Thanks to the prejudice that kids need to be with their mothers since born, i lived with mine for the first years of my life. Even though my father was more than capable of taking good care of me.
She wasn't a bad mother and loved me very much, but made poor decisions.

A few months after mom discovered she was pregnant, she and dad ended their short relationship. He was doing a scientist investigation in the country and after he finished his work, he decided not to move back to England yet so he could be closer to us.

Eventually she found herself a boyfriend and not too long after, they married.
That's when dad opted to go back home. He would travel every two or three weeks to spend the weekend with me or when he couldn't, he would call every single night before i went to bed.
It was also when hell started.

By the time i was eight my father decided i had enough.

January, 2002

He said he was sorry and took my bags to the car. I ran back to the small house to give my mother one last hug. She was crying on the yellowish kitchen floor. "I'm not letting him take you" she said through gritted teeth. My heart felt heavy. I didn't want to leave, but neither did i know what to do. I was tired...
I wraped my arms tightly around her. We stayed like that for a while.
"I love you mommy" was all i could say before i left the house trying to hold back my tears.

"Things are going to get better, i promise", dad kissed me on the forehead and started the car.
That was the last time i saw my mother.

Edonia
I'd never seen snow in my life. A few days ago i would have been incredibly happy, but now it only made me feel emptier.

I looked at dad, his blue eyes seemed lost. He smiled sadly at me. "I know this is not the best place, but we're going to make it work. Alright?". He ruffled my hair sweetly, then hailed a cab and we left the airport.
The journey felt like it lasted an eternity. The view was beautiful. Snowed pine trees covered the sides of the road, sporadic wooden farms apeared once in while and white mountain ranges could be seen far away. But my mind was somewhere else. I couldn't get rid of the memory of my mother begging my father to not to take me away.

Flashback
"She is MY daughter. You can't do this" yelled my mother. Her brown hair messed and covering half of her swollen face. She throwed the first thing she could reach to my father.
He sighed deeply, trying to remain as calm as possible.
"You had three years to change things but choose to remain like this. This isn't healthy for her. Are you waiting for him to hurt her?"
_

I wondered over and over again if this was the only way, if i couldn't do anything to change her mind.
But maybe she didn't had the strength to fight him. Maybe she loved that monster more than her own daughter...
I was submerged in thoughts when the car pulled over. I didn't realized that we entered a small town.

We were in front of an old house covered in solid stone. It didn't look too big but had a charming aura.
Dad payed the driver and unloaded our luggage.
He opened the dark wooden door. "Welcome home sweety".
As I got inside, I noticed that the house wasn't as small or old as it seemed from the outside. It was actually pretty modern.
The first room had a three bodies couch facing a 42" flat tv on the right side and a small mantel fireplace. There was a door on the left, that lead to a kitchen dining room. At the oposite side from the front door, was a stairway to the first floor and a small door that I assumed lead to a basement. The last one caught my eye, it had numeric panel at the side. Weird...
"Go upstairs and make yourself comfortable. Your room is the one on the left. There's a bathroom at the end of the hallway. I'll go to prepare something to eat" said dad while he entered the kitchen. I nodded and went to the stairs.
"One more thing Cat." He poked his head from the kitchen door "I love you. I am sorry for all this but I just want you to have a more peaceful life"
I sighed, "I know daddy. I love you too". And resumed my way to my room.

I finished unpacking my clothes and decided it was enough for the time being.
As I went down stairs I noticed dad was at the front door talking to a tall, beautiful lady.
"Come here sweety." He motioned his hand for me to come. "This is Aleksandra Muller, our neighbour"
"Hi, I'm Catalina. Nice to meet you" I tried to smile happily to her. She was so beautiful...

"Hello Catalina, your father has talked about you non stop since he moved here" Her voice was soft and with a cute accent. She had gorgeous almond shaped eyes, green as jade.
Her face was very pale and delicate, enmarked by straight, walnut long hair. She didn't looked more than thirty.
I smiled to her again, not sure on what to say. She turned to my father "So Steve, i came just to give you this as a welcome gift to your daughter." Said handing my father a plastic container. "This is Reform Torta. My son loves it, so i thought you may like it too" She nodded at me with a sweet expression.
"Thank you, but you didn't had to take the trouble" Dad told her.
She shook her head. "Don't worry" And with another nod, left our house.

We went to the kitchen and started to eat the grilled sandwichs my father made earlier.
"How you feelling so far?" He asked me once i finished my third one. After such a long flight i was extremely hungry. "For the two hours i've been here, pretty good"
He chuckled "Sorry. Perhaps i am being too anxious". I went to his side and huged him "Thank you for everything" i said as i let out a big yawn.

"You should go to sleep. We have a lot of planning to do tomorrow"
"K" was all i said and dragged my self to my room.

Maybe this isn't that bad.
I fell sleep the instant i touched the bed.
That night was filled with dreams about my mother.

When i woke up the sun was already shining bright. I grabed my hello kitty robe and went down the stairs.

Dad was nowhere to be seen, but there was a very welcomed plate with waffles and honey, a pepper flask and a glass of milk on the kitchen table.
Since it was just for one i guessed he already had his breakfast. So i began to devour mine.

After finishing i went to the sink and started cleaning the dishes i just used. "Good morning Cat. Ready to talk about school?" I almost throw the glass i was washing. Where did he came from?
"School?" i said i little confused. "Well, here the classes already started"
Oh great, i'm starting in the middle of the school year. "ok..." i gave him and almost invisible smile.

I dried my hands and sat on the oposite side of the table. He started to tell me how i was going to be fine, that there wasn't anything to worry about. Then he started to explain how school worked here, the basic things i needed to know in serbian to survive my first days.

It was almost four in the afternoon when he finished to lecture me about how important education was and how i was to become a great scientist just like him. I think i stopped listenning a couple hours before. Around the ""osnovna škola" means primary school. You're going to be on third grade, "Treći razred". My head throbbed.

Luckly my stomach started to growl. "Ok! I think it's enough for today. Tomorrow we will go to the school. Now lets get you something to eat" He throw me a satisfied smile.
Thank god!

*ring*
"Sweety, can you go to the door? I'm sort of bussy here in the kitchen"

"Coming!" I ran to the front door.

When i opened, i found a boy around my age, standing with a pile of books in his arms. He had an extrange auburn hair and striking light blue eyes. And he was TALL.

"Hey, i'm Jake from next door. My mom told me you're starting school, so i came to give you these" He said quickly and pushed the books to my chest.
"Wh-what?" I must had looked like the stupidest kid on earth. "Ugh, right. English..." he let out an annoyed sigh.

"I said, mom told me to come give you these" This time he spoke in a very accentless english and pushed again.
"oh..." was all that left my lips. Then, he just turned around and left.

I put the books on the coffee table and went to close the door.
"Who was it?" Asked dad from the kitchen. "A weird boy came to leave some books"
He came to the front, cleaning his hands with a cloth. "That must been Jake, Sandra's son. He's quiet but very smart"
"Yeah, and rude too..." I told him. He laughed a bit, ruffled my hair and resumed what he was doing.

I plopped on the soft couch and eyed the books. Great, i have no idea what this says. And slammed my head with one of them, that judging by the cover, was about math.

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A/N

Hello everyone 👋
This is my first story so any kind of criticism is good. But PLEASE be kind. I'm a sensitive person (?

I been thinking if i should write this for a long time now and i am still not very sure if this is a good idea hehe
To be honest , it's been ages since the last time i wrote, and i've always been very insecure about my writing.

Anyways... the updates on this story are going to be quite slow. So, be patient!

See you around!