Locket full of Secrets by Dana Burkey

Author:Dana Burkey
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2015-07-04T05:00:00+00:00

“On the way to Ohio my mother told me a little bit about what was really going on,” Olena explained. “I knew about Chernobyl from the news, but she told me about Uri and the photos and the truth about how my father died. It all scared me so much. I decided right then that I was not going to talk to anyone at school. I figured it was not worth it to get close to anyone, when I would probably just have to leave soon anyways.”

“I sure ruined that one for you, didn’t I?” I frowned.

“Claire, you ruined nothing,” she insisted. “I needed a friend more than anything, and sitting next to you in homeroom my first day was like fate stepping in to help. Without you Ohio would have been nothing but another scary place I had to run from. Instead I got to be a kid for once. I got to be happy, and have a friend, and not worry about who might be looking for me. For a while I forgot we were in trouble, so when my mom told me we had to leave I did not understand. I told her it was a lie, we were still safe. But somehow we had been found once again. I begged her to at least let me say goodbye to you. It was so hard to do, but I hoped that by giving you the locket you would know just how much your friendship meant to me.”

I wanted to move to Olena then and hug her, but I found my body frozen. Hearing her story was breaking my heart. Tears were running down my cheeks freely now, her story too much to take in all at once.

“When we left Ohio we went to Washington State to live with my Aunt and cousin,” Olena continued. “They moved there as well, deciding that being together might not be safe, but was a comfort all the same. It was more important than ever to stay secret, so my cousin and I went to school while my aunt and mother went to work, and then we all stayed at home each night praying no one would find us. We did not make friends or even talk to people. Sharing the photos we still had was not worth the risk of getting caught, so we just hid.”

Olena paused then, taking a long drink of her champagne. She opened her mouth as if to continue, then took another drink. Clearly she was in more pain that she was outwardly showing, as was usual for her.

“Then one day it happened. I was watching the news and saw my aunt’s car. There had been an accident. The car had slid off the road and into a ditch where it blew up. My aunt and mother were killed, and my cousin-”

Olena stopped suddenly, looking between Steven and I.

“I was the only one left,” she mumbled, before downing the rest of her drink.

I reached out to the table and grabbed my drink as well now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.