Blanca Like Snow

Chapter 19 - Legally Dead

      Nora hurries back to the kitchen, where I guess she was and I didn't bother to look, but in her urgency, she forgets I can't move as fast as she can, and for the umpteenth time I curse that I still have these casts. The one for my arm and wrist doesn't bother me that much, but because I fractured my foot, the ankle, I can't walk properly.

"Ugh," I mumble to myself, deciding I have to limp but before I hop for the first time, arms grab me and lift me too easily.

I yelp in surprise and hold on to him faster than I can think for fear to fall.

"It seems urgent, you're too slow," he mumbles as the only explanation and the rushes after Nora, with me in his arms.

I only blink, still holding on to him as I'm being carried, one question bouncing in the walls on my mind: what the hell's gotten into him? And when he puts me down next to Nora, I'm about to yell at him for doing things he wasn't asked to, and also ask if he needs some treatment because he's acting too out of character and it's creeping me out, but then Nora is speaking and I forget all about Will.

"A communicate has been release," Nora explains as her fingers move on the computer trackpad and she opens the tab we need to see. I sit next to her but I notice Will stays around, also watching. "Your case has been officially closed."

"What? I'm still here, no one has found me... have they?" I ask, frowning as I watch her, confusion and dread twisting my guts.

"No one has found you," she clarifies but it still doesn't make sense. "But your body was found."

You know when you're watching a movie and that confession that changes it all is finally revealed and the whole movie stops, the music changes and a dramatic zoom makes it all even more dramatic?

Well, that doesn't happen here, although I do feel like my heart stops and I can't even take a breath. My mind starts spinning and it makes me lightheaded, to the point I kind of lose my balance, but before anything bad happens, Will is pressing his palm on my back and holding me still while I try to put all the pieces together.

It's a simple sentence, five words that I shouldn't have trouble understanding, even if English were my fifth language, I would still understand it. But no, it doesn't make any sense.

"Excuse me?" I breathe out, my heart finally beating again but my whole body feels made of lead. I don't even realise when I start leaning on Will at my back. "My body can't be found if I'm still alive."

"Exactly," Nora points out and then her eyes are again on the news article, looking for something. "Take a look at this."

She then clicks a video that starts buffering and a few seconds later, playing. A woman, probably mid thirties, in formal suit is outside my home, the place I haven't been in for over a month, and she is reporting.

"...with the official statement from the police revealing, BEEB Group's situation has changed dramatically. Laura Escobar, widow and stepmother of Blanca Escobar, now has to step forward and take the place of official CEO of one of the biggest companies in all Europe. With former heiress' confirmed death after tragic accident, the company expects changes—"

"My death has been confirmed? Laura is going to be officially the CEO?" I blurt out, louder than the reporter and ignoring her.

"That's what's been said. The police released the official communicate this morning, that they found your body," Nora explains but it sounds too surreal for me. This is happening to someone else, this is another family's tragedy. We are not talking about me. "Apparently, there was a small river near the crash site and the explanation is that you crawled there after the accident, severely hurt and burnt because were partially caught by the explosion, to the point you're unrecognisable."