Vanilla Perfume

Chapter One

The sound of the ambulance echoed through the streets. I stood at the bottom of the steps with my head in my hands. My body hummed and vibrated. I could feel it from my fingertips to my toes. My legs violently shook, and it was hard to catch my breath. I was hyperventilating. I couldn't breathe. The walls were closing in on me. I couldn't breathe. I felt I was being squished to death. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe.

Somebody's hand touched my shoulder and I jerked, knocking me back to reality.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked me. It was one of the EMT's. I shook my head quickly, images of my brother's body flashing in my mind every time I blinked.

"We're going to bring your brother down in a moment. We're going to need you to move out of the way. I know this is going to be very hard for you and your family and I give you my condolences." I looked at the EMT. It was a woman. She looked to be in her late 20s early 30s. Her skin was youthful, but her eyes said so much. She was very pretty albeit covered in my brother's blood. Her knees drenched just as mine were.

She caught me looking at her clothes and she frowned. She stood up and took my arm, standing me up with her.

"Is there another room we can go into?" She asked. In the other room, I could hear the wails of my mother while the neighbors tried to console her. Savannah was still in our room. Told to stay put until someone came to get her.

I heard the other two EMT's begin discussing how to get the gurney down the steps. Who would take the front and who would take the back. I stepped to the side and watched them carry my brother down the steps as fast as they could. He was still alive. But barely. They rushed out the door and as quickly as they could pushed him into the ambulance and sped off.

Several police officers entered the house shortly after the EMT's left. We lived in a small town. Everyone knew everyone. Most of the cops on the force even went to school with my mother. It was a close knit place.

Two of the cops went to the living room where my mother sat crying. I went upstairs to find Savannah. She was anxiously sitting on the bed watching the door.

"Is he dead?" She whispered.

"No." I sat down next to her and held her in my arms. She quietly cried into me and I stared at the wall. Refusing to shed a tear.

Carter isn't going to die. He'll be fine. He'll go to therapy and work some things out and things will go back to normal.

***

I ran out of the funeral home, hand over my mouth. The back door was the closest exit. It's not that I was sick or anything, I just couldn't handle being around sad people any longer. Knowing they were all there to mourn the death of my only brother, Carter. The face I grew up with since birth. My best friend.

I felt dumb. Not being there for him those last couple of months. Not realizing he needed me. Not knowing something was wrong. I am his twin sister... Isn't there supposed to be some psychic ability we have where I could tell when he was sad or happy? Shouldn't I have been able to detect how depressed my own brother was?

"Emily..." Evan Michaelson gasped.

The cigarette he held in his mouth nearly fell out. Evan was Carter's best friend. My brother was an extreme introvert. Spent his life hidden away in his room writing music and playing his guitar. In all essence, Evan was his only friend.

Evan was tall. He stood at 6,3 barefoot. His build was muscular yet lanky. His limbs thin but I have seen him pick up heavy things with ease. His hair was dark and curly. The ends reaching just past his ears. His olive skin complexion was well complimented by his blue suit.