Chapter Twenty-eight Estera Roberts’ POV (Ten Years Before)

“Estera Roberts, report to the principal’s office at once!” Principal Baldwin's voice boomed in every hallway and every classroom in Marymount College, a private high school in Castle Ridge. A small town about an hour away from New York City.
I sat up on my seat at the back of the class, and slowly removed my earphones, noting how everyone in my class seemed to turn on their seat to gape at me.
“Well, finally! Are you getting more adventurous now that we have just a few days before graduation, Roberts?” Devon said, causing everyone to laugh.
“Seriously, what did you do?” another voice I recognized too well interjected. Michael was Devon’s friend. They were both on the school football team and in major pain. They had been a thorn in my side ever since Devon asked me out in middle school and I had told him I intended not to date in high school.
He figured I said that to brush him off and he couldn't be farther from the truth. I had indeed made that decision when one of our classmates poisoned herself because her boyfriend left her for her best friend. I figured I didn’t need that kind of drama in my life anyway. I wanted to pursue a career in medicine like my mother and knew good grades could not be easily attained by partying during school days, skipping school to go to the movies like most of the popular girls did, and of course getting careless with some guy in the sports team, and risking getting pregnant.
I figured I would have plenty of time to explore in college but needed to pave a way there first. Besides, I didn’t want to disappoint my parents, especially my mum. My mum, bless her, mapped out aboard what we called the future walk, drawing out what I needed to do when and how to achieve it and in the end, it all worked out.
I have three admission letters waiting in my dad’s home office for me to study medicine and Surgery at three prestigious universities. My parents were so proud and let it slip that they were planning to give me a surprise gift. A small smile played around my lips as I wondered if the summoning by the principal was part of their surprise plans.
“Estera, dear, please come,” Mrs. Pincushion, my homeroom teacher, called to me in the kindest tone I had ever heard her use. A frown furrowed my eyebrows. I silently studied the black-haired petite woman, she seemed sober. Her usually lively eyes were downcast and her Ivory skin tone seemed flushed. It looked like the rest of the class noticed as well because the class grew quiet, and they all stopped cracking jokes as they watched her usher me up from my seat and to the exit door.
“Is something wrong?” I asked when we were out of the class and halfway to the principal’s office.
“I’m so very sorry, dear, the principal will tell you all you need to know,” she replied in a shaky tone, and I noted how she was avoiding my gaze. I swallowed softly, coming to an abrupt halt when I saw two police officers standing with the principal at the entrance of her office. They all stopped talking when they sighted me and the look the principal gave me made my heartbeat quicken. ‘Something was wrong,’ I thought. ‘This doesn’t look like a good surprise.’
Straightening my shoulders I hurried my steps to join the adults and they all surrounded me and ushered me inside the principal’s office.
“Estera. You have always appeared to me as a strong young woman. You have such a beautiful future ahead of you and I know you are going places and going to kick asses doing it too. Your father and mother were very important to this community. Your father was one of us, an educator, an excellent one, and your mother was practically the community doctor…”
“Is…” I corrected automatically, my fist was balled up by my sides and I didn’t dare raise my face to look into the woman’s eyes. The eulogy… everything she was saying could only mean something horrific had happened to my parents and I just couldn’t look up to let her confirm that.
“Pardon?” she said, sounding befuddled.
“You said ‘was’… I’m sure it’s just a simple mistake -– a slip of the tongue,” I said with a shaky voice. The room grew quiet and I finally bravely looked up into the dark-skinned woman’s dark-brown eyes. She turned away from my scrutiny and burst into tears.
I knew then that my life would never be the same again. I discovered I was an orphan now, both of my parents had been killed in a ghastly car accident. The police assumed a drunk driver had caused them to crash down a sharp bend on a mountainous road the locals called Tumbledown Peak mountain. The road led from town to Snowspeal, where we live, a smaller community for the town’s elite.
I couldn’t understand how that could happen, everyone knew about the bend and we have lived in that part of town all of my life. Plus, my father was said to be driving, and he was an excellent driver. The police promised to keep looking for the other driver who had caused the crash, and I just wanted my parents back.
I went through a few stages in my grieving, and the very first of them was denial. I withdrew into a shell, drawing my parents' memories with me. I refused to speak or show any emotions until my aunt, Aunt Sophia, showed up. She was my mother’s twin and they looked so much alike. I ran to her when I first saw her and it was only then I allowed myself to fall apart.
My mother was my best friend, my confidant, and my cheerleader all rolled into one body and someone took her and my dear father away from me. I went through the funeral like a ghost. I was present physically but not quite. All of my teachers from the school attended and people from the hospital where my mum worked with some of her patients. The crowd was so many that one would think a celebrity had died. I felt proud, but what I really wanted was for them to wake up or for me to wake up and find this was nothing but a nightmare. Unfortunately, I never woke from it.
Two days after my parents’ burial, I listened in when my parents’ lawyers were talking to Aunt Sophia. The lawyers advised that we maintain the lease of all of my parents’ properties, and lease out the one in Snowspeal too, albeit for a short time, but my Aunt Sophia insisted they leave my home as it was until I was ready to sort out my parents things by myself.
I stayed crouched down by the door to my room, making no attempt to go outside to join them. I deduced Aunt Sophia was trying to make sure they preserve all my parents’ properties for me, and I was so happy I have her even though I had only met her once before my parents died.
My mum told me she lived on her employer's estate in an old town somewhere in Texas. She never married nor had any kids. My mum said it was by choice. I wondered why anyone would make a choice to not have children. I was glad my parents didn’t make any such decision, otherwise, I wouldn’t have met them. Tears filled and blurred my eyes.
“We have a brother in California, he is out of the country presently and I think he would be the perfect person for Estera to stay with right now. She is seventeen and her eighteenth birthday is in a few months—”
I heard my Aunt Sophia saying and felt a profound dread. I didn't want to be separated from her! She looked so much like my mum, and I can’t lose them both in such a short time. I have never even physically met Uncle Joshua, he was always out of the country for some adventure. He was a journalist for the National Geographic channel.
My mum made me speak with him on the phone like twice. The first was on my tenth birthday and the second was on my parents' wedding anniversary when I was thirteen, and both times he was in some jungle in South Africa, filming wildlife. I rushed out of my room before I could change my mind.
“No! I’m either going with you or I'm staying here!” I cried and then busted into tears. “I’m sorry,” I added, not quite sure of what I was apologizing for. But Aunt Sophia was the only anchor I have right now and losing her was unthinkable.
“Estera, darling,” Aunt Sophia said, coming to wrap me up in a hug. I held on to her like I would my mum. She ran her fingers through my hair and murmured comforting words. “My employer has certain rules I can not break, darling—”
“I want to stay with you!” I repeated almost hysterically.
“Maybe you can speak with them? Your niece needs you right now,” Mr. James, my Dad’s lawyer said.
“If you need legal interference, I would be happy to help, for free, of course,” Mrs. Brown, my mum’s lawyer interjected.
Aunt Sophia sighed, tightening her arms around me.
“It’s okay, darling. We will… work something out, okay?” Aunt Sophia said.
“‘Kay,” I whispered.
A few mornings after, I watched as my home grew farther and farther away from the back of the rented cab that was to take us to the airport, and thought of how terrifyingly fragile life can be. My uttermost fear a few days ago was attending my school graduation party alone, then braving picking one of the universities that had accepted me and having my parents drive me to campus. And now I just want to crawl up in the darkest of places and cease to exist.
All the efforts that I had put into getting the best of grades so as to get accepted to the best of schools felt unimportant now.
The very thought of navigating my life alone on campus was overwhelming. I feel empty inside and seem to have lost interest in everything. Aunt Sophia said I could take a year break or I could pick a community college in Charlestown and have a few years to adjust. I know what she meant was for me to take time to heal and accept that my parents were gone. I don’t know if that was possible. The pain in my heart was profound. But I know I want Aunt Sophia close by until I feel brave enough to forge my own path.