save me

part 1

Prologue

Once in a while there's a still moment in time where everything is right. This could be the perfect snowfall late on Christmas Eve, the presence of family surrounding you on a birthday, or even the simplest smile from someone you've never expected it from. It gives you a feeling of hope that everything will figure itself out, and that everything will be fine in the end.
Sienna's life used to be a long series of these moments. Every perfect day swelled into the next. She couldn't remember a day she didn't smile.
Her life used to be perfect, so full of these moments that her heart could have burst at any moment.
But, like any other part of life, nothing can last forever.

It was a drizzly Sunday morning- one that was meant to be cosy and relaxing. It was around midday when she had gotten the call.
Her mother was dead.
And her perfect life shattered into a billion pieces, crushed under life's battering fist.

Anyone who knew Sienna at the time could tell the difference immediately. Her cheeks no longer grew red as she walked past a certain someone, her step no longer had a spring in them, and worst of all her art had lost all its color as if the life was sucked out of it.

She spiraled further and further into this hole she couldn't dig herself out out of. And too late. It had begun to be more and more evident that all hope for her recovery back home in nowheresville, Oregon, was lost.
She had almost been expelled and lost people that truly mattered to her. It couldn't get much worse for her.

In the last week of August, to be precise, she was shipped off to live with her mother's longtime college friend and her family in Massachusetts.

Sienna stepped off the plane, a sudden blast of warm air hitting her face.
There was a quiet hum of voices as people exited through the gate into the large arrival
But Sienna? No, she was alone. And she stood out. She had raven black hair with dark green eyes. Her clothes stood out, too. Even in the summer she dressed in a black leather jacket, dark pants, and black leather boots that made loud echoing sounds as she walked authoritatively  down the hall.
When anyone looked over, she just glared back. She didn't trust anyone anymore, and didn't want to. Not anymore.
Not after what she had been through.
•         •          •           •         •          •

Sienna

I'm the car next to Cindy, my mom's old best friend, driving back to her house.
As we near the coast more and more white picket fences appear. All these houses with their perfectly manicured lawns, shingled roofs, and large American flags. It like out of a movie. It can't be any more different to where I lived in Oregon.
The ocean sparkles in the sunshine. Multiple boats dot the horizon, their little white sails contrasting in the deep blue of the ocean.
I lean my head against the window. It's a cold relief to my pounding and sweaty head.
My hands are clammy, and my heart is beating. I'm about to see my home for the next who- knows-how-many months.
The moment Cindy drives into a small side street I know that we're there.
"Welcome to Westwood." She says, grinning.

•         •          •           •         •          •

Later that night Cindy calls everyone to dinner.
It's a gorgeous night for eating outside. Especially when it's on a stunning, large patio overlooking the ocean.
I tried watching a movie upstairs while unpacking to calm down, but I couldn't concentrate.
The room still feels empty; the walls are bare and the only thing on the bed is a white bedspread.

My old room in Oregon was dark, with paint everywhere and posters on the wall. There was a tiny window facing a dark, deep forest.
Here there's a view of the ocean and flowy curtains.
I unpack what little room decorations I brought, and try to make the room feel at least a little like home, all the while knowing, it'll never be the same.