Black Velvet

With the house in the back window, flashing lights surrounding it, my stomach all twisted. In the back seat of the car lay my bags, I sit in the front seat, my head against the window, the image burned in my mind forever. I didn’t know where Officer Jennings was taking me; all I knew was that it was most likely far away from here. We stopped by my school; it was about time for classes to get let out so it was a perfect time. He came to a slow stop and turned off the car. We sat there for a minute before he slowly got out of the car. I stared at the floor board, trying to forget the image, to clear my head. My door opened and there stood Officer Jennings.

“Ashlynn,” Officer Jennings said, “come on, it wont take to long, just quick in and out. We don’t even have to talk to anyone.” He reassured me as he held his hand out. I looked at him and took his hand. I grabbed my bag that was on the floor, slung it over my shoulder and got out of the car. We headed to the front door of the school, I stopped, he kept walking till he noticed I wasn’t by his side.

“Give me a minute.” I said and took a deep breath. I looked at the door and opened it. We made our way to my locker. As I stood in front of it, I got up enough courage to open it. When the locker door came open there were many pictures of my family and friends, all of the people I love. The bell rang and the halls flooded with teens escaping the classes they were in.

“I’m going to stand over here, I’ll be close by.” Officer Jennings said. I nodded and took a breath, pulled the back off of my shoulder and opened it. With shaky hands I started to taking out all of my notebooks and papers when I was attacked.

“Ashlynn!” Rainy practically yelled as she ran and tackled me to the lockers. “I noticed you haven’t been at school for a while. What has been going on? Where have you been?

“I have been around...not feeling well...just staying home.” I said, trying to act as if I was okay and happy but it didn’t quite pass by her. She looked at me slightly worried; I knew that she had caught on.

“Ashlynn, is something wrong? You don’t seem to be yourself.”

I turned and looked into my locker and tried to hide my face.

“Ashlynn,” she repeated as she put a hand on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder at her, a tear rolling down my face. I could feel her tense and go into family mode.

“Ashlynn, talk to me, what’s wrong?” she said.

“……she is….dead….” I mumbled

She looked at me confused. “Who is Ashlynn, who is dead?”

I didn’t say anything for a second, “Kia,” I finally got out,”….dead…”

She froze, by the expression on her face I could tell she didn’t know what to think.

“She was murdered….this morning….just a few hours ago….” Another tear fell as my voice broke.

She looked at me with a tear rolling down her face, she knew I wasn’t kidding. She had no clue as to what to say. I turned back to my locker and started taking my pictures down and removing the tape. I took the picture of my family down then a picture of me and Rainy and held it in my hand. I looked at how happy we were and what relationship we have. If something happened to her I don’t know what I would do. If he killed Kia there is a chance he would come after Rainy next, no doubt. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for her reaction.

“….I am leaving…..and won’t…..be back….ever….”

I could feel her stop breathing.

“You….you what?! Why aren’t you coming back? But why? You are my only friend! You can’t leave, you just can’t!” she yelled. It echoed through out the now empty halls. I fell into her arms and we both cried.

“You can’t go,” Rainy repeated, “you just can’t.”

“I have to,” I cried “I have to.”

Officer Jennings came over to us and put his hands on our back. “Ashlynn, we have to go, we need to get on the road.” He said.

“Will she be able to contact me? At all?” Rainy asked, hopeful.

“We are unsure of that at this point, if she does she can’t let anyone know her location, she is leaving for her safety.”

Me and Rainy both nodded and cleaned out the rest of my locker, crying. We hugged one last long time before I had to leave. We said our goodbyes then Officer Jennings and I hit the road; we went through country side and mountains, beautiful scenery and forests. The homes that we passed were very colorful, green grasses and flowers everywhere. I could tell that they were expensive. Most of them had new cars and were on the beach side.

“Where might you be taking me?” I asked looking out the window with my headphones in.

“Not much farther.” He said. I nodded and kept my look out the window.

We turned off the main highway and headed down a side road. It was very bumpy, lined with flowers of every color with green below them. It was so pretty, like nothing I have ever seen before, like something out of a dream. We rounded a corner to a logged house; my eyes searched the house over, amazed.

“Here,” he said, pulling up to the house, “here is where you will be staying.”

I looked in disbelief, the house was something that a person of money would live in, not a seventeen year old girl with no family.

“I…..I what? This is mine?” He nodded. “But how?” It then suddenly clicked. “You better not have bought this for me! I could never take it! Never!” I practically yelled at him. He chuckled a little bit and grabbed an envelope from his visor.

“Me, buying this house for you,” he said as he held the envelope in his hand, “Would have been nice.”

“So you didn’t buy it for me?” I asked in surprise. “Then…..then who did?” I asked
He looked down at the envelope, then back at me. “Come on.” He said and got out of the car. I got out of the car, grabbed a few of my bags, and followed him to the house. I could feel butterflies in my stomach as we approached the house.

When we got to the door the wrap around porch had a beautiful and breath taking view of the beach.

“It’s a beach house?!” I asked letting my excitement slip out.

He nodded, “Come on inside.” He told me. I walked back towards the door still looking at the surroundings. When I hit the door I looked inside, I almost forgot how to breathe there was so much beauty. I took a breath and a few steps inside and dropped my bags. Pictures lined the walls. Sun rises and sets, beaches and palm trees, waves and boardwalks, they all rested on the cream colored walls. There was a stair case to my right, a balcony to my front, and a living room to my let.

Officer Jennings stood behind me, “Beautiful isn’t it.” He said. We both looked around and agreed. It was I couldn’t believe it was so beautiful. He looked down at the envelope he still held in his hand and handed it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked with a confused look on my face.

“Open it. I’ll go and get the rest of your bags from the car.”

I nodded, still confused. I turned back to the inside of the house as he headed for the car. I looked around again then down to the envelope. What could be in here? Why is me getting this so important? Who gave me this house and why? I had so many unanswered questions, maybe this envelope held some of my answers, so I decided to open it.

I walked over to the bottom step on the stares and sat down. I turned it over slowly, something slid inside, like a chain or something. I opened it with shaky hands and pulled out the papers that it held. I held the papers in one hand and the envelope in the other, unsure of what I might be holding. I took a deep breath and started to open the papers. When I saw the first three words I started shaking, my eyes filled with tears. I couldn’t believe it, I looked up, my breathing staggered, a tear came from my eye. “Mommy.” I whispered, my voice cracked, and then I knew.