A savior

The moon was hiding behind the night sky and yet it's glowing light still managed to illuminate the darkness of the night....but nothing could ever lighten up my heart which was harboring all the darkness into it with time. The wind picked up it's pace and I hugged myself tightly for warmth in this chilly weather. I did my best to walk on with my shaky legs on the shore of the beach which was about 27 kilometers away from my home.

I managed to get away from the cop's dead body without getting noticed but the guilt of murdering someone was killing me inside. It made me feel sick and disgusted of myself. I began questioning why was I even alive at this moment. Was I just hoping for everything to turn out to be a sick joke all along?  My body felt heavy and my eyes were dead with no hope of living on.

"It's already over for me then why am I still living? Just..why?" That's all I could think at that moment.  

Suddenly, the roaring of the blue sea caught my attention. I smiled sadly as tears blurried my vision, "Of course this was it..." 

I blinked to let the tears roll down my cheeks and walked towards the sea.

 As soon as the waves hit my feet, I looked up at the starry sky and smiled again, "I'll meet you soon, mom." 

I sunk my legs further into the sea. The coldness of the water which I felt on my feet, now rose all the way to my shoulders.

And now, here I was, my breath shortening with each second. My vision started to become blurry as I felt myself hit the bottom of the sea. "I really am dying." 

Just a few split seconds before I lost consciousness, I faintly saw a hand reaching out to me. The painful, hard times were over for me now — I could finally be free. 

...

I could hear a faint voice to my left — a female voice, to be exact. "It must be mom's voice. I guess I am dead..." I thought as I brought myself together and bravely opened my eyes. 

"What...?" Instead of meeting a familiar face, I saw a girl in an unrecognizable room sitting next to the bed I was resting on. Her pink lips curved up into a warm and friendly smile. She seemed to be around my age. Her sea green eyes greeted me cheerfully. Her hair was black and straight, and her skin was unusually white and pale, but for some reason, it seemed really beautiful on her.... Wait, why am I thinking all of that? 

 She finally spoke up with the smile still remaining on her face. "Hello, there! How do you feel now?" 

What IS all of this? I must be dreaming even after dying. 

I shook my head and shut my eyes, thinking that if I did so, I'dfind myself in a place filled with white light and my mom and Emily waiting for me. I opened them again after a few seconds and still saw the girl again, the smile still on her face but this time it was plagued with a hint of confusion. 

"What are you doing?" She chuckled softly.

I must seem like an idiot but I managed to mask the embarassment with my usual poker face.

I quickly changed her focus from it. "What am I doing here? And..who are you?" I asked.

She smiled again but it didn't quite reach her eyes this time, "You...tried to sucide, didn't you?" 

The question startled me enough for the guilt to bubble up in my chest. I lowered my head and slowly nodded. She sighed and gave me a sympathetic pat on my shoulder, "You shouldn't just end your life like that no matter what hardships you go through. Anyway, that aside, you wanted to know where you are, right?"  

Those words she told at the beginning gave me the feeling that there was a lot of emotions and force behind what she said. And the way she tried not to dwell deeper into it also made me quite curious but I tried to let it go since she didn't seem too interested to talk about it. Her smile had turned weak the moment she said it.

Her question made me look at her, expecting her to enlighten me about my current situation. A satisfying smile crept on her face on seeing my reaction and so, she continued,  " You are in the Peace Blossoms Orphanage in the city of Blueburn. This orphanage is connected to several schools in the city you used to live in. The director of the orphanage is the principal of one of the well known schools in that town. He was enjoying the fresh air and the sea from his balcony on the 9th floor one night, when he saw you sinking into the water. I assume you can guess the rest of the story." 

After hearing the story, I was devasted by the sudden twist of events. I realised that the hand that I faintly remember seeing that night was that man's hand. I wanted to thank him as well as yell at him for saving me. I tried to suicide just so that I could escape this horrible nightmare but I am back in it again. 

I sighed and tried to restrain myself from crying in front of her.

"Why did he bring me here?" I frowned. 

"He checked your background details and found out that you're accused of murdering your mother and your sister. But for some reason, he was quite convinced that you can't murder anyone. So he brought you to this orphanage so you could continue your life here... Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hazel and I've been in this orphanage ever since I was 7. The director had asked me to take care of you so...here I am! If you need anything, then just tell me, okay?" She informed me with a sweet and welcoming smile. 

I didn't have that tightening feeling around my chest and weirdly felt comfortable with her even though I usually tend to be extremely awkward and fidgety around strangers. She was mysterious and yet strangely made me feel relaxed around her.

"I will go get a glass of juice for you." She informs me. The moment I thought she would get up, I saw the chair she was sitting on slowly moving away. Startled, I raised my head a bit to see the lower part of the chair and noticed two huge wheels on its either sides and her feet resting on the footrest.

She noticed my startled expression and chuckled, "Didn't see a wheelchair before?"  

"N-No...I just didn't think that..." I felt like I judged her based on her disability. I averted my gaze and let the guilt flow into my expression.

"It's fine. You don't have look so sorry." She smiled at me reassuringly and rolled the wheels as she left the room. 

"I shouldn't have acted like that..." I slapped my forehead and sighed. 

Just when I thought she was gone and I was ready to relax, she rolled the wheels back into the room. I immediately sat straight up and became self-conscious. 

"And a tip for you, Peace Blossoms Orphanage is definitely not a usual run-of-the-mill orphanage. It has a huge variety of stuffs that you might find interesting as well as..... shocking." She smirked at me before leaving the room. 

A part of me just wanted to figure out what she meant but the other part just wants to cut myself some slack because my back was killing me. It felt like someone hit me with the Thor's hammer. The way she told those words made me feel a bit curious but I tried to shake it off.

I scoffed, "Of course, she was just exaggerating since she grew up here. It's just an orphanage."