Finding Adelina

5

**ADELINA**

An hour later we're off the plane and getting into a long black car. Again, I'm sitting between my parents as they talk quietly over my head. Fifteen minutes into the car journey, my mother talks to me.

"Only your oldest siblings are at the house." She informs me. "Michael and Iris. They're very excited to see you again."

I nod, suddenly feeling nervous. It begins to dawn on me that this is where I'm going to live, these are the people I'll be surrounded by. The people who I'll have conversations with every day.

"Adelina?" My mother says. "What's the matter? Are you feeling tired again?"

I shake my head. "Could—could you open the window?"

"Yeah, sure." She says quickly, pushing the window down with a button on the armrest. I lean toward it a little, inhaling and exhaling slowly until I don't feel like I'm going to spiral out of control.

I feel a gentle hand on my back, and I curl away from it, moving to the edge of my seat and away from the window. My mother frowns, and I notice she and my father share a look, but neither of them comment on my blatant discomfort.

"You look a little pale, sweetheart." My mother says. "Is everything alright?"

I nod. "I just got a little dizzy."

"Oh, okay." My mother whispers.

"How long is the car journey?" I ask.

"We're almost there," my father answers, "another ten minutes, maybe."

"Okay."

Ten minutes of silence later, we pull up in front of a tall building. As I climb out of the car after my mother, she explains, "we live in the penthouse at the top. We own the building."

My eyebrows raise, even though it isn't a surprise. They dress rich, they act rich, they practically radiate rich. It isn't a shock that they own a building, but it is kind of cool.

"Come on." My mother urges as my father walks up beside her. I look back at the car, and she must read the question in my eyes because she says: "don't worry, your stuff will be brought up, and you'll be able to unpack before your siblings get home. Then you can take your nap and we can go shopping since we weren't able to get you anything in England, and by the time we get home dinner will be ready. You'll be able to get an early night."

I nod. My father looks at me, an incomprehensible emotion clouding his eyes, but I don't return his gaze, keeping it straight ahead as I follow them to the marble lift at the back of the massive main room that we walk into through the entrance doors.

We step into the lift, and my nerves bubble up until I begin to feel dizzy again. This time, however, the feeling isn't as bad. I'm able to ignore it until we get to the very top floor. The penthouse.

The lift doors open, revealing a door. My father steps forward and unlocks it before stepping inside. He holds the door open, and my mother motions for me to walk in first. I do, and when my foot hits the wooden floor I expect to feel some kind of sentimental value to this place, but I don't. It isn't shocking, since I've never been here before, but if it's where my family has lived while I've been in England then I should feel some kind of nostalgia, or even a sense of home, right?

Instead I feel nothing.

"We're home!" My mother exclaims, happiness radiating off of her in powerful waves.