Room 305

This Is The Life

The day Carina DeLuca graced the world with her presence for the first time, was the first time her mother ever experienced true love. 

This tiny bundle of joy meant everything to the woman and she was willing to do whatever it took to do the best for her baby girl, she felt that way about both her children - but she shared a particular bond with her firstborn. 

The two spent almost every waking hour together, Lucia did everything with and for her daughter up until the birth of her son - Andrea - from that point on, her heart beat for the both of them. 

From the age of four, Carina knew what caring felt like and from the moment she met her brother she began to care for him too. 

Vicenzo, Carina's father, couldn't really see their family the same way. The man suffered from bipolar and the older he got the more he would experience these 'manic episodes' in which his temper and drive would get the better of him, causing him to hurt anyone in his way to achieve his goals. 

Regardless of Vicenzo's smarts, the condition would always get the better of him. 

During these episodes his family meant nothing to him, they were mere objects in the way - 'una battuta d'arresto' (a setback) he called them. This was no way for children to grow up. 

Lucia knew what was best for her children and that was getting them away from their father, ultimately fleeing Italy. However, she knew Vicenzo would take out his frustration on the family if she proposed a divorce. 

So, on the eve of Carina's seventh birthday, she packed their things and fled to London. She told Carina and Andrea that it was a surprise holiday, but failed to explain that it was a one-way trip. 

On the 17th July, Carina's birthday, they landed in the country they would now call their home - unbeknownst to the children. 

It was all fun and games until the second week in London when Carina realised they'd been gone a long time, she began to become inquisitive about the intentions of the trip. 

Carina asked her mother how much longer they'd be staying in London, suspicious of the amount of time they'd already been in the city. Lucia stared at her daughter intently, cupping her face with her hand, explaining that it would be a while.

A while became two months. 

When September rolled around Lucia enrolled Carina in a nearby primary school, about ten minutes from the flat the family lived in. She tried her best to settle her children into British life, but many factors alienated them from others; the language barrier being one.

At first, the students would tease her about it but after a while, they gave up and her English began to improve. Luckily they were both so young and susceptible to learning the new language, Andrea more so than Carina - the boy grew up without an accent and after a few years, Carina's faded away too. 

For Vicenzo however, he searched for his children for years but never looked beyond Italy because his work still took priority and eventually he gave up. 

For some reason Carina just knew not to ask about her father, she knew that if he hadn't reached out or vice versa it was for good reason. 

♡

The years passed and the family carried on with their life in London. 

Two years after the family had fled Italy, Lucia's sister Stella reached out to them wanting to know if they were okay. 

To help them financially, Stella decided to move to London and be a second provider for them as well as herself - eventually they settled into their new lives. 

However, when Carina was thirteen her mother began to become ill. It became harder for her to walk, complete mundane tasks, etc. and so she sought medical attention where she was diagnosed with chondrosarcoma, bone cancer. 

At first, she kept it from her family, but Stella knew something was wrong and eventually she came clean about her condition to her sister. Then, slowly but surely Stella began to take on more motherly duties to Carina and Andrea, the sisters lied and said it was Lucia's new job being the reason they switched roles - but Lucia got worse by the day, she had to tell her children. 

Over time, Lucia's age and the fact she overworked herself got the better of her and she passed when Carina was fourteen, Andrea nine. From that day on, their Aunt Stella became their primary caregiver. 

Andrea was distraught by the situation, losing his temper and taking it out on those around him. 

Stella thought this behaviour was all too familiar and got him tested for bipolar, leading him to be diagnosed with the condition which they can only assume was hereditary for his father. 

Carina knew she had to care for her baby brother that bit more after their mother's death, let alone his diagnosis. 

Even though Aunt Stella became their mother figure, Carina still mothered Andrea and sometimes even forget he wasn't her son despite the age difference. 

As soon as she could, Carina got her first part-time job working weekends at her local independent book shop. 

She wanted to help her family financially as much as possible, but more importantly, she wanted to have savings for University. 

Carina loved the idea of the theatre but understood the instability of the career so settled for her second favourite thing, literature and so that's what she chose for her University course.

Regardless of the fact she had to apply for five uni's she only wanted to attend one, and that happened to be the one closest to her family - she knew she couldn't stray too far from her brother, even though her Aunt said it was okay. 

♡

Bringing us to present day. 

Carina is now attending University, not too far from home and has made new friends and tried new things. 

She attends her uni's musical theatre society where she has recently been cast as Belle in their upcoming musical, which to her is one step closer to the West End. 

Her new flatmates are a breath of fresh air for the eighteen-year-old and one, in particular, takes her breath away. 

She uses reading and writing as an escape from her home life, but her new favourite blonde helps her too. 

This bright, bubbly and down to earth girl that can both ground her and put her on cloud-9.

A girl that Carina would consider her first-ever best friend and new favourite person.

This weeks assignment in her Literature class was to write a short autobiography for an outside perspective, which she struggled to condense but did so anyway. 

But it wasn't until she re-read the piece of writing and reflected on her final words did she realise, "Do I have feelings for Maya?"

♡

A/N - I really wanted to delve into Carina's past in this chapter, so that's what I did haha. 

I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I liked developing the backstory, obviously, you can tell I took a lot of inspiration from the show and real-life to develop my own :) 

again, I apologise if my Italian is incorrect, I'm still learning. 

hope ur all having a good week! :)