The Girl Who Witnessed Death

My mother always told me that death was not the end but the beginning of a new chapter in life. For a while, I believed her. That is, until my tenth birthday. That was the day that my life changed forever.

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For years, Olivia Rayne Dupont was known as a goody-two-shoes book worm that got everything she ever wanted. Now, I'm known as the creepy girl that no one wants to hang out with. That would be because when I turned ten-years-old I watched my own mother die. No, it wasn't my fault. I was just unlucky enough to have been there.

My mother had always been the sweetest, but she had terrible taste in men. A loud crash woke me and my mother at two thirty-seven the morning of my tenth birthday. I remember thinking that it was just thunder since I could hear the rain pattering against my window. My mother, however, knew better. She came rushing into my bedroom, pulling her night robe tight around her waist. My mother scooped me up and ran me through the front door of small two-bedroom townhouse, setting me down on the cold sidewalk. I can still remember her last words to me before she ran back into the home that would take her life away, "Olivia, honey, call 9-1-1. Don't be scared, Mommy loves you." She had pressed her cell phone into my tiny palm and disappeared through the doorway.

Me, being my obedient self, typed in the numbers and called the police. I don't remember much after that phone call other than hearing another loud noise and watching my bedroom window explode as the room behind it filled with flames. I could do nothing. I watched police and firemen appear, barking instructions at one another and making sure I was okay. Then, my mother was found. She had been wheeled out on a stretcher and placed in the back of an ambulance. I was able to ride with her, but I'm pretty sure it was only because they knew she wouldn't make it to the hospital. Exactly three minutes and twenty-two seconds after the ambulance pulled away from my home, my mother took her last breath.

I was quickly ushered into the nearest squad car with a lovely officer named Jennifer. She reassured me that I would go to a loving home that would care for me until they could find my father. My first home didn't last very long. My foster mom didn't seem to like me. It only took a few weeks for someone at my new school to notice the bruises appearing. I was promptly removed from that home and placed into another. I was lucky that by the time I turned eleven they told me they wanted to adopt me. Problem was, they needed my father to sign away his parental rights, but they still couldn't find him. It wasn't until I was fifteen that they found him. He had been murdered and the body covered up.

My foster parents were finally able to adopt me, just in time to move me out of state and into another new school. Meleti High School, a large school in an even larger city that makes it hard for a small-town girl like me to fit in.

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"Olivia, honey! It's time for school!" my mother's voice boomed from the kitchen downstairs.

I wrapped my fingers around the thin straps of my school bag and pulled them onto my shoulders. Down the stairs, through the kitchen, out the garage door. I waved as I ran by my mother and toward the school that I would spend the next three years. The size of the school standing before me was unlike any school I have ever seen before. Intimidated, I stumbled my way through the front doors and somehow managed my way to the principal's office.

"Ms. Stoneburg?" I asked, knocking on the wood frame of the office door.

The principal's head snapped up from the papers on her desk. "Ah, Ms. Olivia Dupont, right?" I nodded. "I have your schedule hear, as well as your locker information." Ms. Stoneburg rose from her chair and handed me a small stack of papers. Looking over my schedule, I noticed that my classes were split over two days: A and B. On A days I had Math, English, Physical Education, and Graphic Design. On B days I had Chemistry, Health, Ballroom Dance, and Computer Programming. "It's an A day today. Ms. Yazmin Rook is in your math class, and she will be waiting for you outside the office. You can count on her to show you around and answer any questions you may have."

"Thank you," I said as I turned to leave the office. Yazmine was in the hallway leaned against the nearest lockers with her school bag hanging from her right shoulder, phone in hand. She looked up when she saw me leaving the office and waved me over. "You must be Yazmine. I'm Liv." I held my hand out for her to shake.

Yazmin wrapped her hands around mine after slipping her cell phone into her school bag. "It's so nice to meet you, Liv." She released my hand and whipped around to lead me down the hall. She pointed out all the important places on the way to my locker and our first class. We arrived at the door to the mathematics classroom. "Class is about to start, so we should probably head in. The teacher knows that we have a new student, and he should have a seat ready for you."

I followed Yazmin into the classroom. A heavy feeling surrounded my body as I passed through the doorway. Just as quickly as the feeling left, it faded. I focused on the tall man standing in the front of the classroom. "Ah, you must be Olivia. I'm Mr. Alvarez. There is an empty seat next to Gabriel over there." Mr. Alvarez pointed to an empty desk at the back of the classroom next to a muscular student leaned back in his chair. Walking towards the empty chair, that feeling returned. Getting stronger the closer I got to the seat, the heaviness caused my vision went dark with dizziness.