Chapter Four

Marina leaves the infirmary and goes to her room to pack. She thinks that it will be good for her to meet new people, but just thinking about the fact that she will have to be separated from her sisters makes her very sad.

She starts to cry, telling herself:

"Why does this have to happen to me? I am so young and I have already lost my parents, separated from my brother, come to an orphanage where I suffered for a few months, and now I have to be separated from my sisters and my new friends."

At this moment Flavia appears, who has overheard some of Marina's conversation with herself and says:

"Leaving this place is the dream of every teenager and child here, because we can have the opportunity to gain a new family that will take care of us, educate us and not let anything bad happen to us."

Marina hugs her friend and says:

"But I don't want to separate from my sisters or from you."

"This is going to be good for you and Lucia won't bother you anymore. I'll miss you a lot, but I'd rather see you well with a family that will take care of you than see you suffer with that girl. You deserve to be happy, my friend."

"What if they don't like me?"

"It's impossible they won't like you. You are a good person," says her friend with conviction.

"But Lucia hates me!"

"Lucia's just jealous of you, because she's never had a real family, so don't pay any attention to her."

Marina feels sorry for the girl, but prefers not to bring it up and finishes packing her bags and hugs her friend saying:

"I'm going to miss you a lot."

"I'll miss you too" -and hugs her tightly- "you won't forget me, will you? Send me messages whenever you can."

Marina tries to hold back the tears, but when she notices, she is already crying and sobbing. She picks up her bags and Flavia helps her, taking her things to the Director's office.

Once there, the director hugs her and says:

"You'll be fine. Take care, okay?"

"All right, but I haven't said goodbye to my sisters yet -says the girl in a sad voice."

"I called your sisters, they will be here soon- says the woman."

After ten minutes, her sisters arrive and look at the girl's bags and say:

"Marina why are your bags here? - says Aline without understanding the reason."

The Director asks Flavia to leave the room so she can explain what is happening.

When the girl leaves the room, the director says:

"Girls please sit down, because I need to talk to you."

The girls sit down and she says:

"I have a family here and they have adopted your sister, but unfortunately they only want to adopt Marina, which means that you will stay here and your sister will leave the orphanage."

This time it was Esther who changed the tone of her voice saying:

"What's up? You can't let them take my sister away from us!"

"Ester, calm down- says Aline trying to reassure her."

"You can't take my sister away, you can't! - and begins to cry."

The principal looks at the girl sadly and says:

"I'm sorry dear, but we don't always get what we want. Now please say goodbye, your sister has to go."

"All right, principal" -Says the twins and Marina in unison.

The sisters hug each other and Marina says:

"It's going to be okay. I love you."

"If you need anything, send me messages-Says Aline."

"If they don't take good care of you, I'll go there and bring you back-Says Esther."

"You can leave her alone, she'll be well taken care of -Says Director Clara with conviction."

She finishes saying goodbye to her sisters and the woman leads Marina out of the room. She says goodbye to her friends who give her a cord with "FRIENDS" written on it so she can have something to remember her by.

She finishes her goodbyes and when she goes to get into the car of her new one she sees Lucia.

The girl approaches Marina and says:

"I want to apologize to you for everything I did to you. I shouldn't have treated you badly."

She nods and gets into the car, where she will be taken to her new home.

***

The journey is quite long and tiring and she has no idea where she will live or the names of the people who adopted her.

After two hours of traveling, they decide to stop at a snack bar and the girl says:

"I'm sorry for not introducing myself before, but I saw you so sad that I thought it would be better not to say anything"-she extends her hand and says-"My name is Sandra and this is my husband Miguel."

The little girl greets the woman and says:

"Nice to meet you. My name is Marina."

Sandra smiles and calls the girl to go for a snack. She accepts and on the way to the snack bar she says:

"Do you have children?"

The woman remains silent and the man says:

"She got pregnant about three years ago, but the baby woke up dead and she hasn't been able to get pregnant since. So we decided it would be better to adopt a girl."

"But why not adopt a child?*

The man gets thoughtful and Sandra says:

"I thought about it and I see that there are many teenage girls who don't get adopted because of their age and when I saw you I was enchanted. I hope you like me someday."

They remain silent and enter the place. They both order a full X-Bacon and a Coke, and the girl, since she wasn't very hungry, ordered only a natural chicken sandwich and a strawberry juice.

They finish their snack and go back to the car to return to their trip.

After five hours of driving, they arrive in a town with a sign that says: WELCOME TO NEW FRIBURG. The place is very cold, completely different from the place she is used to living.

Marina is delighted to see the place, for although she has traveled a lot, she has never been to this town before.

Her new home is in Olaria. She knows that she will miss all her friends, both from the orphanage and from her old school.

In the car the couple puts on some Christmas music, since it is the end of November. Marina puts on her headset and listens to several songs like Somewhere Over the Raiwnbow by a singer she can't remember the name of and starts to think about her past, about when she and her family used to get together, when they organized Christmas parties and would watch the fireworks display at the Pica-Pau beach in Rio das Ostras. When it was over, she and her brothers would build a huge sand castle and her parents would tell her several Christmas stories and exchange gifts.

Until today she remembers that her mother gave her a heart-shaped bear with the phrase YOU LIVE HERE.

Marina begins to cry as she remembers these things and Sandra, seeing her emotional state says:

"What happened for you to be crying? If you want to talk to me, I'm here to listen to you."

Marina wipes her tears and says:

"They are only memories that came to my mind. There's no need to worry."

The girl takes off her headphones when she notices that the car has stopped in front of a simple but very beautiful modern house. The house is painted white with some marble details and the roof is the same white color, with a space next to it for the car, known as a garage.

They get out of the car and Miguel opens the trunk and takes Marina's luggage.

But before they get inside Sandra says:

"Welcome to your new home. Come, I will show you the rooms and where your room will be."

Marina enters the house accompanied by Sandra while Miguel takes the bags to the girl's room.

The house is not as big as she is used to living in. It has a medium-sized living room with a red leather sofa and a flat screen TV.

A few vases of flowers are scattered around the corner of the house and a sound box on the wooden instant.

In the kitchen, there is a glass counter, a black refrigerator with a fridge, a black cabinet with white and a black microwave.

As they return to the living room, Miguel tells his wife that he has already put Marina's bags in her new room and his wife says:

"Come on, I'll show you your room. It's not big, but at least you will have a space of your own."

The girl goes up the stairs and finds herself in a corridor. Marina's room is the first door on the right, and the couple's room is the third door on the left.

There is a guest bedroom on the second door on the left and the bathroom is on the second door on the right. The fourth door on the right is the playroom and the door on the left is the laundry area.

Upon entering her new bedroom, Marina is faced with the room painted purple and the white bed with a light pink bedspread with some black embroidery.

There is a white closet with red on it, and in the corner a purple dressing table with a chair in the same color.

She notices that there is a door where there should be a window and when she opens it she notices that there is a small balcony overlooking the street.

She is delighted with the place and says:

"Wow, is that my room?"

And Sandra says:

"Yes, I hope you like it. If you don't like it, just change it, after all, it is your room."

Marina approaches the woman and hugs her, saying:

"I love this room. Thank you very much, really."