Chapter 2 Living with A Stranger

The audience was in chaos as they tried to get her attention. Some were even throwing flowers at her but all she could see, in the vision of a hawk, was them waving at her while smiling proudly. Kiera smiled and waved back.

"Who are you waving at?" Sylvia asked as she looked in the direction she was looking.

"Her parents. You didn't see them?" Kiera said before her attention was caught by the announcer calling her name.

She was going to come up to get the medal, but Sylvia caught her arm. The dark-haired woman had a serious expression on her face that Kiera knew could bring the bad news. "We need to talk later, hon."

The brunette nodded slowly, before moving to the platform, still wondering what we were going to talk about. If only she didn't look forward to it too much.

After the awarding of the gold medal, her fourth Olympic gold medal, Kiera and her team went to her locker room, and there, Sylvia broke the news.

"W-what?" I felt numb, still trying to process the news. "B-But I saw... I saw them there."

Kiera went to the door and opened it. She looked around, colorful eyes frantically searching for her parents and brother behind the sunglasses she wore. There were many people in the hallway, some she was acquainted with and many she barely knew. Her shoulders slouched as she couldn't find them, not even with her sharp vision.

Sylvia and the head staff of the Olympic Games looked at each other before her trainer turned back at the stunned archer. "I know this is hard for you, Kiera, and... and it's hard for me to break it to you, too. The... The plane crashed before they could touch down. Mr. and Mrs. Hudson didn't make it."

Kiera turned away from the hallway and walked back inside, staggering to the bench of the locker. As she sat, she pulled the glasses away from her eyes, and in an instant, she saw black creatures inside the room. They were wandering around and scratching on the walls and lockers, clearly looking for something she couldn't know.

All the staff in her team started to crowd her, giving their condolences. She heard someone say about the reporters already flocking outside.

But she felt an utter void in her heart. She couldn't feel any grief.

She stared at the large trophy placed on top of one of the lockers; the symbol of her victory.

"Kiera?"

The said girl turned to Sylvia who was standing at the door, waiting for her. The trainer wore a sad emphatic expression. "We have to go. Ada will be the one to carry your things."

She nodded without a word and stood.

"The reporters will surely ask about your parents, you just need to..."

Sylvia continued her instructions but Kiera tuned her out and stopped at the door. She looked back at the empty locker room. There, three black ugly creatures she would always see staggered around the locker room. Kiera put on her black tinted sunglasses before following Sylvia outside.

~O~O~O~

The funeral ceremony of her parents was short and held in a private chapel in Manhattan, New York. Kiera requested Sylvia not to televise the funeral or anything related to her.

The sky got darker but Kiera remained sitting at one of the pews, staring at the two silver urns of her parents. She wore a plain black button-down shirt with white pants. Sylvia was outside the chapel, talking to a few of the staff and giving out instructions for their next actions. Black circles sat under her eyes, the only evidence of her grief.

"Didi," a raspy voice said.

She looked up at a tall man standing beside the pew she was sitting on.

It was like looking at a mirror. His dark brown hair was cut in a military-style, combed back neatly. The light in the room illuminated his light complexion, providing him with an inhuman kind of glow. His light brown eyes were stern and somewhat perplexed as he glanced her way.

It was as though they were twins with only their eyes separating them from each other.

Kiera felt like she was being an idiot. Of course, they looked very much alike. He is Jason Hudson, her older brother. And yeah, Jason – expectantly waiting for a response – was staring at her.

"Oh," she started warily but caught himself quickly. "Yeah... what is it, Jay?" she said a little awkwardly.

Jason sat beside me but he didn't say anything. I pushed the glasses up my nose before looking around but him. She and her brother were not that close. Jason went into the military when she was still young and he never once went to her competitions. It was always her mother and father.

After a few moments of silence, Sylvia went to them and broke the tension they were both building between each other.

"Oh, hello, Jason," she said to my brother with a smile, "you just got back?"

Jason didn't smile back. "Yes," he clipped.

Judging from his mute response and frown earlier, it was pretty clear to Kiera that Jason didn't want anything to do with me. So why was he here? Is it because of their parents? He could have just waited for her to leave if he didn't want to talk to her.

Sylvia left them alone again. Kiera heard her saying something about papers and schedules.

"Kiera," Jason muttered. "I'm going to send you to our aunt near StuyTown."

"I can handle all of these myself," she cut him off. "Besides, I have Sylvia here with me."

"You are not safe here, Kiera," he insisted. "You are alone here now. Sylvia can't protect and look after you each and every day."

She didn't reply. She didn't really care to argue with him because, for some odd reason, her instincts were telling her that this man wasn't really what he seemed. Somehow sensing what was going on in her head, Jason gave her the look.

'Now, now, Kiera, be polite,' his eyes seemed to be indicating.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a middle-aged woman walking into the chapel and directly to their seats. She had short salt-and-pepper hair with a little wrinkle under her eyes when she smiled.

Jason looked up at her and started to stand. "This is Aunt Flora. She will take care of you from now on."

Kiera quickly retaliated. "But I didn't agree on anything in this yet."

Jason turned to her with a harsh glare. "I never said you have a choice, Kiera. You will come with Aunt Flora or you will be alone here without a guardian."

She tried not to scowl. She slowly got up from her seat and out of the chapel, leaving the two of them alone. She stopped just outside the chapel, realizing it was already dark and the reporters are already gone. Jason or Sylvia must have driven them away earlier.

The colorful-eyed archer took a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling the cold air against her cheeks. A few minutes later, Flora and Jason went out of the chapel. Jason bid goodbye to their aunt before turning to her.

"I will visit you once in a while," he merely said before he walked to his parked car and drove off.

There was a moment of silence between Flora and Kiera before the latter spoke up, unable to take the awkwardness between them.

"Come on," she said, her tone a bit too rough to be considered polite. She walked towards the parking lot.

Flora followed her and guided her to the designated car. The ride out of the town she grew up in became smaller and smaller behind her. Kiera wanted to refuse, she wanted to bolt away and hide from Flora and Jason, and even Sylvia. But she had no strength.

She felt tired and spent.

"Stuyvesant Town is big, so in the meantime, you have to rely on me when you go out," Flora began to instruct as they walked out of the car and into a huge building.

"You live here?" Kiera found herself asking as she stared up at the tall building in front of them.

Flora paused beside her and stared at what she was looking at. "Yes. It's a condominium my husband gifted me during our 25th anniversary."

"Oh," the colorful-eyed girl said. "Where is he now?"

The middle-aged woman smiled. "He's gone." She took a step forward. "Now, come on. Jason already told me that Sylvia, your assistant, will bring your things here once she finished the necessary papers. So, you don't have to worry much about your things."

For a moment, Flora thought Kiera was just going to go deaf on her again, but instead, she gave her a slight nod and followed her into the building.

Kiera brought down her sunglasses and saw black smoke coming out of her aunt's back. It was almost invisible even to her special eyesight, if not because of her observant attitude.

She sighed and put her glasses back to her eyes. It seems that she would have to live with someone other than her aunt Flora.