had once meant everything to her.
She shivered in the darkness, pulling her sweater tighter around her. Her life had changed when she was eleven.
Rubbing a throbbing spot on her temple, Emily slowly began walking, making her way up the rest of the drive toward the front entrance.
Everything in her life was now referenced by the accident.
Before the accident.
After the accident.
Before the accident her life had been blissful, happy, secure. She and her adopted mother had been so close.
She'd been a toddler when her parents had been killed and she'd been taken in as a foster child and then adopted by Joe and Meredith Colton.
Meredith had quickly nicknamed her Sparrow because of her slight frame and slender body.
With the Coltons she'd found the security and stability that had been shattered with her parents' untimely deaths, and something far more important—love.
They'd adopted her, given her their name, made her theirs. Her relationship with her new brothers and sisters, her parents, and especially her mother couldn't have been more perfect. She was once again safe, loved, protected.
Her mother, Meredith, had become the most important person in her life. She'd admired her, loved her, wanted to be just like her.
Until the accident.
Emily sighed as she started up the steps, digging in the front pocket of her shorts for her house key.
The day her life forever changed.
The morning of the accident, she and her mother had been on their way to visit Emily's grandmother when their car had been run off the road. Although neither was seriously injured, the after-effects of the accident had been devastating.
The exact details and events of that day were still fuzzy in Emily's mind, still troublesome because she couldn't remember everything. And trying to remember always brought on such blinding, vicious headaches. Lately, too, she'd been plagued by terrible nightmares.
That day had become a blur in her mind. She could remember very little of the details before she'd been brought to the emergency room, but one important detail had never left her: When she'd regained consciousness at the site, she'd seen two of her mother.
For some reason, even now, if she closed her eyes, she could still see the two images of her mother beside the mangled car. Two identical images.
Emily blinked, rubbing her eyes, thinking the vision would go away. It didn't. When she opened her eyes both her mothers were still there.
And for some reason, whenever she thought of the two mothers, she thought of one as good and one as evil.
Although she'd not been seriously injured that day, she had suffered a concussion, and that was what the doctors had blamed for her subsequent nightmares, headaches and her misguided memories.
She'd told the doctors about seeing two of her mother, but they brushed aside her story, saying she was merely experiencing double vision from her head injury.
But Emily knew it wasn't just double vision. Something terrible had happened that day. And not just to her.
Ever since the accident, her kind, gentle, loving mother had changed into a stranger Emily no longer knew.
At first, she'd thought the drastic change in her mother was a result of Meredith's injuries in the accident. Emily had waited and waited, expecting the cold, distant stranger who called herself her mother to disappear, and her real mother to return.
It had never happened.
Words couldn't begin to describe the loss she'd felt, still felt every single day. She'd loved her mother, depended on her and now…
Emily sighed, checking the alarm box on the house and wondering why the alarm was turned off. Her parents always set the alarm before going out for the evening.
Now Emily wasn't certain she even knew or liked the woman who called herself her mother.
It was a loss she felt all the way to her soul. She couldn't talk to her dad about it, knowing that, he, too, sensed a change in her mom. She didn't want to upset him, didn't want him to know how deeply
She shivered in the darkness, pulling her sweater tighter around her. Her life had changed when she was eleven.
Rubbing a throbbing spot on her temple, Emily slowly began walking, making her way up the rest of the drive toward the front entrance.
Everything in her life was now referenced by the accident.
Before the accident.
After the accident.
Before the accident her life had been blissful, happy, secure. She and her adopted mother had been so close.
She'd been a toddler when her parents had been killed and she'd been taken in as a foster child and then adopted by Joe and Meredith Colton.
Meredith had quickly nicknamed her Sparrow because of her slight frame and slender body.
With the Coltons she'd found the security and stability that had been shattered with her parents' untimely deaths, and something far more important—love.
They'd adopted her, given her their name, made her theirs. Her relationship with her new brothers and sisters, her parents, and especially her mother couldn't have been more perfect. She was once again safe, loved, protected.
Her mother, Meredith, had become the most important person in her life. She'd admired her, loved her, wanted to be just like her.
Until the accident.
Emily sighed as she started up the steps, digging in the front pocket of her shorts for her house key.
The day her life forever changed.
The morning of the accident, she and her mother had been on their way to visit Emily's grandmother when their car had been run off the road. Although neither was seriously injured, the after-effects of the accident had been devastating.
The exact details and events of that day were still fuzzy in Emily's mind, still troublesome because she couldn't remember everything. And trying to remember always brought on such blinding, vicious headaches. Lately, too, she'd been plagued by terrible nightmares.
That day had become a blur in her mind. She could remember very little of the details before she'd been brought to the emergency room, but one important detail had never left her: When she'd regained consciousness at the site, she'd seen two of her mother.
For some reason, even now, if she closed her eyes, she could still see the two images of her mother beside the mangled car. Two identical images.
Emily blinked, rubbing her eyes, thinking the vision would go away. It didn't. When she opened her eyes both her mothers were still there.
And for some reason, whenever she thought of the two mothers, she thought of one as good and one as evil.
Although she'd not been seriously injured that day, she had suffered a concussion, and that was what the doctors had blamed for her subsequent nightmares, headaches and her misguided memories.
She'd told the doctors about seeing two of her mother, but they brushed aside her story, saying she was merely experiencing double vision from her head injury.
But Emily knew it wasn't just double vision. Something terrible had happened that day. And not just to her.
Ever since the accident, her kind, gentle, loving mother had changed into a stranger Emily no longer knew.
At first, she'd thought the drastic change in her mother was a result of Meredith's injuries in the accident. Emily had waited and waited, expecting the cold, distant stranger who called herself her mother to disappear, and her real mother to return.
It had never happened.
Words couldn't begin to describe the loss she'd felt, still felt every single day. She'd loved her mother, depended on her and now…
Emily sighed, checking the alarm box on the house and wondering why the alarm was turned off. Her parents always set the alarm before going out for the evening.
Now Emily wasn't certain she even knew or liked the woman who called herself her mother.
It was a loss she felt all the way to her soul. She couldn't talk to her dad about it, knowing that, he, too, sensed a change in her mom. She didn't want to upset him, didn't want him to know how deeply
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