A/N: Im going to write
the Italian in English exept in italics, ok? I don't want to have to
re-write the whole section over just so everyone can understand. The
only words that will be in italian are common words. Such as "Ciao"
which, if no one knows, means
"Hello"
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I sat shivering in the corner, away from the rest. I felt so
alone. I wanted to go home to Mommy. I wanted to see Daddy's
farmiliar half-mask. I wondered if they even wondered where I was. It
had to be after school hours by now. I shivered again but felt a pair
of arms around me. I looked up and saw Solito looking at my
tearstained face.
"Donata, its alright. Leanna will find
Naiomi and Jaclyn soon. Shhh. Don't cry. It won't be long,"
He did not seem to mind that my tears were soaking the shoulders of
his shirt, which was probibly once white but ad become a shade of
brown. He brought a patched blanket over my legs.
"It's
not ok, Solito! I may never get to see my Mommy and my Daddy again! I
miss them so much!" I sobbed. He tightend his brotherly
embrace. I felt safe. Safer than I had ever felt before.
"Donata,
I cannot say that I miss my parents. Honestly, I don't even know
them. I was kidnapped when I was a baby. I was rocked in that cradle,
just like Kiera is now. Leanna taught me to speak, just as she is now
teaching Michael and Jean," he said, "But I do think
that I know how you feel. You don't want to be here. You don't belong
here. You belong in your home in France, with your Mama and your
Papa. You belong having fun in the sun, careless and free. You don't
belong wasting in a basement with the brothers and sisters that you
didn't even know until a few hours ago,"
He did not need
to say more. He had summed up all my feelings already. I just buried
my face in his shirt, and he laid me down on the stone floor below
us. He cradled me in a very brotherly way, and I fell into a peaceful
sleep.
Chapter
Erik's POV
The stagecoach glided over the
smooth roads heading to Donata's school. I decided to surprise her by
picking her up instead of Naiomi or Jaclyn. I smiled as I thought of
the look of surprise that would overcome her when she saw it was me,
and not them. I chuckled slightly as the carrage pulled up to the
small schoolhouse. I paid the driver and asked him to wait for me. I
then went to the door of the Schoolhouse to get Donata. I waded
through snowmen and forts still equipped with snowballs what were not
used during recess and smiled. When I finally reached the schoolhouse
door, I knocked lightly. A kindly looking woman came to the door. She
was Donata's teacher, Ms. Aleka. She looked at me suspisiously, and
then asked,
"Who are you here to pick up and what is your
relation to him or her?"
"I am here to pick up my
daughter, Donata," I said firmly. She looked at me again and
then said,
"Very well, stay here and I will go fetch her,"
I
waited in the small front room of the schoolhouse waiting for my tiny
daughter. 10 minutes passed. I had watched multiple children leaving.
Finally, Ms. Aleka came back, but Donata was nowhere in sight. She
said
"I am sorry, Sir, but I cannot find your daughter,"
I
stared at her dumbfoundedly.