"Yes, yes, she will do," said a voice. It pierced the darkness.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. The blurry image of a man and a woman in red standing over me appeared in my vision.

I was about to dismiss the strange picture as a dream, but instead found myself being shaken awake by Zhixu.

"Get up you lazy fool!" she ordered. Grumbling, I rolled out of bed and rubbed my eyes of the crust that had formed in the crevices during the night.

The man and woman were still there, standing tall, and looking quite unamused.

"Akira, this is Mr. Norio and Mrs. Onna. They want to adopt you," she seethed.

Immediately, I shot out of bed and grabbed the hands of my adopters.

I looked thankfully into their amber eyes. The man was old, his black hair streaked with grey. It was secured in a double topknot on his head. He had an ovular face, and a full, pointy salt-and-pepper beard, reminiscent of Fire Nation royalty. He had on a uniform that resembled Fire Nation army outfits. The woman, on the other hand, was tall, skinny, and regal-looking, with long pointy finger nails. She wore a bright red kimono and her hair was secured in a tight bun.

"Thank you so much!" I enthused, shaking their hands so hardly it looked like they were being electrocuted by my force.

"THAT will be enough," scolded the man, Mr. Norio as he yanked his arm away.

Mrs. Onna followed suit and scowled at me.

I was perplexed at their cold demeanor towards me. Why did they even want to adopt a child? Especially one as old as me? I was 16 years old.

I guess I shouldn't have been complaining. But the thoughts continued to bug me as I got into their Satomobile.

Zhixu came outside to see us off. But I knew it was to rub shoulders with this seemingly wealthy family. She was always trying to "make connections" with powerful people, in hopes that one day she would be expelled from her "terrible" life as the matron of an orphanage.

She gave me a nasty glare as I was entering the Satomobile. I glared at her back.

I realized then that in my time at the orphanage, it was Zhixu who had ruined my days and nights. Rage overcame me, and after making sure my new "parents" weren't looking, I lifted my middle finger to her face, reveling in the fact that she couldn't do anything to me anymore.

The contorted expression on her face was priceless, and I had to hold back a laugh. The first laugh since Akash was taken away from me.

As I made myself comfortable in the Satomobile, a feeling of victory swept over me. I gazed thankfully at the people who had decided to give me a second chance.

Yet the ride was strangely quiet.

I cleared my throat to break the cloak of silence that had settled eerily over the Satomobile.

"Mr. Norio and Mrs. Onna, I would just like to thank y-"

"Shut up," interrupted Mr. Norio. Surprised at the blatancy of his rude comment, I gave him a puzzled look.

"I don't understa—"

"He said shut up, didn't he?" commented Mrs. Onna, turning around from her seat to give me a cold glare-the very same glare I thought I had escaped when I left Zhixu's orphanage.

I began to pant heavily and gripped the arm rests of my seat.

"B-bu-"

"SILENCE!" they both boomed in unison.

Seething with rage, I tightened my lips, and for the millionth time, I felt my face twist itself into a venomous scowl.

It seemed it was impossible for me to ever catch a break; things always happened to make my life miserable.

"Wipe that sour look off your face girl. It's so unbecoming of you. We needed a maid, but didn't want to pay for one. So we picked you up, if that's what you were asking," Onna chirped.

At that point, any feeling of surprise I had left me. Unluckiness seemed to follow me everywhere, and there was nothing I could do about that.