Fix your heart

Preview to my newest story

Lumi

The Finnish word for snow. Beautiful, right? Pure and white, but also cold.

As cold as it can get.

My name.

As my parents gave birth to me it was a beautiful day in winter. One day after the new year and snow had just fallen.

The little bundle in their arms aka me made them the happiest people on earth, according to them.

They wanted to always remember this beautiful day, so they named me Lumi.

The cruel thing is they can't anymore.

My parents died in a car accident two weeks ago and now I'm alone. All alone.

So currently I'm sitting in my aunt's car. She decided to take care of me from now on so I'm moving in with her.

Sadly she lives on the other side of the country so I had to leave everything behind.

Not only did my parents die but my life, which was perfect two weeks ago, died with them.

Silent tears began to stream down my face again and I slowly fell asleep.

A never ending nightmare following me suit.

As I woke up screaming I noticed someone had brought me into a room.

We must have arrived a while ago.

Slightly shaking I stood up and my cold feet hit the floor as I made my way downstairs.

The sight of my aunt cooking greeted me.

We weren't pretty close, I only saw her twice a year, due to her living so far away from my old house, but we always got along. Surely we would get through this together as well.

At least I hope so.

"Hey Lumi! I was just cooking dinner. I hope you like pasta?"

I nodded and took out two plates for us. Not in the mood to talk I just sit down and stare ahead.

How can she act so normal? Her brother died two weeks ago!

...but maybe it's just a facade.

The first day in a new school.

A nightmare for every child having to go through this.

Guilping I looked up at the school building. "Wicomico high school"  Salisbury, Maryland

Big capital letters showed the school name off.

My new life was layed out in front of me.

"Happy birthday Lumi." I mumbled and headed to the entrance. No one even remembered me turning 18 this year.

As my friends heard what happened to my parents they didn't know how to react. I haven't heard from them since the funeral.

I never saw my birthday as something special but now that they were not here anymore to celebrate it with me I felt heartbroken.

If at least my aunt would have remembered it, but who could blame her. Suddenly she had to provide for a teenager, of course she could not do everything at the same time.

I opened one of the big double doors and stepped into the school. Great, now where could I find the head masters office? There were no signs anywhere so I had to find someone to ask.

Or try on my own before using my nonexistent social skills? Sounds like a great idea to me.

Sighing I looked at the signs that were showing visitors into which direction they had to go.

On a small one to the right stood secretary. That was good enough. They were probably gonna tell me how this school functions anyways.

So I went to the right.

"...and here is your schedule. One of your classmates will come and pick you up in about five minutes so you can sit down while waiting." Miss Miller pointed to a free chair and smiled at me.

She was a nice young lady with dark hair, brown skin and glowing amber coloured eyes.

I wouldn't be surprised to see her on a billboard posing for a famous magazine some day.

So I sat down and waited like she told me to.

Five minutes past.

Then ten minutes...

My heart sank and I almost started crying once again for god knows, probably the millionth time this week.

Miss Miller looked at me in thought and cursed.

"Kids these days. Won't even keep their promises!" She mumbled angrily.

"Come on Lumi, I'll bring you to your classroom." I nodded and followed her in silence.

On the way to class she told me about the teacher and how she was grading her students. Turns out Miss Miller had just graduated from this higg school three years ago. Now she was part time working as a secretary and part time an author.

I'm sure she would be famous one day.

In my mind I noted to myself to buy her new book.

We halted in front of the room. Class had just begun so everyone looked at us as we entered. How embarassing.

The middle aged teacher was surprised to see Miss Miller and I come in. "So he is not here again today?" She looked at Miss Miller who denied her question.

"What a shame. That kid could be such a good student but he's waisting his time with something else...What a shame." I had no idea who she was talking about, but it was most probably the person who had been supposed to pick me up.

Miss Miller got slightly uncomfortable with the teachers gossip and I understood. It is not nice to talk about a student like that in front of the whole class.

"Misses Reynolds this is Lumi. She is going to be in your Maths class from now on." The teacher, Misses Reynolds, nodded her head and smiled at me. She seemed kind in her own way.

"Hello Lumi. Please take a seat in the third row on the left." I nodded, thanked Miss Miller who was about to leave before I sat down.

Not many students were in this class, maybe about fifteen in total.

It was strange because of the quietness. In my old school there would always be someone talking but here they all listened and treated the teacher with respect.

It was a change, but a good one.

The rest of the school day went by without anything interesting happening. The students all seemed to be pretty reserved and quiet. But I didn't mind. Actually it was exactly what I needed at the moment.

Time to progress, think and let the past sink in.

But of course I hoped they would warm up to me.

The school was not far from my aunts' little home. Only a twenty minute walk and I was there.

She worked long hours in the hospital so I had the house for the day until the evening.

Aunt Clare said she would change her schedule if I wanted to but it was okay. I am old enough to take care of myself.

I turned on Spotify and sang to the music. Then I noticed the newspaper laying on the kitchencounter. As I began overlooking the themes one got me.

"Volunteers needed. Anyone can help!" It was small but I noticed it anyways. The place needing volunteers seemed to be a children's hospital. The only other information was a phone number.

I had volunteered in my home town for the last three years and it was always fun to help out. So the decision wasn't a hard one to make as I typed the number into my phone.

"Hello, children's hospital Salisbury, how can I help you?" A tired, deep voice spoke on the other side.

"Hey, I saw your advert in the newspaper and wanted to ask if you're still searching for volunteers?" I asked and tried to sound kind.

"Yes we are. You can come over this afternoon to see if you want to do this job. It is mostly reading to sick children and talking to the ones with little visites from their families." The voice sounded lighter and more awake.

"I can be there in half an hour." I answered him.

Then he told me to whom to go and gave me a description of the way. I wrote everything down and walked to the place.

Now, one could ask why I am walking. I like it. It calms me down, and I can let thoughts and ideas progress in my mind.

With driving it's more complicated, plus I don't even own a car.

As I reached the hospital I followed the way that was described to me. A kind woman welcomed me and we spoke through on which days I could come, then she showed me around.

As I left again about an hour later someone really tall and I collided. I fell onto my butt and while the dude didn't even stumble.

"Look where you're going." He mumbled sounding annoyed. Still he offered me his hand.

I took it and let him help me up. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I don't watch where I'm going." He nodded and looked down at me. "You're new so it's fine." He just said and walked by.

What. The. Hell.