Chapter 1 Rich

It was another depressing day in Manhattan. But today was worse, much, much worse than any other depressing day. Today Lindsey Marie Vindai was putting her parents in their graves. Well she already did. Now she was standing in front of the shared tombstone with their names, birthdays, and death days. Under the dates read 'Loving parents and children. They will be missed.'

Lindsey thought all her tears were shed, but now she realized she would be moving to Gotham to live with her grandparents.

"Lindzey! Oh sorry, so sorry," Grandma Vindai cried onto Lindsey's shoulder. Grandma Vindai had wondrously long gray hair and beautifully tanned wrinkled skin. Her usually bright green eyes were filled with tears. She was a surprisingly plump woman for living in such poverty all her life and she had gotten shorter than the last time they had seen each other. Her father's parents had flown out to America for their only son's funeral. Back in Italy they had four daughters who couldn't make it.

"Thank you Mamas," Lindsey said. Then Grandfather Vindai came to pull his wife off his granddaughter. He had unusually pale skin for being Italian, but it must had something to do with the strange red hair he had before it turned white, or so Father said. He had dark brown eyes sunk low into his skin and his hands were rough and callused from working hard, laborious jobs in Italy.

"Call soon, Lindzey," he said to her with his weeping wife on his shoulder.

"I will Papi," Lindsey promised. She watched as they went off to the rental car they had and drove off. Their plane was scheduled to take off later tonight.

Lindsey turned back to her parents graves. A tear fell down her cheek when she thought she was alone.

"Oh dear, there's been enough tears today," she heard her Grandma Holling say as she wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She used her other hand that wasn't wrapped around her granddaughter's shoulder to wipe where the tear fell. "I wish I had another handkerchief to give you. But just think, now it's time to be excited! You get to come home with Wilson and I."

"Where is grandfather?" Lindsey choked out looking around the almost empty cemetery before looking at her Grandma. She had light, barely wrinkled skin, thanks to the many skin-care routines she's done over the years. Her light gray - almost white - hair was pulled into a fancy up-do. Her blue eyes were surrounded by red, showing that she did cry for her daughter. She wore a long, black dress that probably cost more than all the flowers for the funeral.

"He went to get the car. He'll be back soon. By now the truck with your belongings should be in Gotham and the servants should be unpacking them. You'll be living like a princess in the manor! You'll love the food Mr. Jang makes. He owned a five-star restaurant before selling it and coming to work for us. You won't have to do chores. We hired only the best to take care of our three hundred year old manor. You don't even have to drive anywhere. We have Samuel to do that for us. He's been driving us since Hailey was a little girl. He didn't drive us here because we knew she wouldn't like it."

Finally one thing her Grandma got right.

"Margaret! Come on, darling, it's going to rain soon," Grandpa Holling called from the road. He had stepped out of the expensive-looking car and was looking up the hill at them. He had thinning hair that had turned white a long time ago. He was very tall and thin and had glasses pushed up on his nose.

"Just a second!" Grandma Holling knelt in front of the gravestone a pressed her fingers to her mouth then pressed them on the stone. "I will visit. I will take care of your darling girl."

Grandma Holling stood up and walked to the car. Lindsey stood for a second before she whispered, "I'll remember everything. Not one memory will be wasted. But why did you have to leave me?"

Lindsey pulled herself together well enough to get in the car with her grandparents. She turned and began her walk to her grandparents' car Once she arrived she entered the backseat. She then began her journey to her new home. In Gotham. With her grandparents. After her parent's funeral. Where she knew nobody.

Lindsey looked out the window at the city she grew up in. It would be a while before she would return. She had said goodbye to her friends, they were nice to come to the funeral. They had hugged and wished her well before leaving Lindsey to mourn even more.

"Oh Lindsey dear, just you wait, you are going to love the Manor. It's made of grey brick and it has a huge garden. The backyard has a fountain and a gazebo and the pool is in the back but we built a building around it since you're last visit, that way it's heated year-round. And it's this time of year that the manor looks stunning, but nothing like the spring. That's my favorite time of the year to walk around the gardens," Grandma Holling rambled.

"Sounds nice," Lindsey muttered. She didn't care about her grandparent's huge house, or the land around it.

"And your room is on the complete other side of the house as ours. We wanted to give you privacy. And it's baby blue. But if you don't like the color we can change it. Or if you need a bookcase or a softer bed just tell us," she continued.

"Blue is a nice color. I don't mind," Lindsey insisted. She didn't want her grandparents to feel guilty about not seeing her often, it was her and her parents' choice to not visit with Lindsey often.

"That's good. And also you'll be attending Gotham Academy which is very prestigious, they usually don't allow entry this close to the school year, unless you're on scholarship, but Wilson knows the administrators personally and once they heard of your situation they slipped you right in. Now Gotham Academy does have uniforms and if you give me your sizes I can have them brought to the house in two days for you to try on."

Gotham Academy? Prestigious? Uniforms? Lindsey wondered. Her old school it was barely up to code. Everyone's lockers got stuck every time someone tried to open one. Not to mention the gym permanently smelt like semen. And the roof was going to cave in if there would be too heavy of a snowfall.

"Grandma Holling? I don't need to go to such an expensive school. I would be fine at Gotham Central High School," Lindsey attempted to persuade her grandmother.

To be honest she looked up the high school because she thought it's where she thought she would be attending. Sure it had the highest drop-out rate in New Jersey but it was Gotham, City of Crime.

"Oh no," Grandfather Holling pipped up for the first time of the car ride, "No granddaughter of mine will be seen around such miscreants, not when we can send her to a much nicer high school in which she will actually learn something."

There was no way out of this for Lindsey, she knew. Her grandparents had made up their mind. Her mother had gotten her stubbornness from her parents. But Lindsey wasn't one to insist for something and throw a fit when she didn't get it. She got that from her Father.

"Now I'll bet that Batman went to Gotham Central. Such a man would if he turned out to be such a horrendous man," Grandma Holling sneered to her husband.

That's right, Gotham had its own personal superhero. The first time Lindsey could remember seeing a superhero on TV she was so shocked that there was such a thing. Then the Justice League was formed and the world became safer. She thought they were so brave. So many people with powers came out of the shadows. She remembered playing Wonder Woman with her Mom when she was younger. She wore a princess crown, had on her mother's high heeled boots and carried a play lasso. There was a picture in a photo album somewhere in a box.

"And don't forget Robin. He was young when he started. He must be around thirty now," Grandpa Holling said. "Batman got that boy sucked into fighting people so young. I feel bad for him because he doesn't know any better."

"They make Gotham safer, didn't they? Doesn't that count for something?" Lindsey asked.

"We live outside of the city, Lindsey, nothing happens where we live," Grandpa Holling said in a soothing tone. He thought Lindsey was scared about all the attacks in Gotham. She was just interested. She would love to meet a superhero, not when she was in danger or anything, just meet them on the streets and give them her thanks for making the world safe. That was probably just a dream, though. Who would be able to meet a superhero?

"Thanks, Grandpa," Lindsey said with a small smile.

Lindsey then sat back in her seat wishing something good will come out of this.

Grandma and Grandpa Holling kept talking about who knows what. Lindsey stared out the window and within a couple minutes she was asleep.

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Lindsey was shaken awake by her Grandmother and hour later. "Honey, we're home, it's time to wake up," she whispered to Lindsey. She rubbed her eyes before she stretched her aching bones. Falling asleep in a car is not ideal for anyone. The cramp space and the way your head can only be two ways that both screw with your neck. Lindsey stepped out of the car and in front of Holling Manor.

Holling Manor was huge. It was composed of grey brick, like Grandma Holling had said when she was talking about it earlier. It had three floors. Everything around it was so big that you couldn't see where the house ended. It had been ten years since Lindsey had been to her Grandparents home and it was still as overwhelming as she remembered.

"Lindsey, come along dear," Grandma Holling called from the doorway.

Lindsey hadn't realized she'd been staring at the manor. She ran up to the doorway to her Grandmother. As her grandmother opened the door, Lindsey then had a flashback of memories from when she last visited.

Ten years ago, her mother wanted to come visit her parents for a week, before visiting Italy for a month so Lindsey could learn more about where her father came from. She had more fun in Italy than in Gotham. It was quiet in the manor, too quiet for a six year old. She spent most of her time outside where she could be as loud as she wanted and make as big of a mess as possible. The gardeners hated her by the end of the week. Whenever she went inside, she would run everywhere in the house and annoy every person she saw. By the end of the week everyone was glad to see her leave.

Lindsey was quickly overwhelmed with the size and darkness of the manor. As she walked in a staircase was automatically in front of her on her right. Six feet from the door was a small table with picture of Lindsey and her parents from different times in her life. To her left was a sitting room with large, old chairs and straight past the staircase was a door leading to the back.

"Lindsey this is Diane," Grandma Holling said pointing to a woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun. "she is the head caretaker. She fixed your room for you. If you need anything ask her."

"Okay," Lindsey said. "It's nice to meet you Diane."

Lindsey held her hand out to the woman, who grabbed it tightly.

"It's nice to meet, you Miss," she said. "I was sorry to hear about your parents. I hope to make your time here as comfortable as possible."

"Thank you, Ms. Diane," Lindsey said with a false smile. She had many people tell her their heartaches for her today, she had gotten used to the false smile and thanking statement.

"Margaret, shouldn't we show Lindsey to her room?" Grandpa Holling asked his wife. "She's had a stressful week, maybe she would like to be alone. I believe she told us earlier she hasn't slept much this week."

Grandpa Holling was much more attentive than his wife, and Lindsey was thankful. This week she had probably gotten ten hours of sleep. She usually spent her nights crying or waking up from nightmares.

"Of course," Grandma Holling said, "And Lindsey would also love to see her new room. Come on, dear."

Grandma went to the stairs and started walking up. Grandpa Holling placed his hand on the small of Lindsey back. They looked at each other and he gave her a look saying, 'She will leave you alone eventually.'

They walked up the stairs together and turned to the left. Grandma Holling was already down another hallway and they could hear her talking.

Lindsey sped up to catch up with her Grandmother. For an older lady she sure had a kick in her step. When she turned down the hallway she found Grandma Holling standing in front of a door.

" - you, of course, don't want to hear about the history of the Manor. Am I correct, Lindsey?"

"Right, Grandma."

Grandma Holling opened the door to Lindsey's new room. On the far wall was a large window with an armchair in front of it. Behind the door was a door leading to a combined bathroom and closet. Sitting adjacent to the door in the middle of the room was a queen size bed with a fluffy-looking baby blue comforter and pillows. And behind the bed was double doors leading to a small balcony, enough for two people to stand on. A large oak tree was in front of the balcony. Lindsey smiled as she remembered climbing the tree when she had stayed here. The walls were painted baby blue to match the comforter. All the shelves, window linings, and furniture was crisp white.

"Do you like it, Lindsey?" Grandpa Holling asked.

"It's a lot nicer than what I had back home," Lindsey admitted. "But I like it."

"We're going to leave you alone for a while, now," Grandma Holling said. "You can meet us downstairs for dinner at six-thirty."

"Okay, see you la-" Before she could even finish her goodbye, the door was already closed and she could hear their retreating footsteps.

Lindsey sighed and looked around the room once more. She was happy in her pink room back home. Nothing in that room had changed since she was born - except for the bed of course. She even kept her favorite stuffed animal from her childhood on her nightstand just so she could look at it everyday. That reminded her. She quickly went into the bathroom/closet to look for the box labeled 'Nightstand'.

Once she found it she tore it open. Inside was the stuffed animal, a picture of her with her parents and her mother's pearls. Her father had given them to her mother on their first anniversary. They were the second and last jewels her father got for her mother. The first was their wedding ring, which Lindsey had put in her jewelry box.

She took the three things and put them on her nightstand. She them lay on the bed facing them. She thought she would cry now that she was finally alone, but no more tears came to her eyes. Lindsey didn't stop staring at them until her eyes fell closed and fell asleep.

When dinner rolled around Grandpa Holling went to get his lovely granddaughter only to find her asleep. She was still wearing her funeral dress and her black heeled ankle boots. She was turned to the nightstand, which is where he saw the picture of his daughter and her husband. He couldn't help but think, Lindsey was just like his Hailey. Lindsey would find a boy who would love her more than his own life. He couldn't wait to see her fall in love.

Grandpa Holling took off Lindsey's shoes and kissed her head before covering her with a blanket. He closed the door quietly and went to the dining room where his wife was waiting for him at the table.

"Margaret," Grandpa Holling said as he entered.

"Yes, Wilson?" Margaret asked not looking up from her book.

"Lindsey fell asleep," Wilson said as he sat in his seat.

"Oh, dear. I guess with the excitement of everything it tired her out. Poor baby."

"She's not a baby anymore."

"I know Wilson."

"She's almost done with High School. She'll be going to college soon."

"Which is why we have to spend as much time with her now since we didn't get as much time with her when she was younger."

"Are you saying that Hailey and Fabian dying was a blessing for us?"

"Wilson, I'm saying it's a second chance. You know how Hailey came to resent us after she met Fabian. I'm saying we make sure Lindsey doesn't end up resenting us after she leaves us. We give her space and anything she wants, not things that we think will make her happy. We will let Lindsey live almost as if we aren't here."

"Margaret-"

"I love Lindsey with all my heart. I just don't want to make the same mistake with her as we did with Hailey."

"And we won't. Lindsey is already so much more different than Hailey. Now, let's eat."

The two began their meal, not knowing that Lindsey had woken up when Grandpa Holling took off her shoes. She stood on the balcony in her bedroom. She didn't want anything to eat. She was going to have to get used to living like this. There was so much she wished would happen.