Chapter 2

It was the morning of her 18th birthday and as she awoke to the morning sun shining through the windows, she was actually excited for a change. She had had enough of her rude aunt over the last few years and was ready to kick her out of the mansion so that she could finally have some peace and time to herself. As she walked down the stairs on her way to the kitchen she noticed her aunt sitting in the living room. Well why not just get it over and done with now, so that I can enjoy the rest of my day, she thought to herself.

She walked in the living room and sat on the sofa across from her aunt smiling. She was just about to open her mouth to tell her aunt it was time to leave when Greta spoke.

"Happy birthday Angel."

"Well, thanks Aunt Greta" Angel replied.

She was stunned at how nice and relaxed her aunt seemed to be today. She knew that her aunt was aware of the fact that she no longer wanted her around, and that she was going to kick her out as soon as she had the chance. I wonder what's going on with her, Angel thought to herself.

Greta interrupted Angel's train of thought on why her aunt would be acting so nice. "I got you something" Greta stated as she pulled a gift out of the bag next to her. She handed it to Angel and sat back down to watch her open it.

"You really didn't have to get me anything Greta, but thanks for thinking of me".

Angel was stunned and her mind was going crazy trying to figure out what was behind this caring act of her aunt. Greta hates me and she knows that I'm going to make her leave now that she's no longer needed here. Why would she get me a gift, she thought to herself as she stared to unwrap the gift.

It was a fine leather photo album with crystals embedded around the edges. The picture on the front of the album stopped her train of thought and she found it hard to breath for a minute. It was a picture of her and her parents at the estate home in Montana. It was the last picture that they had taken there when she was 15 years old. She fought back a tear as she opened the album. It was full of pictures from the estate. There were pictures of just her, just her mom Angela, just her father Bryan, and all three of them together. She found that tears were flowing freely down her face as she flipped through the pages.

These pictures brought back so many happy memories for her. Her father Bryan had bought the house when she was young, maybe only five years old. He had the lower level renovated to her mothers taste. There was a large open kitchen with all top of the line appliances, and marble counter tops. The light maple cabinets that lined the walls gave the room a country style feeling. The kitchen opened up to an even larger living room with white furniture and bright white walls. There was a small half bath right off the living room, and next to that was a laundry room. There were two doors in the living room each on opposite sides. Each door led to huge bedrooms with extravagant bathrooms and closets. One of these rooms belonged to her parents and the other to her. There were 4 more bedrooms and two more bathrooms upstairs but her father never had the time to get those renovated in his short life.

As she flipped through the pages she stopped on a page with a picture of her father and a few other men she didn't know working on a cottage. Her memories flashed her back to when her father had built her what he called a doll house out in the back yard. It was a perfect replica of the big house from the outside. 'Your mother got the house of her dreams, so I thought that you would like one of your own' her father had said as he looked down at her and smiled.

The inside of the cottage had a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and one bedroom. The paint colors and furniture in the cottage matched what was in the main house. It was her own little retreat when she would visit the estate and would spend hours in there as a child. She would often pretend that she was a woman in her twenties and her parents lived in the large house while she lived in the cottage. She would have a husband and be starting a family with her parents so close by if she ever needed them. Of course that could never happen now. Her parents were gone and would never see her grow into the woman she was becoming or meet her husband or their children.

She was completely lost in her memories when her aunt spoke again. "Do you like it Angel my dear? You seem like your upset about it."

"I love it Greta, thank you for making this great gift for me" Angel stated. "I'm not upset about the gift it just brought back a lot of memories of my parents, that's why I'm crying".

Angel closed the book and looked up at her aunt. Now that she had collected herself a little bit she went back to thinking why her aunt would have done this. Was it to make her feel the pain of the loss of her parents? To ruin her birthday by making her take a trip down memory lane? No there had to be something else, her aunt didn't like her much but she would never purposely make her hurt like that, would she?

Her aunt stopped her train of thought by speaking again.

"I know how much you enjoyed going there as a child, your father use to tell me stories about it. Do you think that you will ever go back to that place again?" Greta asked.

Oh now I get it, Angel thought to herself. She wants to get me out of here so that she can enjoy the lap of luxury a little longer. Angel laughed to herself about this thought. It's just like Greta to try anything she can to get me out of the mansion and keep herself in.

As Angel thought about this she also thought about how nice it would be to visit the estate again. She really did miss that place and it would be nice to visit it once again.

"Angel?" Greta asked.

"Oh sorry Greta, I was just thinking about if I would want to go there or not" Angel replied.

As she looked down at the photo album in her hand she decided that it would be a good idea. She needed a break and needed to get out of the mansion for a while.

"You know what Greta that's a great idea, I think I will go spend some time at the estate, it's been so long since I have been there".

You could almost see the excitement in Greta's eyes when Angel said those words. This would mean that she could still live in the mansion while Angel was gone.

"That's great Angel, I think that it would be good for you to spend some time there. When do you think you will be leaving?" Greta said barely able to hold back her excitement that her little plan worked to get the girl out of the mansion for a while.

"I will check for upcoming flights and leave as soon as possible" Angel replied.

Angel knew that this is what her aunt had wanted, but at the moment she didn't care. She could almost feel something pulling her back to the estate. She felt like she needed to go there to find something that she was missing in her life.

Angel found herself more and more excited as she began to think about her upcoming journey to the estate. She was thinking of all the memories there as a child and how much fun she and her parents had together there. It was like all of her parents worries were erased when they were there. It was their own private little resort. A place where they could just be free of all the stress and responsibilities they had back home. She was able to find a flight that would leave the next morning and went back up to her room to start packing.

As she was packing she thought about how long she might stay there. Would this just be a week long trip or would she get there and want to stay longer? She decided to pack enough clothes to last her about 3 weeks. If she decided to stay longer she could always phone back and have more of her stuff sent, or she could always just buy more. It's not like she didn't have enough money to buy it, and she had not been shopping for a while so some new clothes would be nice. She made sure to pack the new photo album that her aunt gave her, and the digital camera she had bought last summer. She wanted to make sure to take pictures of how the estate has changed since she was a child.

She arrived at the airport almost an hour early. She had tried to stay at the mansion so that she wouldn't have to wait at the airport for long, but she just couldn't stop herself. She was so excited to get out of that place and back to the estate where she could just be free like when she was a child. As she sat in the airport she listened to the people talking around her. Some talking about being excited about their upcoming trip, others returning from the trips they had just made. Some were making fun of other people in the airport, comments like 'look at the tan line on that guy he obviously forgot to take off his sun glasses.' She had to laugh to herself at that one as she looked over to see the guy they were talking about. He was red as a tomato but white as a ghost around his eyes and a white line going back over his ears. She silently wondered to herself how long it would take for him to look normal again.

While she looked at the guy's family all having sunburn she thought to herself that she has never had sunburn before. It wasn't that her parents were careful and always put sun block on her; it was just that she never burnt. She thought back to the vacations she would take with her parents, how they would all put on sun block but they still got burnt and she never did. Her skin has always had a natural tan to it and she wondered if it had something to do with the fact that she was always darker so maybe the sun didn't affect her as much.

She couldn't deny the fact that there was definitely something different about her. Her father told her stories about how she was a miracle child. That she really shouldn't have been able to live through the accident that had taken the lives of her biological parents. He couldn't figure out how she had healed so quickly with so many injuries, so many broken bones. He couldn't wrap his head around how she didn't show any scars from the accident, like her skin had just melted back together and left no mark of the incident.

Angel could see the small faint scars on her skin and tried to point them out to her

father but he couldn't see them. She's sure that was due to the fact that she has such great eye sight. She could always see things that no one else seemed to be able to. While she was lost in thought about how different she was she heard the attendant announcing that her flight was ready board. Had she really been sitting there thinking for an hour? It didn't seem that long at all. How many things did she sit here and think about while she was waiting?

She boarded the flight and sat in her seat. She almost wished that she had flown coach instead of first class. She wanted to hear more about what the other passengers were talking about. She hadn't noticed how isolated she had made herself for the last few years, and was enjoying listening to other peoples stories even though she didn't know them. Here in first class she had the cabin almost to herself. There was only one other couple and they were sitting on the far side of the cabin from her. She knew she could hear everything they were saying even if they were whispering, but she actually wished that there was someone near her that she could talk to.

Some time into her flight the attendant came and gave her a pillow and blanket and she closed her eyes so she could sleep off the rest of the trip. As she drifted off she started dreaming of running through the forest, the wind in her hair feeling so right and free. As she was running she noticed something running beside her; it was a wolf. It was silver with touches of black around its nose and ears, and eyes. She couldn't help but notice that it had the same eyes as her. Not just the same color, but it was almost like her eyes were in the wolf. The ding of the seatbelt bell ended the dream and woke her up. Although she was sad to leave her dream, she was surprised on how fast the flight was and excited that she was already there.

She got off the plane and went to find her bags. When she had her bags she set off to find a taxi to take her to the storage garage where her parents had kept their vacation car. As a child, she thought that it was stupid that they had a car that stayed in Montana when they only visited once a year, but now she was happy that they had it there. She really didn't want to rent a cheap car when she was so use to riding in luxury limos. The cab driver dropped her off at the storage unit and she used her keys to open the unit and pull out the car.