Fire and Ice// H.S.

Chapter one

Vee's smile was as bright as the sun when she got the notice that her parents would be home that day. They had been on a business trip to Panama and she was told that they wouldn't be home for another month, but things changed. They were apparently making their way home at that moment as she cleaned out her locker for her last day at school.

Her senior year was up and soon it'd be graduation and college. She couldn't wait to finally grow up and become a full-fledged adult, with the help of her parents, of course.

She finished her clean up before taking the lock off of the locker and turning it to it's rightful place in the office. She made her way out to her brand new vehicle and made her trip back home.

Vee's family wasn't rich by any means. But they weren't poor either. They were somewhere in the middle, so her car wasn't the newest of them all. It ran well, though, so she couldn't complain.

She'd made her way back to her one story house and inside, quick to move due the wispy air nipping at her exposed skin. Once she was in, she threw her stuff in the corner and began making her big meal for her parents as a welcome home gift. She was so excited to have them back before graduation. She feared they wouldn't make it. She put her roasted chicken in the over for it to bake before sitting down with a smile on her face and the television on it's high setting.

It wasn't until about an hour later when her concentration broke from the tv as a loud knock sounded from her door. She'd gotten up to answer it, but after it was all said and done, she wished she didn't as a lady dressed in a police uniform holding a hat to her chest was standing at her doorstep.

"Are you Vee Reynolds?"

"Yes, this is she.."

Everything silenced as the ladies words seeped through her jumbled brain.

"We're sorry to inform you that there has been an accident. The plane your parents were on had a faulty engine and the plane went down. There were no survivors. I'm so sorry, Miss. Reynolds.."

And after that, everything changed. Once she saw her parent's lifeless bodies sat still in a casket in front of her, she was numb.

No amount of therapy she was assigned to helped her. No amount of crying she did relieved her of any pain that she felt. Her parents were her rock. And now that rock was gone.

They were gone and they took her along with them. She didn't have enough money to keep her house, so she went homeless for a while. She lived with Mrs. Jenny, the 30 year old widow from down the street. She was nice and she knew what Vee was going through. She had to get a full-time job down at the bakery. It paid pretty well, but it didn't last for long. She was too unstable to work. Soon, Mrs. Jenny moved somewhere nice and far away, so she was homeless again and living in her car for the longest time. She'd barely eat a day at a time, not that she had a desire to. She was a complete mess. The vehicle she once had was traded for money and she now had to sleep on park benches.

After it had gotten it's worse, it got a bit better. She found a cheap place on the other side of town, so at least she'd be away from memories. Vee found herself a job on Maine. It was an old coffee house that was pretty good on business. Not the best pay, but it helped. She loved it there because it didn't give her time to think. It gave her time to work for herself and only herself.

Because that's all she had left, was herself.

************

Black. She normally just saw black.

But right now, she was seeing blue. Vee was seeing her blue tacky uniform for her full-time job at the coffee house on Maine.

A permanent frown was set on her fragile features as she looked at herself in the reflection of the doors on her oh-so-wonderful job, the cold air nipping at her skin.