Picking a place [June 3rd]

Kiami stopped at the sound of a voice behind her. Finally, a friend! she thought as she turned around to face the voice. "Hi I'm Ki..." Her words trailed off as she met this girls eyes.. She was startled and stunned, memories of the explosion, of this girls face, flooded her for a second. She was at a loss for words as she stood there staring at the girl.
With a vigrious shake of her head that day of the explosion faded from her mind, finding her voice, she forces a smile and sticks out her hand. "Kiami, I'm Kiami. Sorry, it's just.. You look.. Like someone I've seen before." With a chuckle Kiami shrugged, not knowing if she should mention that fateful day to her, or wait. Maybe the girl wasn't ready to talk, maybe she didn't remember that day, and Kiami didn't want to be sad again at the thought of Sarah.

Kiami listening to Matilda, her story didn't match up with what Kiami had heard her parents talking about that night. Kiami knew, that whomever had told this girl what had happened was false, that some how this girl, was the only surviver, but she looked so happy that Kiami couldn't bring herself to tell her the truth, instead she turned around tossing the rest of her things on the top bunk and than back at Matilda, her smile beaming to cover the ache in her heart.
"No, I'm not from Europe, I'm from the states. Actually, I didn't live far from your home. I played at the park there all the time. I loved it. I cried when I heard about the gas leak, and I really miss Sarah. She was a friend of mine from there." Kiami wasn't sure if this girl knew Sarah, and though she didn't know the full truth of that day, in her heart Kiami felt Matilda deserved to know the truth, at least about Sarah, if she did know her.
Kiami beamed again at the mention of Ilvermorny, her dark eyes dancing with excitement under her glasses. "I'm going to Ilvermorny! I got my owl last week, I've been waiting for forever to get my letter! My parents sent me here for the summer so I could learn more than they could teach me before school starts. I'm so excited!"

Sitting on the edge of the lower bunk behind her, Kiami patted the mattress as she scooted against the bed frame, motioning for Matilda to come join her. Though she didn't really know Matilda, and didn't really understand why so many people lied to her about the explosion, the children, and the adults, Sarah had been Kiami's friend, her only friend, and for her sake, she knew Matilda deserved to know the truth, even if it hurt. Being lied to about someone didn't sit well with Kiami, besides, it wasn't in her nature to keep quiet even if she knew she should.
"Matilda.." Kiami could feel the lump in her throat, instinctively she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, sadness filling her dark eyes as she tried to find the words Matilda desperately needed to hear.
"Sit down....please." She managed trying to form the words that bounced around in her head.

Kiami tried to give a reassuring smile as Matilda sat down next to her, how could she tell someone so innocent that the friend they shared hadn't survived the explosion? In fact, Kiami knew that no one else had survived that night, her parents had said only a girl survived, but Kiami couldn't tell Matilda all of that and break her heart more than she was about too.
"Matilda, you should know, Sarah was my friend, my only friend, and it seems you were her friend as well.." Stopping Kiami took a deep breathe, willing the tears that stung her eyes to stop before she continued "it's only fair that you know the truth... Sarah didn't survive that explosion.." Kiami stared into Matilda's eyes, as she half spoke half whispered her words. It had been weeks since that night, and even though Kiami knew Sarah hadn't survived part of her still refused to believe it.

Kiami sighed, a deep sad sigh, that seemed more like it belonged to an adult than to a child. She watched as Matilda cried, throwing her things on the furthest bunk from her and stormed out the cabin door before Kiami could say a word. She hadn't lied, she had no reason to lie. She was a child, she couldn't tell Matilda why the adults had lied, she herself didn't know the answer to that. She stood up, her own tears streaming down her dark cheeks, and followed Matilda out the door.
Briefly, she thought about leaving the girl alone and going off to her own corner of solitude, but Kiami hadn't had anyone to comfort her when she had learned of Sarah all those weeks ago, so she knew the pain of dealing with it alone, and though Matilda hadn't believed her, Kiami felt her feet follow this girl with what felt like their own accord. Her bottled up grief quietly spilling out as she followed Matilda with eyes blinded by tears. She said nothing to make the girl stop running, or to make her realize that Kiami was following her, but she kept a steady pace behind Matilda as her tears ebbed away to an empty ache in her heart.