Adopted

Prologue

It was my birthday. I was very happy. I was turning 17! And the cherry of my lovely cake was that it was my brother's birthday too. He was turning 21 today.It felt amazing to share your birthday with your sibling. Especially with Peter. He was everything to me. Him and dad. I loved them more than anything in this world. Mom had unfortunately died before I ever saw her. We lived in New York and were very happy together. Peter was always the one for me. And I remember... On my 13th birthday, I had asked him to marry me because I wanted to live with him forever. I would get ragged in school because I'd never had a boyfriend and so, I'd taken to introducing my brother as my official and as-long-as-I-live boyfriend. It feels embarrassing now but, I always keep telling him that I'd love to marry him. He just laughs and gives me a hug. My dad was someone whom I'd promised to buy a big villa and an awesome home theater. He loved theaters. Doesn't anymore though. Things change and in my life... they changed like crazy!

I had known I am adopted right from when I was 8 years old. Dad had found it important to tell me about it so that later in life I don't feel like they broke my trust. They showed me the adoption certificate and told me they love me like their own family member over and over again. I was ready to accept it because I was, afterall an orphan. It's a very good thing to adopt children and give them a better life and a family when they have none. I was happier with them after that. I could feel that I loved them more than before because they had chosen to live with me. They wanted to love me like their child and sister, be my family. I was more than happy. But like I said, things change.

In this happy little family of ours came this enormous thunderstorm that shattered everything. It all began on that birthday. That really wrong 17th birthday. I can't blame anyone but myself, but things are fine now. Me, Peter and dad, we're a happy family again. But that one week was something none of us could ever forget. A little spark, and the whole house was on fire.