GRIEF

Evie stared blankly at the cremation chamber as the clock ticked away. In a few hours from now, her brother's body would be reduced to ashes. After he had passed away the previous night, the head physician had volunteered to have him cremated at his own cost. Isabel had left the decision to Evie and she had no choice but to accept.

She would have preferred to keep holding Caleb in her arms - even though he was dead - but she knew she had to do the right thing. So she accepted. Besides Mr James had been so kind to her. She couldn't refuse him.

Suddenly something snaked her shoulders and she was startled back to reality. She looked at her shoulder and traced the arm to Eva. She was crying as she watched the retort. Evie felt sad and wanted to reach out her hand and wipe the tears off her cheeks but she held back when she remembered that Eva had been the reason why she had made that rash decision to run off that night.

She removed Eva's arm from her shoulders and when she turned to look at her, Evie looked away coldly. Scanning the room, Evie noticed that only Eva, Isabel and Ryan had come. Veron was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Joanna. Evie scoffed at herself for expecting them. Veron was the definition of 'evil' while Joanna was.. The first that came to her mind was mother.

She pushed it aside. No mother would let her child die. But Joanna did and she could've stopped it. But she didn't.

Evie stood up as tears flooded her eyes. She didn't want to cry in this place. With all these people here. She trudged toward the door quietly. As she walked out to the room, she saw Joanna standing by the wall with eyes red and swollen with tears.

She ignored her and continued walking down the hallway. She heard Joanna call her name but she didn't answer. Her heart was too heavy. She didn't want to face her yet. Just as she reached the far end, Joanna caught up with her.

"Evie, I know this won't change anything I did wrong or bring back your brother but I just want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for promising what I couldn't give. I'm sorry for making your already miserable life worse. I thought I could make it better. I wanted to make it better but I ruined it. And I caused Caleb to die. I'm sorry." Joanna paused for a while as she closed her eyes and let her tears roll freely.

Evie bit her lower lip and rolled her eyes in an effort to hold her tears. She didn't want to look back at Joanna because she would be tempted to forgive her. She didn't want to forgive her.

"I'm really sorry, Evie. For being a bad mother. And I know you won't be able to forgive me but I want you to know that I really loved you and Caleb. I still do." Joanna stressed the last sentence. She knew Evie would never give her a second chance but she still had to try.

"Screw that! Screw love!! Screw you, Joanna!!!" She shouted coldly as she moved away from Joanna. Her tears started rolling down her cheeks and she bit on her lips and tried to calm down. "You are not my mother or Caleb's and you have never loved us and you have no right to be here. You're right. I can never forgive you so leave this place and never show up in front of me ever again. I hate you."

"Evie please, I know I can't undo my wrongs but please don't make me leave without seeing Caleb one last time. Please. If I ever made you happy then just let me see him. Please." Joanna said and went down on her knees. She needed to see Caleb one last time. To attend his funeral. Even though she had failed him as his mother, she still wanted to.

Evie shut her eyes and tried to think. Before David and Eloisa came into their lives, she and Caleb had always been happy with Joanna. She decided to let her into the funeral. Only because she knew that Caleb would've wanted her to. But that was all she would do for her.

"Just ten minutes. Then you get out of our lives forever." Evie muttered coldly and stepped into the elevator. Before it closed shut, she threw a glare at Joanna. "It's Evangeline to you."

She inhaled deeply as the elevator started moving. Sinking to the floor, she buried her face in her palms and cried bitterly. Her life would never be the same from then on.

***** ***** *****

Edwin jammed the brakes at the last minute. The girl in front of his car slumped to the floor. He dashed out of his car immediately. Trouble always seemed to find him no matter how careful he was. He wasn't violating any traffic rule so why did he have to get in trouble because one random teenage girl had decided to cross the road like it belonged to her father.

Picking up his phone, he dialed the emergency number for an ambulance. He described his location to them and went over to the girl. She didn't look like she was hit as she didn't have any injury. He pinched his forehead as he looked at the crowd that had gathered around - murmuring and were taking pictures. In a few minutes, the press would come and the situation would get even stickier. He couldn't wait for the ambulance to arrive.

He lifted the girl and laid her on the backseat of his car while trying to hide his face. Then he drove off. His heart was beating against his chest as he drove to the hospital. He had to save her. No matter what.

He positioned the rear mirror so that he could see her. She looked like she was a teenager - sixteen years old to be exact. Her eyes were swollen and her body was pale. She looked like she was grieving over someone.

His heart ached for her. As young as she was, she had gone through a lot. He felt like reaching over to her and patting her head and encouraging her that things would get better even though he didn't know what went wrong.

As the hospital came into sight, he took another look at her. She looked very familiar even though he was sure he had never met her before. Something drew him to her and he had no idea what or why.

He parked his car at the hospital's garage and carried her inside. She was laid on a stretcher and was pulled in to a room while he was asked questions about her. He wasn't able to answer most of the questions because they were personal. He had no idea what her name was or her age and whatever other questions they asked him.

He sat in the waiting room after the nurse left. Waiting impatiently as seconds crawled into minutes and minutes into hours. After what seemed like forever, he was called to the doctor's office. There he was told that she wasn't hit by his car but she had fainted due to excessive stress and starvation. She had been transferred to a ward so he could see her.

On reaching the ward, the girl was still asleep. He took a closer look at her and realised why he was so drawn to her. She reminded him of his mother and he thought of his younger sister. If his sister were still alive, she would be the same age as her.

A thought came to him. What if she was his sister? He had never believed that she had died even though everyone told him so. And in a bid to find her, he had investigated a lot of girls her age until his father found out and stopped him.

A strong feeling of hope filled his heart as he looked at Evie. He left the ward to the doctor's office and asked for a DNA test. Samples of his blood and hers were taken for the test. As the hours ticked by, he sat by her bedside and held her hand while praying for the test result to be positive.

She had to be his sister. She had to be his Evie. He had missed her. And he wanted to take her home.