Leoni123: Don't worry, as soon as I've finished both this and Love is stronger than hate there will be another sequel, then another, and then another, maybe another one too.

So… I swear after you know Emma's story you're all going to want to send me into an asylum or something.

"No I don't think so." Jody answered me, I sighed. This wasn't exactly a happy story. I didn't exactly enjoy to tell it to anybody but well. "Can you tell us?" Jody exclaimed, I looked around- everyone seemed to be looking curiously to me, I sighed.

"So well…" I began and sat down. "I don't call them Bankrupt's because they had no money- it was their name." I took a deep breath and then started telling the story about the Bankrupt's and the Peterson's. "About thirty years ago- my great grandpa- Anthony Peterson had… well… just lost his wife- my great grandma.. and… he was pretty messed up- and so he got in a fight with another man named Joshua Bankrupt. It got physical and my great grandpa- accidentally killed the Bankrupt- he was put in prison and died just a few years later of cancer. But it turned out the Bankrupt's were a pretty big family so… someone came up with the "brilliant" idea of letting us suffer the way they had." I took a deep breath.

"Then… my dad's family was him, his little brother Leon- my uncle you know- their little sister Lesa- spelled with an E but pronounced like Lisa- and their parents. So my grandma took Lesa- who was then but a newborn with her and moved to Italy. And grandpa took the boys and moved to Sundsvall- in mid- Sweden. And so… the years went by and about ten years later some Bankrupt's managed to find my grandma and aunt so they were killed- and made it look like an accident. And so… there were only dad, grandpa and Leon left so they spread out- dad was sent to a foster family in Boden in the north, Leon to another family in Lund in the South and grandpa stayed in Sundsvall. They found my grandpa just a few years later and killed him too- since then we haven't heard anything about or from them.

"So what have that got to do with the English names?"

"Before running away my dad's family lived in Dover. They had actually lived in Dover for… I don't know. Generations and generations. So my dad lived in Great Britain until he was… twelve I think… so when I was born- my dad was twenty eight years old- mum eighteen. They both liked the Swedish name Emilia- but they thought it was too common in Sweden so they let me have the English pronouncing for it- same thing with Jonas." Mike turned to me with a distressed look.

"And you came here. What were you thinking?" I sighed and explained to me that it had been about twenty years since we last heard anything from the Bankrupt's- that there were loads of people named Peterson and that the risk of someone Bankrupt finding me here would be just about zero.

"So now when we're talking about the Peterson's" I exclaimed. "Mike, what's the clue to find the next DVD?" I did my best to change my subject but Mike didn't answer, in fact no one said a word for several seconds until Jody spoke up again.

"But how come Leon is your only family- haven't your mum got a family?" Mike scolded Jody for asking such personal questions but I just smiled and explained that my grandparents on mum's side kicked her out and broke contact when mum got together with my dad- ten years older then her- and pregnant at eighteen. And then finally Mike told me that the clue for the next was skating.

When Jordan and Jess had lived here at Elm Tree House the time to rearrange Jess's room- earlier Tee's- hadn't come. But Mike had gotten together with some of the others and then rearranged Jordan's- wallpapered it with a wallpaper with a pattern of the shape of skaters doing some trick I didn't know what it was called along with graffiti. So I ran up to Jordan's old room after Mike told me it was in the middle and searched the room before I found it in between a few Donald- Duck- magazines that still laid in the bookshelf and then ran downstairs and put the DVD in.

"There's only two left now." I said. "One of them should be with me and my parents, and the other one with me and Jonas when Jonas was five so this is…" I turned the DVD on. "The one with me and Jonas when he was five." I sat down in the sofa while everyone looked to the screen and it showed a clip of me and Jonas going to school for his first day.

I had as usual thrown my backpack- plaid with light and dark purple- over one shoulder and mum's voice was heard with telling me to put it on fully and then I lifted my arm and pulled it through correctly through the other shoulder strap. Jonas- who actually was only four by the time this was shot- was wearing his with a print of Lightning McQueen from cars and he took my hand and we walked up our driveway towards the road and down the road towards the bus stop.

I smiled, because Jonas had started school one year earlier than most others he had started it when he was four, going on five. We hadn't really thought that the principle would let him start school at such a young age but with all mum worked and how dad was gone it would be the best for Jonas not having to be at day- care all days where at the place he was going to- everyone were girls- and from one to two years old- so we had simply talked the principle into letting Jonas start at four years old.

The clip changed and showed him singing the (Swedish) Alphabet song, I filled in the letters he didn't remember and together we got through the whole song until the end. Then came a clip when he sat by my side right after a seizure- Leon had filmed a few of my seizures to show the doctors and right on the clip Jonas was sitting cross legged on the floor stroking my hair.

The DVD ended with a clip filmed by mum when I and Jonas came home from Jonas' first day at school. He was holding onto my hand- just as I had forced him to do all the time until we came up on the driveway when he ran up and greeted mum and talked- way too fast for me to catch- and then I was the only one in here who knew Swedish- about his day.

The TV- screen went black again and I put the DVD in the cover and went up to my room and threw it on the pile that was getting higher on my desktop. Before I went to search for the DVD that would be the last one- and the one with me and both of my presents- I sat down on my bed. Today was the fifiteenth, the day I knew I would have to had managed I'd have to have told Mike I was leaving. I had done so- yesterday, I had also told Jess and Jordan, Tracy, Gina, Johnny and Tee- even Tara. But not the others at Elm Tree house. And I knew I needed to tell them in good time- if thirteen days now was a good time to have.

When I heard shouts from downstairs about questions where I had gone, I finally stood up, decided to talk to them after we had watched the last DVD and then walked into Harry's room (the clue was Jeff) and found the DVD under Harry's pillow and then walked downstairs again- deciding not to think about telling the others until after watching this.

I put the DVD into the player and then walked back to the sofa and sat down and first saw a still photo come up. Of my mum being far- gone pregnant with me and dad leaning forward with his hands behind his back and lightly touching her stomach with his lips. Mum looked like "What on earth are you doing?" But dad just looked happy. And then the clips started playing.

The first was from when I was maybe one year old, I sat on dad's knee and he held my hands in his doing a clap song while mum sat next to us singing along. Then came one with dad lifting me "High in the air" when I was two or three and laughed so I almost choke and mum stood there fussing over how high he was lifting me.

The clips kept on going, but my favorite was from my first birthday and mum and dad sat on each side of me and let me eat a chocolate cake with loads and loads of cream by myself. At last it came back to the first clip and dad, I and mum finishing the sentence and then dad went "yaay" in that silly way you do with a one- year- old.

I sighed "Wait here" I told the others. "I'm just going upstairs with this. I need to tell you something" I walked upstairs and laid the DVD on my desktop and then slowly walked downstairs brainstorming on how I would tell the others. "Listen guys." I said when I came downstairs. "There's something you need to know… and that something is that I'm leaving…" the room fell all silent. "I'm going home again, to live with Leon…. So forenoon next Sunday I'll be getting on a plane and then going home."

"But there are no planes going on Sundays are there?" Carmen asked, I shrugged.

"This one is." I sighed and then sat down, I didn't know what more to say so I only kept silent until Harry asked why. I shrugged again. "I guess I came here because I was trying to run away from my feelings. Now when things are starting to catch up with me I need to- go home and deal with it better than what I did then." I sighed again.

And so the days went on, one, two, three, ten, eleven days later on the last lesson I had here in Great Britain and the day some of us would read our paper out loud. I didn't know what I wanted to do. But with just ten minutes left Mr. Anderson looked to me. "Miss. Peterson… I have read yours and I want you to read yours aloud- because I think it's really good." I shrugged. "Oh yeah- if you don't I'm gonna do it… come on… come on." At last I stood up and walked over to the catheter, then I took a deep breath and read aloud from the paper in my hands.

Family

Who you count as your family is often depending on which part of the world you come from. Like in Sweden- where I come from. A typical family is, mum, dad, brothers, sisters. And then that's it. In China, family is both that, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives. No picture of family is wrong- just as little as any picture of a family is right. And no one can tell another what a family should or should not be.

But if you ask me. The picture of family isn't the ones that are related by blood. Family are the people that stays there- always. They're there to be happy when you are. They're there to make you feel safe when you're scared. They're there to be angry and plan payback that is never going to be done when you're angry. They're there to comfort when you're sad. But almost most importantly- they're there to pick up the pieces and heal when you're broken.

The part about healing is the most important part because it will showwho will stay there and who will not. The friends that are real family will stay there even though it's hard. The ones that stays there when you're broken- they will stay there in all other times- because no other times are half as hard to stay through as the broken times.

Family are the ones that love each other enough to see through what's not always so great. Because to stay and pick up isn't easy. So the only ones who do that- are the ones that love you for real. And family…. It's also about so much more than that. Family is about forgiving, forgiving even when you're still angry and hurt. It's about being there for each other even when it just gets annoying sometimes, and it's about smiling, crying, shouting and laughing so much it hurts and until you can't breathe.

Family is about so much more than I could ever say or describe. And anyways- I'm not saying that my picture is more right or wrong than any other's- but I can say that if it really is related by blood. Then I haven't got much family left- and yet I consider my family a quite big, happy and just normally dysfunctional one.

The classroom had fallen all silent. And for once Sleepy Seth- as we sometimes called him because he was sleeping at all lessons- didn't even sleep but he sat and listened closely to every word I spoke. I wasn't in the same English class as anyone else from Elm Tree House- maybe if I had been they would have known what I was talking about. But I guessed- that everyone really did know.

When I was finished the whole room fell silent. It was all silent for several seconds before the bell rang and there was the sound of chairs getting pushed along the floor and students running out of the classroom. I half sat down on the catheter and watched each of the students walk out of the classroom door until it closed behind Malya. I sighed and walked over to get my bag- still the same purple plaid backpack.

"You weren't coming back again were you?" I heard Mr. Anderson, I shook my head still looking down on the big red A+ that read in a corner of the paper, and then looked up at him and smiled. "First A+ I've given this year, your essay was something really, really good. And I have seen many of those family- essays both this year and earlier." I nodded again and threw my backpack over one shoulder. "Where are you moving by the way?"

"Home." I answered. "I only came here last summer and… it's time to go back now." Mr. Anderson smiled and I gave him a quick hug- for some- not very clear reason to me. "Thanks for the A+" I said and then walked slowly out of the classroom, but just as I'd put my hand on the doorhandle Mr. Anderson spoke up again.

"Du förtjänade verkligen ditt betyg Emma- lycka till." (You really did deserve your grade Emma- good luck) It took me a while to understand what he had said- I wasn't prepared for the fact that he knew and spoke Swedish. But he spoke it so perfectly- this wasn't just a fraze he'd learned to say through internet to say to me today.

"Tack." (Thank you) I answered and walked out in the hallway, slowly walking down the corridor I looked around and took in every impression. I saw and took in things I'd never noticed before like that piece of graffiti on the side of the lockers or a mark from someone cutting with a knife or something along the girls' bathroom door. At last I walked up to my locker. Emptied it- all the reading books I had handed in so there wasn't excactly much. Just a few notebooks, a folder with papers hat I put the family- essay in and a few pencils and erasers. I put it all in my backpack- and for once- so it wouldn't be so heavy I pulled it over both of my shoulders and walked down the rest of the hallway.

I walked alone slowly down the corridor and out from the school building and then down the road in between the blocks towards the Dumping ground. Where I threw my bag at my bed and rearranged the packing in that one and the packing in my big bag and all of the boxes with the things I'd taken from school and then sat down on my bed and looked around.

So this was the room I'd come to just in the end of May. So this was the room. So this was the room where I had hid my meds under the pillow when Jody came in, sat and done my calendar to have to count down the days until the days I would go home, the room I sat and told Gina about what I had thouhgt when I knew that Jonas died and so many other things. So this was the room- it was my room- but in just two days it wouldn't be mine anymore.

After some while I gave up packing for today and walked downstairs. Almost right away greeted by a hug by Gina, and jumped up to sit on the kitchen bench and eat my sandwich. I sighed and looked down on it while slowly breaking small pieces of it that I put in my mouth and chewed. And so the time went on again.

On Sunday morning we all at Elm Tree House stood in the driveway in a group hug. I in the middle and everybody else around me. There were a few snivels from my friends, but at last we had to let go because otherwise I would be late for the plane. Mike got in the driver's seat and he looked straight onto the road but I could see tears shining in his eyes and then it was the checking in- and then goodbye.

"I'll never forget you Mike." I said with tears in my voice. "I promise I won't ever do that." Mike just sniveled and told me he knew. Clapped my back and then gently pushed me to go into the gate.

"Come on… you need to go…" I held onto him as long as possible and then turned around and walked through the gate. "You're gonna be fine. Good luck Emilia Peterson." I turned back and looked to me, then turned around again and ran down the gate- I couldn't bear to just walk. And I didn't stop running until I had met up with the man who led me and a couple of other children travelling alone to the plane.

Up in the air there was something itching my leg so I pulled up the slack and scratched it, the scars were still there. But they had started turning more and more light, I almost felt someone looking at me and looked up to see a guy- perhaps late teens looking at my leg and the scars. "Wha' happene' 'o ya?" He asked with a strong cockney accent. I sighed and pulled down the slack again, while I hesitated for what to answer.

"Plane crash." I answered him truthfully at last. "That's what happened to me I mean." The guy had just taken a sip from a drink and now spurted it all in laughter onto the seat on front of him. And I knew he didn't believe me and some new comment about it was going to come.

"Yeah righ'" he exclaimed. "And I'm…" I didn't wait for the comment to come before I gave him a meaning glare. "Bloody 'ell tha' was the truth was I'?" I nodded. "And ya're flyin'… my name's Andrew by the way. I answered him I was Emma. "So…" he began after talking for some while. "Wha ya doin' in Swe'en then?" I smiled slightly.

"I'm going home."

I was going to continue for a little while more. But I'll see if I put that part in the epilogue instead. That is the next chapter.

Told you you'd want to send me into a mental hospital after reading the Peterson- history.