A New Life

The O’Haras

Scarlett takes me to a room around the corner from the kitchen. There is a full size bed, a wardrobe, and a desk by the window. 

“The bedding is freshly washed, there is some clothes in the wardrobe that should fit you, and the bathroom is next door with fresh towels if you want to shower.” Scarlett says. 

“Thank you.” I reply. 

Scarlett goes on, “I’ll be fixing lunch here soon, I’ll let you know when it’s ready. For now I’ll let you settle in and if you need anything just give me a yell.” She walks out and shuts the door. 

I sit on the bed, I admire the beautifully hand made quilt. I look around the room and can’t help but think my mom would have loved this house. She grew up on a farm and always told me about how she wanted to live in a place just like this again. Then I thought about my dad and how he’d laugh because he knew he couldn’t cut this kind of life.

 I look in the wardrobe and find some clothes to wear and walk to the bathroom. I turn on the shower and wait for the water to get warm. I look in the mirror and don’t quite recognize myself. My hair is a mess like I haven’t brushed it in a week. My eyes are red and puffy from all the crying and little sleep. 

I get in the shower and let the water run over me. I see red on the floor of the shower and it takes me back to finding my dad. The feeling of the blood on my bare feet, the deathly silence that filled the room. My family is gone, my life will never be the same, and I’m all alone. I get out of the shower get dressed and go back to the room and lay in the bed. I put my headphones in my ears and I close my eyes and drown myself in the music. 

I wake up and look around, unsure of where I am at first but remember the events of the day. On the desk there is a sandwich and a glass of water, I must have missed lunch. I look at my phone and it’s nearly 5:30pm, I slept the day away. 

I notice I have some missed calls. Mia called, I hit call the phone rings.

“OMG! Soph, where are you? Are you ok?  I’ve been so worried about you!” Mia rattles off. 

I wanted to say I’m in hell, my life is ruined, but I have my life. So I reply, “I’m ok. I’ve been put in a foster home for now.”

I realized I really didn’t want to talk so I continued, “Mia, I can’t talk I’ll call you later. I love you”

I hung up. 

I sat there on my phone scrolling the news, trying to get some information. Obviously no one wants to keep me updated so I’ll have to keep myself informed with updates on my parents. 

“Quiet neighborhood rattled by double homicide” ,“Family murdered while asleep” , nothing i don’t know. 

“I give up.” I mumble. 

I walk out the bedroom and follow voices to the kitchen. 

“Hey there sweety! I hope we didn’t wake you.” Scarlett says. 

“You didn’t wake me and I slept ok, thank you.” I responded. 

Scarlett pulls out a chair from the table, “Have a seat.” 

I sit down and look to the left of me at a cheery looking old man. 

“Sophia, this is my daddy Harold.” Scarlett says smiling. 

“Nice to meet you Sophia, it’s a pleasure to have you here.” Harold grins. 

I ask, “Do you live here too?” 

He responds, “No, my house is up the road a bit. Same property but we got a lot of land so it’s a good walk. Scarlett here is making fried chicken so I had to invite myself to supper.”

Scarlett interjects, “Daddy, you don’t even have a damn frying pan no one in there right mind would let you fend for yourself.”

I laugh, “My dad couldn’t cook but neither could my mom, we ate a lot of take out and frozen stuff. I think the only thing my mom had down was chicken tacos. “ I sighed and looked down at my hands. 

Harold put his hand on mine, “This is probably one of the hardest things you’ll go through and unfortunately as much as I hate to say it because I hate hearing it, It will all get better in time.” He says with a reassuring smile. 

Scarlett slides a plate in front of me and Harold. “Eat up!” she says as she sits down with a plate. 

The plate looks like a KFC plate but only 10 million times better. I got a fried thigh, mashed potatoes and gravy, some collard greens, and a biscuit. I devour everything on my plate, I didn’t realize how hungry I was. 

“Thank you so much for dinner it was wonderful.” I say to Scarlett. 

“No problem girl, there’s more if you’d like.” Scarlett replies.

“Better stash some now, those leftovers are going home with me. My midnight snack is going to be good tonight.” Harold says laughing. 

Even though I’ve had the worst day imaginable, I can’t help but laugh with Harold. 

I get up with my plate and take it to the sink and start washing it off. I look around and there is no dishwasher so I start to wash my plate and put it in the dish drainer. 

“Can I help clean up? I can wash the dishes.” I ask Scarlett. 

“Yeah I will never turn that offer down! I’ll pack daddies leftovers and then when we’re done we can watch some TV. But I’ll be turning in shortly, I got an early day tomorrow with these animals.” Scarlett replies. 

We clean up the kitchen and head to the living room to watch TV. Sweet Home Alabama is playing so we opt to watch that. 

“Do you think..uhm..maybe I can help you tomorrow?” I ask hesitantly. 

I got to do something productive, if I just sit around I’m going to go insane. 

“Of course, I can always use some help around here, it’s never ending!” Scarlett replies.

“My mom grew up on a farm, so it would be really cool to see what she did growing up.” I say. 

“Well, we better get to bed 4AM comes real fast. I’ll wake you up in the morning.” Scarlett replies. 

I headed to my room and sat on the bed and looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes. I said a prayer for my parents, for myself, and all the unknown. I laid down and thought I’m never going to fall asleep. I closed my eyes and somehow drifted off to sleep.