Angel

1
I sat on the edge of the ambulance with a grey fleece blanket wrapped tightly over my shoulders. My light blonde hair turned dark by the water still dripped. I was drenched, my pink tank top with denim shorts were wet and clinging to my body. A cold gust of wind came through and I pulled the blanket closer around me. I heard footsteps coming towards me and I knew it could only be a police officer to question me. I didn’t look up but I knew he had stopped beside me. He crouched down on the ground next to me to get a better look at my face.
         “Miss,” He said, “I’m gonna have to ask you a few questions about what happened here tonight.” I didn’t move. “I know this was traumatic, but you have to help us a bit and tell us what happened.” He said. “We may be police, but we’re not miracle workers.” I sighed quietly and looked up at him. He had dark brown hair under his officer’s cap and was dressed in the typical dark blue policeman attire. I felt my eyes sting as I recalled what had just happened. Tears rolled down my face once again and I lowered my head.
         “Miss, I know it’s hard, but we need to know anything else you can tell us.” He said to me kindly. I heard a group of people talking loudly and heading towards me. I looked up in time to see three EMT’s rushing a body on a stretcher to where I was sitting. I got up and moved to the side so they could get through and I could get a better look at the victim. The body was covered by a sheet, I knew they were dead. New tears poured down my face when I recognized the figure.
“Mom!” I screamed out and ran to cling onto her body. The policeman that was just talking to me came over and tried to wrench me off her body and after enough struggling he restrained me so the ambulance could take her away. The tears streamed down my face as the officer let go of me and the ambulance drove away. I fell onto my hands and knees, unable to hold myself and the weight of these events anymore. The officer helped me up and put the blanket back around me.
         “I’m gonna take the survivor back to the station for questioning.” He said into his walkie-talkie. The weight of the word survivor hit me like a ton of bricks. When we went to the interrogation room, I hadn’t shifted my gaze at all since I got into the police car. He sat me down opposite the black one way window. He walked out and another officer came in to interrogate me. He sat down in the opposite chair and folded his hands under his chin, propping himself up with his elbows.
         “I don’t want to make this harder than it has to be.” He started, his gruff voice reminded me of my father’s who I presumed dead by now. “I just want you to tell me what happened.” He said. I looked up from where I was, dry tears staining my face.
         “We were in the car, my father, mother, best friend and I.” I started, recalling what had happened only minutes ago. “We were coming back from the movies, and heading to drop off Cassie. She had waterfront property so I always loved going along. By the time we reached her street, I saw that someone had been following us since we left. Her house was at the end of the road right in front of the Pacific Ocean. As dad was slowing down, I saw the car behind us speed up and before we even reached the house fully it rammed into the back of the car and we were sent flying in our little minivan over the railing and into the water.” I stopped for a moment and thought over my words sadly.
         “Hold on a second.” He man said. He ran his hands through his light brown hair.
         “What did the van look like; did you see the license plate number; or the driver?” I thought for a second, thinking back.
         “I think the car was silver. It wasn’t a car, but a truck; it had roof racks too. I can’t remember anything else distinguishing about it… except that it had an eagle on the front hood. Does that help?” I asked him.
         “Yes it does a lot, thank you; if you want to carry on?” He said, motioning for me to continue.
         “As soon as the car hit the water, I unbuckled my seat belt like I’ve seen people on T.V. do. Before I knew it, the water was already past my window and it was all inside. I reached next to me to help Cassie struggling with her belt. The water was up to my chest inside and past the roof outside. I knew the only thing left to do was get everyone out. I had seen people on T.V. do it many times, but that’s so much more different than actually being in the cold salt water. I tried to open the window but the button wouldn’t work. Then I went to open the door but the difference in water and air inside with water outside made it impossible to open. The water had risen up to my chin, and I realized my dad must have been unconscious because his head rested against the steering wheel and my mom started shaking him as her head went under water. My head went under as Cassie and I took a deep breath of the last of the air. I waited a few seconds and opened the door, but it wouldn’t open. I remembered dad had locked the doors before we left so I switched the lock to open on my door and it finally opened. I swam out but the black was starting to blur my vision and the next thing I know, your guys were standing over me, bringing me back.” I finished, looking down and wondering where Cassie was and if she was okay. The man nodded, acknowledging the end and stood up.
         “Thank you…” “Do you have any family to come and drive you home…” “Stacy.” I interrupted, my voice cracking at the thought of being alone. I looked down, eyes threatening to spill tears and shook my head.
         “I see.” He said. “Since you have no guardians… we have no choice but to send you to a foster home. I’m sorry.” He said, walking out of the room before I could protest. This day was going far from well. I got up and walked out the door, turning left to look for someone to help. I stopped at another police officer.
         “E-excuse me?” I said my voice weak. She looked at me; her eyes filled with sympathy and asked me what was wrong.
         “The other policeman said I have to go to a foster home. I don’t know where I’m supposed to go.” I said, thinking I sounded weak.
         “Okay miss,” She said, her long blonde hair falling out of a messy bun. “You can wait in the front – you see where the chairs are? – and you can wait till he comes back or somebody comes to pick you up.” She said; her voice soothingly nice. I nodded and walked over to the chairs and sat on the first then drew my legs up to my chest. I rested my chin on my knees and closed my eyes. When I opened them the man from the interrogation room was standing in front of me,
         “I’ve found you a foster family, miss – Stacy.” He said and we walked outside to wait for them. A few minutes passed and I saw a dark blue car pull up to the parking lot and park. The couple that came out looked young. The husband wore casual jeans and a red t-shirt with the letters JC spray painted on it. His wife was wearing a light purple dress that fit well with a purple floppy hat and matching purple heels all accented with flowers.
         “Meet your new parents.” The police officer said to me and shook hands with my new father. “Long time no see, James.” He said to his friend.
         “Good to see you.” My new father replied. My mother walked over to me and looked me over, probably deciding if she liked me.
         “I don’t know,” she said, sounding uptight and snooty. “She has good taste in clothes but her hair is ratty and she doesn’t stand up straight.” She said with her right hand pressed against her chin thoughtfully. I scowled and ran m hands through my hair, trying to make it look better, but it dried messy so there was nothing I could do. She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder and asked me, “How old are you?” I replied, “Sixteen.” She nodded and walked back over to her husband then whispered something into his ear. He nodded and walked over to me.
         “Hi, Stacy, are you ready to go home?” he asked nicely. I nodded looking at his shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. “See you, Chuck.” He said to the police man. We all walked to their car and he opened the back door for me to get in, then his wife, my mother, got in the passenger seat. He started the car and we drove off to start my new life. I looked behind me at the police station and wished for just a moment that my life could go back to the way it was.
When we reached the house, I got out of the car and examined its outside. It was a big white house with a red tiled roof and a garden in front that had many kinds of flowers and bushes. There was a black gate in front of the house which ad two letters on it: AC. After we walked through the gate we walked down a red-brick path that lead to the front of the house and the porch which had two fountains on either side. My father opened the large white door with a key from his pocket and we walked into our house. I wasn’t very impressed by the inside; it looked like any regular house around here with the stairs leading up to the second floor in front of the front door, a kitchen to the left and a living room straight ahead. I expected the house to look like a mansion, I was a bit disappointed.
         “How do you like it?” my father asked me, walking into the kitchen and putting a newspaper down on the table.
         “It’s nice.” I said, being polite. My mother pushed me aside and walked into the house. She announced, “I’m home!” and she paraded into the dining room across from the kitchen proudly. I sighed and walked into the kitchen where my father was. He was reading the newspaper.
         “Where do I sleep?” I asked him quietly, and then my mother walked in.
         “You sleep outside in the dog house.” She said, going into the fridge and getting a low fat yogurt.  My father scowled at her and turned back to me.
         “There are two bedrooms upstairs, you can pick either one.” He said kindly and pointed at the stairs. I nodded and walked upstairs to see them.
The first room I came to was a closet. I decided not to open it because I was still new here. I went left first and found a bathroom. It was elegant with two sinks beneath one big mirror on light green and blue tiles. The tiles continued through the bathroom. The shower was a light blue like the sinks and had two shower heads in one. I walked out of the bathroom and went right. The hallway was shaped like an ‘L’ on this side. As I walked down the hallway I found my parents’ bedroom next on my right and I walked past it. Across the hall was another closet with a shoe rack on the other side of the door. There were many different kinds of shoes on it all lined up neatly so I made sure not to bump into it. The next door was an empty room with only curtains on the window. I didn’t like the idea of making them buy me all new furniture so I walked back down the hall, turned, walked past the stairs and found another bathroom at this corner of the hallway. It looked like the last bathroom except this one had a blue toilet in the corner as well. I walked down the hall towards the last door I hadn’t looked at that was up here. I opened the door to the next room and walked in. There was a bed in the corner of the room under the window that was covered with a red blanket and pillows. Next to the bed was a white dresser and each handle was a different color. The walls weren’t painted; nor was the ceiling. There was a desk against the other wall where a computer could go with a small chair under it. On the other side of the room was a bench like you would see at the psychiatrist’s against the wall. There was also a closet in the wall with a wooden sliding doors and a large body mirror next to it. As I looked over the room again, I knew this room would be mine. I could almost see myself sitting at the desk doing homework or on my bed listening to music. I walked out of the room and back downstairs where I found my dad sitting on the couch and watching T.V.
         “I picked a room.” I said, walking to the side of the brown couch.
         “Great! Want to show me which one?” He asked me enthusiastically. I nodded and lead him back upstairs to my room to show it to him.
         “I knew you’d pick this one.” He said with a smile. “Do you like how the room looks now or do you want to make some improvements to it?” He asked me kindly.
         “I like it the way it is.” I said, looking around the room again. I hadn’t realized I had spent the night on the chair at the police station, but now I heard the mailman coming outside.
         “Dad…” It felt weird calling someone other than my father dad. “The mail’s here, can I go get it?” I asked him. I really just wanted to go see the area outside.
         “Sure.” He said and smiled; I felt a bit like I was in an old movie where the father is always smiling. I smiled back shyly and walked back down the stairs then out the door. The mailman had just left so I opened the grey, metal mailbox and took out the few envelopes in it. After I closed the mailbox, someone walked down the sidewalk towards me.
         “Hi.” He said. “You must be new here, I walk down this way every day but I’ve never seen you here before.” He looked about nineteen or twenty and was a bit overweight, but still held a cute boyish look to his face. He was quite a bit taller than me, I looked about up to his shoulder. He wore an orange T-shirt that said ‘Tech’ and blue jeans with black running sneakers.
         “Hello?” He said, waving his hand in front of my face. I must have been staring with my mouth open again.
         “Huh? Oh hey, yeah I’m new here.” I said, trying to keep a straight face as I thought of yesterday.
         “Are you alright?” He asked, sounding concerned.
         “Yeah, fine.” I said swallowing loudly. “So what’s your name? I asked him, changing the subject.
         “Christopher.” He said with a warm smile.
         “Mine is Stacy.”I said, smiling back and moving my blonde hair out of my face. His brown hair was messy but not like just-woke-up messy. “Your eyes are blue.” I said, thinking out loud accidentally.
         “Well, yeah…Thanks?” He said, laughing lightly. I had never seen someone with brown hair and blue eyes.
         “I’m sorry I’m being awkward, aren’t I?” I asked him, my face burning.
         “If you were, I didn’t notice.” He said and smiled again. My stomach growled and I realized I hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning.
         “Sorry, just woke up; I think I’m going to go eat breakfast.” I said to him, not really wanting to stop talking.
         “Alright see you some other time.” He said flashing a brilliant smile. I watched him walk down the side walk again until he was out of sight. I ran inside quickly and turned right into the kitchen like I’ve been living there all my life. I found dad eating a bowl of fruit loops; I found that funny. I dropped off the mail in front of him and sat down on the chair across from him.
         “That took a while.” He said between bites and smirked.
         “Well I got caught up talking to a neighbor I think. His name was Christopher.” I said, searching through the drawers for a bowl.
         “You don’t have clothes do you?” My father asked me. I thought for a second.
         “Maybe we can stop at my old house and get clothes?” I suggested. Thinking of my old home will make me miss my family and Cassie but I had to be strong. Dad thought about it for a second.          
         “Sure.” He said, and I smiled slightly. “Let’s go now.” I nodded and ended my search for a bowl. We both got in his car that was parked in a secluded part of the front yard but looked nice there. When we got to my street I saw fire trucks where my house used to be. We parked the car and I ran to the burn ashes of my house. One of the firefighters stopped me.
         “Sorry, you can’t go father.” One said, holding me back.
         “This is my house!” I said and managed to get up to a firefighter who was still putting out a smile, dying fire. Another came over to me.
         “This is your house, right?” We found someone dead; identified to be a Travis White. Do you know him?” I shook my head, my eyes wide from the thought of a robber that got caught in a fire at my house. My father walked over and put his hand on my shoulder.
         “Was there anything you could salvage?” He asked the firefighter. The fireman looked at the remains and shook his head.
         “The fire was burning for so long, nothing could have survived it. Not even Travis there.” The fireman said, pointing at a dead burned body that looked around my age.
         “How long was the fire burning for?” My dad asked. I watched the EMT’s load the crispy body into the back of another ambulance. I remembered how my mother looked like that last I saw her. Not burned though.
         “I’d say around 12 hours. It’s a wonder how the fire didn’t spread. We’ll have the local detectives look into how it’s possible because, frankly, we haven’t got a clue.” He said, lifting his red fire hat to scratch his head. Another person walked over to us, I thought he might be the fire chief.
         “Arson.” Was all he said. It took me a few seconds to figure out what he meant by that. His firefighting jacket said Zack on the sleeve.
         “Chief Phlaymkilur!” another fireman shouted as he ran towards us. “I found these.” He said, holding out two burned objects.
         “Just as I thought,” he said and picked up the objects. “A lighter and an aerosol can. Found in the burnt house. This spells arson.” I walked back over to the car and got in the passenger side and buckled in. The feeling of being in a car seat like this brought back a memory. I saw water filling the car like it was with everyone in it. I started gasping for air and panicking. I reached to undo my seatbelt but struggled with it to a point where I was running out of breath and banging on the window. I only saw water through the window and as my lungs threatened to burst from lack of oxygen, I saw my dad standing and staring at me with the door open and two firemen next to him. I took deep breaths, thankful for the air returning.
         “W-what?” I asked in between breaths.
         “Stacy…” my dad said, “You looked like you were drowning.” He said, his face showing only shock and concern.
         “There was water.” I started. “I was trapped and there was nothing I could do to escape!” I said, my breathing steadying
         “There was no water anywhere.”He said and I felt confused. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked. The fireman stood there staring while his partner had walked away.
         “I don’t know…” I said.