Never Judge

She couldn\'t believe that for the third time in her life a member of the Lawrence family had made her uproot everything and lose everyone just because it suited them. 

"Cara, are you alright?" Her only friend, Natalie, asked as she peeked into Cara\'s room from the hallway.

"Yeah, I\'m fine, just keep cooking, I\'ll be right out." Cara called out.

She found it quite funny that even after living in another country for two years the only friend she managed to make was Natalie.

The other girl had just been so annoying that Cara couldn\'t help but accept her as a friend.

During her first few months in her new school, Natalie would keep inviting her for lunch or keep trying to talk to her.

At first, Cara found Natalie to be quite annoying as she would find a way to insert herself in everything Cara did. 

Eventually the annoyance turned into amusement and Cara and Natalie became best friends.

"What I don\'t understand is why you and your Aunt Pandora are moving back there." Natalie asked as Cara entered the kitchen. 

Natalie loved cooking in Cara\'s and Pandora\'s house. The kitchen was as big as her family\'s apartment.

"I mean you moved because your parents died, I don\'t see why you should go back there." Natalie said as she switched off the stove and began plating the food. 

When Cara had made her first friend and Natalie asked why they had moved, Cara didn\'t want to tell her the truth.

Cara had a choice, either tell Natalie that she moved because her father and mother passed away, which was a half truth, or to tell Natalie the truth.

"We have some things we need to settle back in Capital City." Cara told Natalie as she stared absentmindedly out the window. "My father left me some things that I need to claim."

It was a good thing that Peter couldn\'t meet Natalie for safety reasons. 

He would often arrive under a false name at night. 

Natalie never had the chance to meet Peter so it worked in Cara\'s favor. 

"You\'ll be back soon right?" Natalie asked as she placed the meal she had prepared on the table. 

"I\'m not sure how long it will take, but I promise to visit." Cara told Natalie as she took a bite of the food Natalie had prepared.

"Alright." Natalie said with a frown.

Cara looked up and raised an eyebrow. Natalie was acting weird, but she credited that to the fact that she was leaving, that\'s probably why Natalie was acting out of the ordinary.

"Mmmmm, delicious." Cara praised. 

Natalie had always been a good cook, her food was one of the things that Cara would miss the most.

"Have you packed everything?" Natalie asked as she took a bite of her own cooking.

Cara sighed and nodded.

She really didn\'t want to leave, but she didn\'t have a choice either.

"What will happen to this house?" Natalie asked as she looked around.

"It will probably sit here and Aunt Pandora will turn it into a vacation home, why?" Cara asked her friend. 

"Oh, just curious." Natalie said with a shrug. "Hey, what if I tagged along and came with you to Capital City, that way we wouldn\'t have to be apart?" 

"No." Cara said a little bit forcefully, shocking Natalie.

"I thought we were friends." Natalie said as tears began to form in her eyes. "I just wanted to go with you, why are you pushing me away?"

"Natalie, I\'m not trying to push you away." Cara sighed. 

Suddenly Natalie walked out of the kitchen, making Cara chase after her.

"Natalie!" Cara called out as she followed Natalie into the living room. 

Her friend picked up her bag and was making her way towards the door. 

"Natalie, I just don\'t want you to sacrifice so much just to go with me. You have a life here, plus it\'s not exactly cheap to uproot your life, your family needs the money." Cara tried her best to explain why she had refused her friend\'s offer to come along.

"No Cara, you just don\'t want me around." Natalie said as he walked out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

Cara opened the door and tried to chase after Natalie, but her friend had already gotten on a cab and was too far for her to catch.

Cara could feel her heart breaking into a thousand pieces as she walked back to the house. 

She was crying when she got back.

Her aunt Pandora wouldn\'t be home until later that night since she was having farewell parties with her friends.

Cara decided to just climb into bed and sleep.  Everything was packed and when Al arrived the next day, all they would have to do was to hull all her things into the car and leave. 

She had packed up two years of her life just to go back to the world she was trying to escape.

As she lay on her bed, Cara slowly fell asleep, hoping to have a dreamless sleep, at least one more peaceful night until she had to go back to the chaos of Capital City.

"Cara. . ." A frantic voice said in the dark.

"Cara, wake up." The woman was practically sobbing as Cara could feel the darkness around her shaking.

How could darkness shake?

The confusing circumstance made Cara open her eyes to a tearful Pandora who was shaking her awake.

"Aunt Pandora? Why are you crying?" Cara asked as she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Did something happen to you? Did you and Andres fight?"

Pandora shook her head as she began to cry.

She wiped her tears and gently stroked Cara\'s hair. 

"Cara I have bad news." Pandora told her niece.

Cara looked out the window and was surprised to see that the sun was still out. 

It seemed that she had not been asleep for long when her aunt woke her up.

"What happened Aunt Pandora?" Cara asked as she her aunt suddenly hugged her tight.

"I know that you pretended not to care. I know that you were faking it the entire time." Pandora cried out. 

"Aunt Pandora I have no idea what you are talking about." Cara said as she let her aunt continue to hug her.

"Oh Cara, I don\'t know how to tell you." Pandora sobbed. "Such a young life lost."

Cara had an odd feeling of dread come over her as she heard her aunt\'s words. 

What young life? Cara wondered.

She couldn\'t help but think of Natalie who had gotten into a cab haphazardly not even caring to send her a photo of the plate.

"Aunt Pandora, what are you saying? Is it Natalie?" Cara asked as her aunt hugged her tighter.

"No, no Cara." Pandora said. 

Pandora released Cara from her death grip of a hug and looked her in the eyes.

"Cara, I know that you came here to run from Aldrich Lawrence, you came here to escape your growing feelings for him." Pandora told her niece. "I should never have let you come."

"Aunt Pandora, stop speaking in riddles!" Cara said angrily.

She was getting frustrated by the way her aunt was beating around the bush while stopping herself from crying.

"Cara, Aldrich Lawrence is dead." Pandora suddenly said.

The world around Cara seemed to suddenly vanish as she felt her heart drop. 

"Cara?" Pandora called out, but Cara was gone. 

Her world had crumbled. 

Pandora was right, she might have tried to run away from Al but she loved him, she truly loved him and now he was gone.

"Please. . ." Cara managed to say as her voice broke and tears began to fall from her eyes.

"What is it Cara?" Pandora asked as she held Cara\'s hand. 

"Please tell me this is one of Aldrich\'s sick jokes." Cara cried out as she felt all her emotions flooding her. "Aunt Pandora please tell me this is a joke, that this is a prank and that Al is waiting outside to take me home."

"I\'m sorry Cara." Pandora said. "But I just heard the news from Andres, they have been searching for him all night. They think his body sank to the bottom of the sea."

"No this can\'t be true." Cara cried out. 

Pandora hugged her, letting Cara cry in her arms.

Every sob from Cara broke Pandora\'s heart. 

She could see how much her niece loved Aldrich Lawrence, how badly she truly felt that he was gone.

Cara was crying for a few hours, the sun had even set behind them when Pandora\'s phone began to ring. 

"Yes?" Pandora said as she answered the call.

Cara curled herself into a ball and cried. 

"Okay, we\'re packed and ready to go." Pandora said to the person at the other end of the line. "Has there been news?" 

There was a long silence before Pandora spoke again. 

"I\'ll tell her." Pandora said as she ended the call and looked at her niece.

"Who was it?" Cara asked in a weak voice. 

"It was Raymond Lawrence." Cara suddenly sat up at the mention of Al\'s father\'s name. 

"What did he say?" She asked, hopeful that there was good news.

"He sent the plane, he said Al would want you to be there." Pandora said, unable to look Cara in the eyes.

"Th- th- th-" Cara was unable to continue her statement as she took a deep breath and shook her head. 

She closed her eyes and gathered her strength before speaking again.

"Did they find a body?" Cara asked.

"They did." Pandora said with a nod. "I\'m so sorry, Cara."

"When do we leave?"

"Tonight."