when we do not know if we will win. This necklace has been in our family for ages. Take it,it will protect you and bring you good luck. Take care of yourself,take care of your father and remember I love you with everything in me."  A tear fell on her cheeks and it was the last things she felt before she gave up the ghost.   

  I sat there drowning in my tears as I watched life slip out of the only person that meant the entire world to me.  I could not move,I could not think, I am not even sure I was breathing. All I did was cry.  Dad woke up a few minutes later. The devastating wail he let out on realising that his wife is dead was soon drowned out by the sirens of the ambulance.    

  The Uber driver got there just in time to take us to the airport and still numb from watching my mother being dropped into the ground at the cemetery,I could not move. Dad picked me up and put me in the back seat.  We didn't carry anything apart from our clothes. I believe the memory attached to the furnitures was too much for dad to keep around. So he left everything there.  Why we were leaving California, I had no idea, but I sat and watched from the back seat as the only place I called home faded away from my view. I was comforted by the singular fact that my mother's necklace laid proudly round my neck. 

  We had a smooth flight and in the next minutes,I found myself standing on the native soil of New Orleans. The city where the supernatural meets the natural. It all sounded like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to me. But looking at the streets filled with ancestral artifacts,I was a little bit excited that I would be living here.  The car took us to our new home. It was smaller than the one back home and I immediately hated it. All feeling of excitement that I had on the drive here went with the wind.  The sitting room was designed with outdated furniture design. The floor needed a cleaning company to clean it ten times before it would appear clean.  The only striking feature of the room was the fireplace,which looking at it closely, had a dead rat in it.  The table cloth placed on the dinning table had a hideous stain on it, nothing a little club soda and salt won't solve. 

  Dad showed me to my room upstairs and I almost threw up at the sight of it. The bed was creaking and the mattress had cockroaches on them.  My wardrobe was too times too small for me. I hated the house and wondered why dad would make us leave our haven for this mouse trap.  Suffocated by the smell oozing out of the house, I ran outside only to behold the most breath-taking sight I have ever seen in the form of a boy.  I stood there for few minutes soaking up his features and daring to think if I would be allowed to run my hands through his chiseled jaw bone. 

  I was so occupied with the thoughts that I didn't even notice that his hand was out for me to shake. He touched my shoulder to snap me out of my dream world and I fell into a deeper one.  The next thing I heard was  "Are you alright?"  I stuttered a little but could still get out the words "Yes, I'm fine."  "My name is Derek" and there was that hand again. Touching it may make me fall into a complete bliss but judging from the day I've had,I knew I deserved it.  Taking his hands,I said "Amelia". And he smiled at me.  Suddenly,I could feel the air that took my excitement of being in New Orleans bringing it back to me.  I guess New Orleans won't be so bad after all.