Tomorrow's Blues

1. The Moores

I was numb.

I had been for a while now.

When I received the news, I cried. I cried so much that I thought I might have cried all the tears I had in me. At the funeral, everyone was sobbing. I cried then, too. I had to stand up in front of everyone and talk, and it was the hardest thing I had ever done. I nearly backed out, but I told myself I had to do it for them. For my parents.

After the funeral, it was like a switch went off inside me. I couldn't feel anything. Everything I did was robotic and emotionless. When I talked to family friends who came to see how I was doing, it was like I wasn't even present during the conversations. I was empty.

My parents died on July 2nd, two weeks ago now, while I was at home. It was their anniversary. Dad took mum out for a meal on a rented boat. Mum always wanted a boat, but we didn't have the kind of money to actually buy one. So he surprised her. Ever the romantics, my parents – I used to envy their love for each other, hoping I would find someone who looked at me the way they looked at each other. And now – they were dead. Their boat capsized, and they drowned. I think a part of me died too.

For the past couple of weeks, I'd been staying in this hotel owned by a friend of my parents, but today I was moving in with my best friend, Alice. At least until I got a job and earned enough money to maybe rent myself a place when I turned 18. I didn't want to have to be a burden to her family.

Alice's family, the Moore's, were the kindest people, and I was grateful that mum and dad named them as the family I would live with, were I under 18 when they died. I had a couple of relatives, but none my parents ever really kept in touch with. The Moore's were basically family anyway. All except Alice's older brother, Joseph, who I'd only met when I was younger, so all I remembered were brief snippets of him and Alice bickering and fighting as siblings do. As we got older, Joseph was never at home, and decided to go to a boarding school rather than the one Alice and I attended. So I just never saw him.

I was still numb as I packed up bags with all my clothing and other possessions in. It was with robotic movements that I left my room, walking straight past my parents' room and out the house. I didn't look back.

As I drove myself to Alice's house, I tried to enjoy my last ride in my car - I couldn't afford the insurance or fuel myself, so I was selling it. I didn't really need it, anyway. The town of Newacre was fairly well connected, with lots of public transport, and it wasn't a very big town. I would be able to walk from Alice's house to the harbour and beach within thirty minutes or so. I liked living in a small town, but small towns also mean that rumours and gossip gets around quickly. I was sure that soon enough, people would start to stare, and I would be known as the girl who lost both her parents. Poor orphaned Liliana.

I arrived at Alice's house and parked before switching off the ignition. I sat there for a while, staring at the familiar building, taking some deep breaths before getting out of the car and popping open the boot to grab my bags.

I heard the front door open and looked up to see a boy strolling down the path to the road, throwing and catching car keys in one hand and tapping on his phone in the other. When he looked up and saw me, he stopped and frowned. I turned away and carried on lifting my heavy bags out of the car, vaguely recognising him as Joseph. He looked a hell of a lot different to how he looked when he was what, ten? Eleven? I couldn't remember. I heard footsteps approaching me and kept my eyes down until his feet were right next to me. Slowly I stood up straight and met some very blue eyes.

"Can I help you?"

I blinked. "Oh, I'm Liliana. Ana for short. I'm Alice's friend."

Joseph paused and looked me up and down slightly, saying in a flat tone. "Right. Ana. You've changed."