Anywhere But Here

Chapter Twenty-Three, Zyra's POV,

I can't believe she is alive, I can't believe I am kissing her. I wish this could last forever but my bodyguard can't keep everyone out of the room forever. If I told myself eight months ago that I would be kissing a girl, I would have laughed my head off. Now it's like a dream come true to me. I feel like I am on cloud nine but I need to get off of it. After a few seconds, I pull my head away. She is smiling a funny-looking smile and has face red as a tomato. She is still holding my hand that is not in a cast and starts to rub her thumb on my palm. I love it when she does this, it's like some secret way to make me feel relaxed. Soon all the doctors and my bodyguard back in. They tell me I have to go back to my hospital room and get some last minute checkups to make sure I can go back to the orphanage.

"Do I have to go back to the orphanage? Can't I just stay with Dawn?" I ask them.

"Because," My bodyguard says, "You have a lot of things to catch up on for school"

I sigh. It's true, ever since I met Dawn, I haven't gone to school. It felt like years ago when we met when it really only was a week or two ago. I stand up to leave and say bye to Dawn. We are still smiling our silly smiles and I walk out of the room knowing she loves me. My bodyguard and my doctor walk me down the hallways to my room. Both of them are silent and I am thankful for that. It gives me time to think about everything that has happened so far. I decided right then and there that from know on, I'll try my best in everything I do. I don't know why I decide this at this exact moment, but I do. When I get to my room, I jump onto my bed and take out my phone. There's one single message on my screen from Dawn. I am glad you're awake, you're alive, and most importantly that you are you. I smile wider even though I know, that soon I will have to leave her again and return to the hospital.

When I get back to the orphanage, Jori says she has something to show me. The bodyguard goes off-duty and eats dinner while Jori shows me what she wanted me to see. I was tired and wanted to go to bed, but I went with her. She takes me to the swingsets in the playground and sits down on one. She smiles somberly at me as I trudge over to her.

"I know you have heard what happened to me Zyra, about my parents, my brother, Austin, but no one really knows the true story about my life," She says and looks at the setting sun.

I sit down on the swing and look at the sunset with her. As the sun goes into hiding it makes the sky an aura of colors, mostly pink, yellow, and dark blue. I get what she is saying. They probably have jacked up my story about my father and mother and me up a lot on the news. She looks over at me again with her her hair shining the light.

"I didn't come here for us to look at the sunset, I wanted to give you this," Jori says and hands me a book.

The book's cover shows a girl that looks like Jori but with brown hair, and much shorter then her as well. She is facing a broken window and is looking at the rain outside. I look at Jori with a questioning face. Why would she give this book to me? I mean it's her property and what does this have to do with her true life? She smiles at me.

"Austin and I wrote it, it's all about all of our struggles, I think you would like to read it," She says and then looks back at the sunset.

I really would like to read it. The book ends up changing my life for the better.