Before Dawn (On Hiatus)

Before Dawn

Prologue
Tears streamed down her cheeks in broad paths as she gently let the flowers down in front of the double gravestone. It had barely been a year since they both died, but the pain and sorrow still soared in her chest like a freshly opened wound.

Beloved parents, sister, brother. You will be forever missed.

Camila snorted at the inaccurate engraving. Their family was rather large, at least if you counted all the cousins and second cousins on her mom's side. However, they were also the kind of 'this was fun, let's do it again sometime.' people who had zero intentions of ever doing it again. They showed up at the funeral, said their prayers and then moved on as if nothing had happened, proceeding to turn their relations with both Camila and her little sister, Sofia, even more tense.

To be fair, Camila was surprised that they decided to attend the actual funeral, but not the excited kind of surprised, just surprised. She figured it was simply to keep up the important facade of one big happy family.

Ironically, they all seemed willing to take the first exit route they could find, which Camila tried extremely hard not to take any offense of. After all, she didn't really like any of them, she thought. But, when facing a whole new life with two dead parents behind her and a very unsure future in front of her, and no one there to help, it was easy to become bitter at almost everything and everyone.

After what showed to be a very long and heavy trial, Camila and Sofia had (much to their own astonishment) not ended up with complete strangers. Instead, they were going to live with somebody far out in the family. A woman they barely knew, which Camila had yet to decide whether was for the better, or, for the worse. But she tried to keep her mind thinking positive thoughts and so far she had managed to come up with three steady pros to the arrangement. Not that many, but considering the situation, Camila would have been proud to list one.

i. Ebony seemed like a nice woman, quiet and stabile but a good person nonetheless. (Camila decided she must be, since she willingly took in two strange children. Family or not, that was one hell of an offer).

ii. Stealing a quick look at her social worker's papers made it clear that money were never to be an issue.

iii. Evidently the most important one; Sofia. (Understandably, Camila's biggest concern throughout the whole process had been her little sister. Her number one priority was to make sure nothing separated her from her sister.)

Other than those three facts, there wasn't much that excited Camila about moving away from everything familiar. She struggled between fully accepting their new situation and missing her old life. However, as she felt two strong hands coming to a rest on top of her shoulders, squeezing them supportively, Camila's resistance dissolved, blossoming into gratitude.

They stood there in silence for what must have been an hour, (or maybe three) Camila had no ability to measure time at this point. She allowed herself one more moment to feel hopeless, before she breathed the crispy cold air down into her tired lungs. And for the very first time, Camila fully accepted Ebony's support and let her body sink back into her unwavering form.

A couple more moments went by until Camila had managed to gather herself, fighting against the pain that was constantly on the brim of swallowing her whole. Her shoulders sunk back down to their original place, and she let out a calm sigh. As terrible as it sounded to be leaving everything and everyone, the idea of escaping her parents' deaths and the rest of the tragedy brought her some relieving comfort.

For a weak moment, Camila gave the rest of her family the benefit of the doubt. Right now, it felt much easier to just push the situation away than to deal with it. Camila just wished she would have had that choice, that Sofi did.

Granting the grave one last look, Camila turned to the car with a worried mine and walked over to it determinedly. With utmost care, she opened the car door slowly, finding her sister with her head down and her hands folded in her lap.

The dejected sight tore a little at Camila's heart, to see Sofia's usual spirited self was a rarity nowadays. Now there was a compact wall that held all her little sister's sadness inside of it and Camila had no idea how to tear it down. To be fair, she hardly managed to keep herself from falling apart. But she would never stop trying to help her sister, that was a certainty Camila knew was never going to falter. She crouched down and put a loving hand on her sister's knee.

Sofia looked up at the contact, slightly tensing up. Her face was paler than usual and with dried up stains running down from former tears. "Please don't make me do it. I don't want to."

Now Camila's heart was truly breaking. Sofia had yet to visit the grave, but Camila could never force her through it. She desperately wanted her sister to get a proper goodbye, but no child at her age should have to experience or understand the pain the both of them was going through at this moment.

For a long time, Camila hadn't understood herself. The frustration had led to sadness and then the tears turned into a growing ball of anger. Obviously she was angry at the drunk driver that hit-and-run her parents' car, blamed him too. But a small part of her, one that she knew was wrong and unfair, but she couldn't shake off was the anger she carried for her parents.

She was angry at them for leaving her, for leaving Sofia. They were gone and with them, they had taken the world as Camila knew it.

**