One Life Dead, A New Life Started

Winter gets her new identity after framing her father for her murder.

               The feeling was rushing up again, disgust. A feeling one does not like to get used to, but unfortunately it was all too familiar to me. My face was throbbing again, the color around my eye darkening by the minute. This was not home, it never had been. When they were finally in bed, I snuck out to my car. It is finally time for my plan to become a reality.

                The man was waiting for me at the side of the road. I parked in the street, and then got out of the car. “I see you stole my father’s car to do the task, nice touch.” I said.

                “Where’s the money?” he said in a very deep voice. Straight to the point.

                I handed him an envelope. “It’s all there, plus a small bonus from me.” I said with a wink.

                He handed me a small straight razor. “Your blood needs to be in the car for this to work like you want it to.”

                I nodded, my skin paled even before I grabbed the razor blade out of his hand. I pressed it against my wrist, without much thought I slid it across my wrist. Bright red blood welled up at the cut. I got back behind the wheel and smeared the blood in the places that the man told me to. When we were done I was a bit faint from the loss of blood. The man looked over the car without touching anything.

                He nodded then got into my father’s car. He drove down the road.  Was out of sight for a minute, and then returned going about sixty miles an hour. The car struck mine, sending it off the cliff and down into the water. The man got out of my father’s car and walked back to where I was standing.

                When the door light came on in my father’s car, I saw my father passed out behind the wheel with a bottle of vodka in his hand. There wasn’t much gone from the bottle, it gave it the look of him needing liquid courage to complete my murder.

                “I will drive you to the airport now.” The man took me over to his motorcycle.

                I hopped onto the motorcycle and wrapped my arms around the guy. When the man took off I yelped a little bit. He laughed as we sailed down the highway going over ninety miles an hour.

                We arrived at the airport and my legs felt numb from being on the motorcycle for so long. My nerves were shot, I never thought it would go through so quickly, and I couldn’t help the nagging thought that this is wrong. Part of my problems with my nerves was that was the first time I had ever been on a motorcycle.

                “Here is your new identity, all the documents are genuine, so you should have no problems.” he handed me a passport, and a visitor’s visa. The paperwork said that my visa expired in a few days.

                “Thank you. Enjoy your money.” I said while walking into the airport. Check in seemed too easy to get through with my brand new documents. I was extremely nervous, so it was difficult not to show it. Of course they probably assumed it was flight jitters.

                The flight attendant saw how nervous I was and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay Miss, flying is actually not that bad. Have you ever been on a plane before?”

                “Once, a long time ago.” I said in an Irish accent.

                “Oh, are you from Ireland?” she sounded excited.

                “Originally, I was mostly raised in America though. I decided that I wanted to go back. My parents just died so instead of renewing it I am going back to Ireland.”

                “Oh I’m so sorry to hear that.” She sounded sincere; I had to stop myself from talking more. My nerves were starting to get the best of me and I couldn’t let that happen.

                “Since we are going to Ireland where the legal drinking age is eighteen, would it be possible for me to order some wine or something?”

                “I am afraid not Miss, we are still technically on American soil until this plane touches the ground in Ireland.”

                “Oh ok, I will take a cola then.”

                I leaned back the very comfortable chair. The first class ticket was well worth the money. I would need a job eventually when I got to Ireland, but I still had a while to figure that out.

               

                Ireland was even more beautiful than I could have imagined. I got a car, and then hit the road. Waterford City was my first stop. I may be only just sixteen in America, but now I am a nineteen year old woman who was born in Ireland who was living in America for the last ten years.

                There was a nice little pub below the inn that I got a room at. The man behind the bar was young looking, with bright red hair and amber eyes. The moment I sat down at the bar, his eyes locked onto mine. I felt a little breathless looking into his eyes.

                “Hello lass, what can I be gettin for ya?” he said in a deep Irish accent.

                “I’ll just have a Guinness thanks.” I said in my best Irish accent after mentally shaking myself.

                “Your accent is a bit odd, what part of the country you from?” he was making my pint already.

                “I was born in Dublin actually, but I have been in America for the past ten years. I didn’t realize how much I missed Ireland until I got back.”

                “Why the move to America if you don’t mind me asking?”

                “My parents wanted to move there, they said there were more opportunities in America than here. Perhaps they were right, but it didn’t feel like home there.”

                “How long are you planning on staying here in Waterford City?”

                “I am not sure, I don’t know if I want to return to Dublin exactly, I know I do want to see a lot of the country. I don’t remember the place, and I wanted to get back to my roots I guess. I know it sounds lame, but what can I say?”

                “That’s a very nice goal, well if you need a guide, then I’m your man. Logan Parker by the way.” he smiled while filling other drinks.

                “I am Winter Chandler.” I said softly.

                I was about to leave when he stopped me. He got off in a few minutes so if I could just wait, he would show me around the town. For some reason I was perfectly fine trusting this man. I would think with my past I would have a hard time trusting people.

                He walked over to me after a new guy came in behind the counter. “Hello, so I thought I would take you to the shopping center first of all.”

                “Sure, that sounds good. I didn’t pay for my pint, I should do that now.”

                He stopped me before I could walk over to the bar to pay for my drink. “No need lass, it’s on the house today. Consider it a welcome home gift.”

                “Thank you for your kindness.” Logan and I walked through the city until we came upon this place that looked like a giant festival.

                “You are lucky; this is an event that only happens once every few years. We call it the festival of the saints. It comes on the extra day of the fourth year.”

                “Oh so it’s a leap year festival then.” I said with excitement.

                We went on walking and shopping for hours, all the while getting to know one another. I had to skirt around the topic of my parents and age, but other than that it was all me that he was getting to know.

                He walked me back to the inn around midnight. “Thank you for showing me around Logan; I had a really good time.”

                “Anytime, and if you are in need of a traveling buddy, I only work at the pub to appease the owner. I broke a lot of stuff there a couple months ago. I have just about paid me debt off so I will be free to roam around with you.”

                “Won’t you need money though?”

                “No lass, I am not in need of money. The pub owner wouldn’t take me cash, only me service to pay him back for the damage to the pub. There isn’t anything like free labor in these parts.”

                “Oh, well next place I want to go is up north more. Perhaps I will even go explore through England and Scotland too.” I blushed; I couldn’t believe how well I was opening to this man that I just met.

                “I would be happy to accompany you in your travels. It is not safe for a young lass such as yourself to go around alone all the time. May I ask what happened to your eye? There is a very dark bruise you have on your cheekbone.”

                “Oh, I don’t remember. I must have run into something. Anyways, I should probably go find my room. I hope to see you tomorrow.” I almost ran up to the room I was renting.

                I have to be careful around this man. He can’t get to know me all that well, for back in America my father was likely being questioned about my murder.

                When I got back into the room I pulled out my laptop and searched the internet for any news about a young heiress getting killed or the body of a young girl being found. Nothing so far, it was probably being kept from the press right now. My murder was sure to make headlines once word got out. I am the only daughter to one of the richest men in the country.

                My father gave me a very generous allowance to keep my mouth shut about the abuse I suffered at his hands. That is the only way that I was able to afford this whole thing. Although with the first class trip and the car, my funds were running pretty low.