Chapter 1

It was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day in July. I spent it out in the city with a group of friends, fooling around, laughing to tears, and enjoying the carelessness of teenage life. I came home after the evening, tired of the whole day. Despite being tired, I was really happy. I had more memories of the collection. I remember the feeling of relaxation as I threw myself on the bed and my hot sun skin touched the cool surface of the bedspread that always lay on my bed during the summer. I was cooking under something else because, as my mother always used to say, I was always hot, I would always wear short sleeves and shorts. I remember the day my mother came to my room in the old house. She was really sad and nervous, at first I didn't know why she was acting this way. She was supposed to spend the day with friends she had not seen for a long time and the next day her stepfather was to come back. She missed him so much. Unfortunately, after a few seconds, I began to understand what was happening. That day I was the most afraid. The day everything changes, I have to leave my beautiful home, room, family, my friends. My safe place where I feel confident. My mother sat down next to me on the bed and said that we were leaving in 3 days. I only had three days to pack, mentally prepare for what was to come. I did not know where we were moving, what was it like, what the house would be like, and how long we would stay there. I didn't know anything really, just that I had to. I knew that one day the day I was afraid would come, but I didn't know when it would come. Even if I knew, would it change anything? I would think more about it and look forward to this day. I would not take pleasure and joy in everyday life. Not knowing kept me from worrying. I couldn't take too many things with me, just some clothes. No souvenirs, no photos that would show too much detail from a previous life. I had to become someone else, a new person to stay safe. I was supposed to get all the necessary things, such as a computer or a phone when we got somewhere. It was all my mom told me. I already understood why my stepfather left, even though it rarely happened. Usually, the company he worked for sent someone else on business trips because he just didn't want to and my mother was jealous of him. I was the last person to learn about anything because, as the family said, it is better, the less I worry, the safer I stay alert and calm. Even if they didn't tell me anything, I was scared and worried, but I could pretend otherwise. I didn't want to talk to them about it any longer, they had their opinion about it and I had mine. Even though they didn't tell me everything, I knew a lot My stepfather had gone to a new place earlier that I was going to call home. Such behavior was supposed to prevent anyone from joining the facts and locating us. It's all for me to stay safe, to live. Despite everything, I am happy anyway because I could be at home longer than I expected from this event. Everyone, the family, the police did not give me a month to live in the old house and I stayed here for 2 years. My old house has been my refuge and paradise for 16 years. Now elsewhere I will have to find peace, home, paradise, and sanctuary. Those three days passed extremely quickly, before I knew it, it was time to leave. Time of farewells, tears, hugs, and sadness. Saying goodbye to my sisters and their husbands, I felt an inner pain that I knew that I might not see them again. I will not be able to participate in their life, I will become a stranger to them. In memory of the sister they had. Perhaps one day there will be an opportunity to see them at least from a distance.

The whole journey from home to the airport was too fast. At the security gates, I had to say goodbye to them irreversibly. It was not without a ton of tears, but I knew that it is the safest for everyone. Wiping my tears and hugging one last time, I whispered a soft "Goodbye" and boarded the plane with headphones in my ears. Sitting down in my seat on the plane, it was only then that I found out where my new home would be. Denver, a city in the States, a whole new world unknown to me. However, I had nothing to say, just waiting for us to get there, which wasn't supposed to be fast because we had to change the train. The only thing left for me to do was listen to the music from my sister's old mp3 player, the only electronic device I had left, and I could take it with me.