Chapter 4

           A few minutes went by he came back with the release papers. “You can get dressed. They released you into my care.”

           A nurse came in and helped Ivy with the heart monitor cords, and the IV. After that she was able to get dressed, her body felt heavy. Looking over herself, she noticed some bruises on her shoulder, they hurt when she touched them. Ivy finished getting dressed, when she came out Dave was standing by the window.

           When he noticed she was standing there, “You ready?” he asked.

           “Yeah, I guess. I'm a little scared to go home, though.” Ivy said putting her hair up with the rubber band she found in the bag with her stuff.

Dave wrapped his arm around Ivy, she wasn’t walking as well as she thought “Don’t worry, Princess, we will find out why this happened, you can count on that. I know people at the police station who give me information about the whole case.”

           “Okay,” she said, getting into the passenger side. Dave got in and closed the door.

           Ivy looked at the driver and then Uncle Dave, “Umm, you have a driver?”

           “Yeah, kind of something your Aunt and I decided, since I shouldn’t be driving.” He said pouring a glass of coke for the two of them.

           “Oh, because you drink?” Ivy said taking the glass of soda. Her mouth was dry and achy.

           “Yeah, something like that.” He said trying to change the subject. “We'll go back to your house. I kind of don’t have a place of my right now since your Aunt is taking everything I have.” He spoke. “Drive if you will.”

           The drive was short. They got out of the car and headed for the front door. Police tape guarded the house but was unlocked. Ivy pushed the door open, hesitating before in. Dave walked in and looked around. “It's safe, you can come in,” he joked.

           Ivy took a step in; holding her breath hoping there wasn’t anything bad in the house. “Not funny.”

           “I know. I am just trying to lighten the mood a little. I know you're scared, but the police assured me they would have someone posted here until they know for sure you didn’t have anything to do with this.” Uncle said as he sat on the edge of the chair.

           Ivy tried to hold the tears back, but it was almost impossible, “Um, I didn’t. I loved Mom and Dad with everything I've got. They were helping me get into the best colleges and they loved me back!” she finally cried running for her room.

Dave knocked on the door but she couldn’t will herself to answer. So, he just let himself in after a few minutes. “You know, Ivy, I believe that you didn’t have anything to do with what happened to your parents. The police have to go with the facts; they are dead and you aren’t,” he said trying to sound like he wanted to be on her side.

           Ivy picked her head up, “Why would I have myself drugged, and wake up to something I can’t remember?”

           Dave shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know how to answer that. The police are investigating this the way they see fit. If they find things that make you the suspect, then I will support you. If they can’t find anything, I will support you,” he said as he sat down next to her.

        Wiping the tears from her eyes, “Geez, thanks, I'm glad you think I'm guilty. You know, I wish whoever did this would have killed me too, at least then I wouldn’t be accused of their murders.” She wiped her nose. “I'm going to find out who killed them and why. Then I am going to prove to the world I didn’t do anything wrong. Watch and you will see, too.”

            Ivy got to her feet before Dave could say anything else. She needed to go for a walk, all this emotional stuff was new to her. Ivy grabbed her MP3 player before leaving the house. The rain helped calm her down. The chill in the air made her wish she had something warm to drink. Closing her eyes, she felt safe now, maybe the people that killed her parents are gone, and she wouldn’t have to worry about it. She tried jamming to the music, but the thoughts of her parent’s murders lingered on her mind, opening her eyes she sat down on a swing.

           Ivy thought about school tomorrow, she knew people were going to talk; people would probably mess with her because of the murders. She dreaded going, but she knew her parents wanted her to succeed in her life, whether she dies from the same people that killed them or not.

Getting off the swing, the wind picked up. She looked to the sky, “Mom, Dad, if you can hear me, I'm so sorry this happened. I didn’t want this. I don’t know why it happened.” She started to cry.

           Ivy headed out of the park; a car slowly came into view. She watched them turn around and wait for her to come to the entrance. She held her breath, Drake got out of the car. “Hello, Ivy.” He said half smiling. “You want to ride?” he snorted.

           “Uh no thanks, have a good night.” She said walking past him.

           He grabbed her arm, “come on, it’ll be fun. You’ll love my side of the world.” He said grinning at her.

           “Let me go.” She growled. “Get out here, you smell of beer.” She said yanking her arm out of his hold.

           “We’re coming for you when you turn eighteen,” he said getting back into his car, before he sped off, he rolled the windows down. “You better come willingly; our master doesn’t like when we force someone to choose.” He sped off after that.

           Shaking off the feeling she had, she walked the rest of the way home.

           Dave waited on the porch. He looked sick with worry. Ivy walked past him, she didn’t want to explain where she went and what Drake said, she didn’t understand it herself. She didn’t want any more confusion.  “I'm going to bed, I have school in the morning,” Ivy called over her shoulder. She just kept walking.

           Closing her door, she laid down on her bed. Her body still hurt from the medicine they gave her at the hospital. She thought a little more about what Drake said, her kind of didn’t make any sense, and he was drunk. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep quickly.

           The buzzing from the alarm clock startled Ivy. She hit the button to turn it off, she didn’t want to go to school. Rolling over and Ivy tried going back to sleep. But her mind raced again; she knew the day going to be full of crap from everyone.

           Wiping the mirror off from the hot shower, Ivy stared at herself for a long time before realizing what she was doing. Her eyes were a pale purple cover, and her nails were turning purple. She wasn’t sure what was happening if a reaction to the medicine was wearing her body down.

           A knock on the door startled her, she covered her hands, Dave opened the door with the phone in his hand, “You don’t have to go to school, we're going to switch you to another school. I don’t want you to have to deal with drama.”

           “Nah, it’s okay. If I don’t go back, they are going to think I'm guilty of something, and they will call me names and then they will think I truly am a murderer. I have a feeling they are going to find out what happened. Those who call me names, will have to eat their words,” she said combing her hair.

           “You sure?” he said holding the phone away from his ear so he could hear her.

           “Yep, now if you don’t mind, I'd like to finish getting ready. Otherwise, I'm going to be late.” She said closing the door, she felt bad that she was going to school and he’d be here all by himself, but she was running late. Brushing her teeth, she quickly grabbed her shoes and put them on as she finished brushing her teeth.

           Grabbing her bag, and music she headed out the door. Rushing to school was one of the things Ivy thought would never happen to her. Of course, she never expected to be in her current situation either.

           As she got closer to school, her heart jumped into her throat. Turning her music off, she walked to her locker and put her bag away. Glancing around the hallway, no one stared at her like she thought they would.

           Grabbing the two books she needed for her first two classes, she closed her locker and turned to face Stacy.

           “So, you murdered your parents?” Stacy growled forcing her nose in the air.

Ivy rolled her eyes; she didn’t want to deal with this already. “Yeah, and if I were you, I'd be scared. No one would miss you.” She growled, before walking past her.

           Stacy turned to face Ivy, “you better be careful orphan, everyone already thinks you should be locked away. It’d be a pity if you killed yourself.” She laughed; her friends joined in.

           Ivy’s first half of the school day went by like it was normal. No one glared at her or asked her what happened. Everyone seemed to act normal. She felt some kind of relief knowing people didn’t care what happened, just that she was okay.

           Ivy was used to being the invisible one; it’d worked up until this year of school. Stacy only took notice of her because Ivy liked Drake, and Stacy hated girls that flirted or wanted what she had.