Chapter 16

The calm, peaceful days Anna spent between the class and the training came to an end in a storming way that neither she nor her brothers expected.

Anna was looking in shock at the man Allen had just called "Dad" She couldn't believe what she saw and heard, she couldn't make any sense out of it, her mind couldn't match, analyze, and realize what she was seeing and what she heard... a voice echoed in her ears, crying, " it can't be, there is no way, it can't be, it can't be ... " a lot of images and voices started to flash in her mind, her heart felt like exploding, her breaths became heavy, her voice couldn't come out, the scene was more than she could take, so in an attempt to protect her from going crazy her mind decided to shutdown, and in an attempt to escape the pain her body welcomed and responded to the made decision. So, in surrender, Anna closed her eyes and let the cold floor embrace her falling body.

Two hours earlier

Unlike their shiny souls, the sky was heavily raining when Anna's school basketball team had just won their first game in the Winter's Cup championship. Anna was leaving the stadium with the rest of the team when Jad, one of the players, Allen's closest friend, asked, "Where did Allen disappear to?" The rest shrugged in neglect. He had always disappeared on such occasions; yes, they trained together played together, and won together, yet it was a rare thing for him to join them in any other activities; he had never eaten or hung out with them. So, it wasn't a big deal that he was not going to celebrate their first win in the National Championship. On the other hand, though, there was Anna, who was as curious about Allen's whereabouts. Thus, she could not stop herself from copying Jad's question, replying, " Yeah, I wonder where's he too?" Not only because of their smooth friendship in the past months. When they became good friends, everyone on the team stopped wondering about how Allen could chat and laugh around Anna. It simply became the normal thing. But, also because she needed a ride home, and Allen was supposed to take care of that, he promised Alex, and later left it to him and left the city on a job mission. Anna looked up to the gloomy sky and ahead to the foggy road and thought, " Did he forget? How am I supposed to go home.... alone?" She shivered at the idea, yes, she felt much better moving with Alex much safer, she made some friends and felt more comfortable around people, still, she never went out without Alex except from and to school, and the idea of having to do it in such a creepy weather in that late hour didn't seem quite pleasant. "Hey, Anna," she went back to reality on Mark's voice, the team captain, a senior working as hard as he could to hold the cup before graduating. He was waving his hand in front of her face, trying to wake her from her daydream; Anna blinked a couple of times before replying, " What is it, Captain?" Mark threw up his hands in exasperation and started walking while saying, " Come on, we're getting late, the boys want to have dinner, before going home, as a simple celebration of today's game" Anna followed in large steps to keep a short distance between them, questioning " Isn't too early to celebrate ?" He looked up his shoulders to her, and slowed down his long steps, noticing her effort to keep up, and replied with a playful happy smile " It could be " " Come on Captian, they need to rest, we need to be ready, the coming game is harder" Anna abjected with an annoyed face, which made Mark laugh and by the time they catch up with the rest he stopped laughing and said dramatically " take it easy coach, we're just hungry, so we're going to a nice cheap place to eat. Unfortunately, none of us poor students can afford a more fancy way of celebrating. " And so it was decided to have dinner as a good team before going each to his home. Anna accepted to join them, especially because everyone was nice and grateful for all her efforts for the team; however, she couldn't shake the unpleasant feeling she had with each step she took. She would shiver each time she glanced at the road, and no matter how much she tried to ignore that bad feeling, by focusing on what the rest were chatting and happily laughing about, that bad feeling made her stomach sick, they kept walking each player living their dreams oblivious to the storm brewing within Anna. She had always been strong, composed, and ready to face whatever challenges came her way. But this? She could tell "This was different."