Chapter 2

Scarlett

Hushed voices steered me awake. I tried to open my eyes but couldn't, it was as if they were stuck. After a lot of effort, I managed to open my eyes a little bit. There was so much light, oh god. It was as if the light was penetrating through my head and colliding with my skull. My body felt numb and there were tubes attached to my hand. That's when I remembered I was in a hospital and my parents were dead. Oh god! my parents were murdered and I couldn't save them.

                              

I could hear someone talking but couldn't recognise the words only some phrases.

"Shock..."

"...take time..."

"...no guardian.."

"Her mother enrolled her..." then the voice faded.

"...need her consent...after she is well enough...can provide...details...case...our responsibility.

"Dead"

That word bought me back. I tried to get up but couldn't. My head ached and my body felt exhausted. I moaned from the pain in my body caused by the effort.

"Take it easy." a female voice said. The same person came to help me get into a sitting position. She was wearing a doctor's coat.

"Hello Scarlett, I am Doctor May. How do you feel?"

"I feel..." I paused unable to describe how I felt," Umm...numb and dizzy," I said looking up at her.

"Well, that's normal. Don't worry, it's because of the sedatives." She said smiling in a way people do when they are going to break some bad news.

"Dear, what do you remember last?" she asked carefully.

I did not want to think about it. I know what she meant. I do remember that my parents are dead.

"The last thing I remember from last night is my parents getting murdered," I said softly looking at my hands. I hadn't realised I was crying until I tasted salt on my lips.

I quickly sniffled and wiped all my tears.

"Oh sweetie," she said coming to sit next to me on the bed and paused, then she continued, "It's been 5 days since the incident and you have been unconscious since then."

"What!! 5 days?" I remarked utterly shocked. What the hell, 5 days. No wonder I feel so numb.

She nodded sympathetically.

"I know you are in a bad place but there are some people from the police who have been waiting to meet you for 5 days for further investigation of your parent's murder. I will keep them out until you feel up to it. Don't worry child. Take your time."

I frowned. The police. Maybe they are my only hope for finding my parent's murderer.

I turned towards her and said, "Send them in now."

She looked surprised. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, "If there is anything I can do to help them get to the bottom of my parent's murder, I will do it." I said with conviction.

She nodded and went out of the room. I still couldn't feel the reality of the situation. That day, I had registered nothing much, everything was going on in a blur. Now that I could think, I thought of all the if situations. What if father had the ability to heal himself or whoever murdered my parents had killed them with a weapon like a knife instead of a gun, then my mother could have put them to sleep and they would still be alive. Why would anyone want to murder my parents? They were so good. I was still in shock and all wanted to do was close my eyes and see my parents once again. But destiny has it's way and I had learned a long time ago to except it. My parents always told me to focus on the things I could control and try to ignore the things I couldn't. I didn't get much time to think over it or to dive into a memory lane and that's probably good.

I heard some people talking in hushed voices and then sound of footsteps. I quickly wiped my wet eyes and put on an expressionless face just how my parents trained me to so that I could hide my weakness.

Three people entered the room. I surveyed each one of them for potential threats but there seemed to be none. It seems that I have become more paranoid. The same detective that I had seen on that day, who had stupidly declared to me that my parents were dead as if I couldn't see, was one of them. The other two walked in together, one a handsome boy with curly black hair and striking blue-violet eyes, who looked about my age and another was a middle-aged woman who looked like she could be the age of his mother.

"Hello, good to see you are awake." The detective says taking the lead. The other woman is looking at me with an odd look in his eyes and the boy just looks curious.

"Hi, what help do you need from me?" I said in a monotonous tone because that is what I could muster in front of these three strangers.

"Ok, so I know it will be hard for you, but I need you to tell me all that you remember from that day before you fainted but before that, we have a more important matter to discuss." 

I frowned. What could be more important than those details also what were these other two strangers doing?

"What else is there to discuss and not to be rude or anything but who are you two?" I pointed at the two other strangers and then looked back at the detective. The lady smiled sweetly but the boy's eyes stared at me directly.

"That's what we need to talk about. Since you lost both your guardians and you are a minor, you will need to be sent with a guardian to live with. Do you have any relatives?"

Do I have any relatives? Not that I can recall. I tried to think but no one really came to my mind my grandparents had died before I was born and my parents did not have any siblings.

"No," I said thoughtfully and then paused. A realisation struck me. So that's why the two strangers are here.

"No, but I am not going anywhere with anyone." I said to the detective and then looked at the two strangers." No offence".

"None taken," the boy spoke for the first time. Even the detective looked at him. His voice was melodious and soothed my shook brain.

I looked towards him and saw him smiling back at me. His face had a look of understanding and not sympathy like most people have.

I looked back at the detective and inquired, "Isn't there any way I can live alone?" Though I knew the answer even before she even spoke.

"No, there is no other way. This is Mrs Teresa and that is her nephew William" she said introducing me to both of them. Willaim, the name suited him.

"They run a special and excellent boarding school called the Alias Academy. You can either go there or to any foster families."

Before I could think about it the woman whose name I just got to know was Teresa, spoke.

"Scarlett, it's your choice but you should know that before your mother died, she had enrolled you in our school. There is one more important detail you should know is that we know about your abilities and if you come to our boarding school, you can find many other students with abilities and also learn to use your abilities."

She said that all in front of the detective, but she is mundane and doesn't see to have any powers. I stared at the detective confused.

"Don't worry, I know that some people have powers. I have been a detective for very long, it is one of the few perks of my job", the detective said after looking at my confused face.

Oh! that's why. It made sense.

"I didn't know, that an academy like this even existed," I exclaimed looking at Mrs Teresa I tried to remember all the previous conversations with my parents trying to recollect if they ever mentioned anything of an academy. But no luck.

"There is and it has been for years now. You have an opportunity to join it, think about it."

I looked down at my hands thinking.

Foster families. No. Boarding school. No, but what other choice do I have. My parents are dead, I have nowhere to go and no family to live with. I can't do anything to make my parents come back to life but what I can do is find who killed them. The most probable way to do that hone's my skills and become capable of face whoever killed my parents. Blood boiled in my veins because of anger and loss.

"You can take your time." The voice bought me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to everyone staring at my hands and me. I looked at my hands to see what they were staring at. My hands had blood on them; I had buried my nails into my palm with such pressure that they had made small punctures on my palms.

"Are you fine?” William asked.

I quickly released my hands and rested them on my thighs.

"Yes I am fine," I said reassuring all of them, even though I wasn't sure myself.

Then I said, "But do you really care?" I scoffed. I couldn't stop myself. My parents were dead and they were continuously hovering over me, not to mention they were telling me that I had to either go to foster families off to this strange boarding school. Were they serious?

They looked shocked at my reply but nobody said anything. Wow!!

"and as for the matter of the boarding school, I would like to go," I said strongly. That's the only option. My mother also wanted me to go to the boarding school so boarding school it is.

The sentence took out all my remaining strength. I felt drained and dizzy. I closed my eyes and leaned back on the bed cushion.

"So then that's settled. Scarlett, you will be discharged from the hospital in the evening and then you can go with them to the boarding school.", the detective said.

"I need to ask questions about the incident and Scarlett also needs to get rest since she is already tired. I need you both to go out of the room because this is a private investigation." She said to Mrs Teresa and William.

Both of them nodded and stood up to go out. Mrs Teresa went ahead and William also turned and followed out of the room, giving me a nod.