It has been a quiet, peaceful day. It should have been, but it wasn't. Not when she was at the morgue, sitting outside waiting to identify her parents' corpses. Everything was fine when she left this morning for school. Her parents were making plans as it was their free day. Everything was fine at school, too. She had hung out with her friend, Clara, all day, wishing to give her parents some private time. Everything had started to go wrong when she went home. There were police cars everywhere and a strong smell of blood. She wanted to go inside. She wanted to make sure it wasn't her parents who died, but as she tried to enter, she was held by the police. She screamed and hit them; the only thing she wanted to do was hug her parents.
"Ms. Elena, you can come in," the doctor said. Elena to up quickly and went to the room. There were two bodies at he table which were fully covered by a white cloth. The doctor opened one of the cloths to reveal her mom, Alice.
Elena couldn't explain how she felt. Her mom was almost unrecognizable. The same mom who was laughing happily, making plans for wife-husband day in the morning, was dead. She knew the other body was her dad. She knew it, but didn't want to see him. She didn't want to believe her parents were dead.
"I-I will give you space, say your goodbyes," the doctor said as he left the room. It seemed like even he pitied Elena.
"Mama, Dad!" Elena cried. She held her mom's deformed face. Her tears were dripping onto her mom's face. Her mom was dead, dead-
Cling!
'What-' Elena thought as she looked at the floor. That was an earring.
"Hi Mom, I am going to the arcade with Clara after school."
"Okay, be careful. Oh- and you must have forgotten one of your earrings on your bed. I didn't want to go through your drawers without your permission, so I will give it to you when you come back."
"Okay, thanks, mom, see you later, and love you", and she had hung up the phone.
'This doesn't really look like any of my earrings, but this is the last thing mom was holding...'
Elena took the earring before she left.
"Since you aren't a legal adult, you will be placed at a group house. Your house is still a crime scene, so I'm afraid you won't be able to get your things anytime soon."
"It's okay, I do have some spare clothes in my bag, but my school books are still in the house."
"I will talk with your school."
Everything was so fast for Elena, one moment she was in the morgue and then she was at the group house, sitting at her new bed.
'Mom, Dad... why have things become like this? How could such a horrid thing happen at all? Why did my parents die? Why, why, why?!'
"Time to close the lights, go to sleep girls."
'I'm scared'
Elena grasped the earring. There wasn't even a single blood on the earring; her mom had protected the earring, Elena's earring.