Chapter 1 The backstory

The year of 1977, Ukraine, Chernihiv.

Anna loved her sister Arabella. She was older for 10 years but that was probably the reason she loved Anna so much. Arabella was 13 and Anna was 3. But age didn’t matter in games. Before Anna was born Arabella was always lonely. She never really knew how to make friends. Don’t get me wrong she wasn’t shy. But she didn’t know how to choose friends wisely.

Anna was in a garden, playing with her older sister, Arabella. They were playing hide and seek. The last that Anna remember from that time was that she heard her mother calling from the house. When she went to bed, Arabella read her a bed time story. As usual. But if only Anna knew…

The next morning Anna woke up, not to the sound of her sister’s voice, but to her mothers scream. The most horrible thing three year old Anna ever heard.

“What happened mom?”

Mrs. Smith looked up. She was sitting at the side of Arabella’s empty bed. The womanreplied with tears running down her face.

“Arabella… SHE RAN AWAY!!!”

Anna couldn’t believe it. Why? Her sister was so happy yesterday. What happened? Was it one of her “friends”? Or what? This was too confusing. What happened??? Maybe she, Anna did something wrong?

All of these questions were unanswered. Because nobody knew what happend. Except for Arabella herself. But she didn’t want to share that. At least, not right now.

A long time had passed. Anna was made the heir of the family and was named to be the eldest daughter. She had two younger brothers. The oldest of them was named Liam and the youngest Tom. Everyone forgot about Arabella and she forgot about them. She started making a family of her own and she married once she turned 17. Once in a while she wrote letters to Anna but then stopped. Probably because she didn’t get replies. Anna was still a bit mad at her for running away like that. Not even saying bye. Anna played with her brothers all day, but she never had friends of her age. She wanted to have some but… they had no neighbors and the house next to them stood empty. Anna never stopped dreaming about that day, that a family with kids would move in there and she could have friends. Anna liked their large house, but she always wanted to go to the school. Their whole family went to the same school. It was a tradition. Anna had to wait to turn 10 to go there. And she knew it was just a little more waiting…

Anna’s birthday was March 4th. She had a big party where her whole family and all relatives came. Anna got to see her cousins from France, USA, and Japan. It was really fun! Everyone loved the pizza and the large delicious cake. This was the best day of Anna’s life. This is why she loved birthday parties. Now all she had to do is wait for the day she would go to school and make some new friends!

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***