Genesis (english version)

Chapter II

In the middle of summer, amidst the mail, an invitation arrived that reminded Maya of a time when it wasn't just her and her father, but three: Them and Nat.

It had been several years since her father and Nat legally separated; that day seemed more like a fun reunion than the end of a fake union. Nat had an almost perfect tan from her time in Australia; everything about her was peaceful, which only infuriated 13-year-old Maya even more.

Even after signing the papers, Maya found it nearly impossible to concentrate on anything other than Nat and her father laughing about old times... never about her, never about those three years.

When Maya opened the envelope and saw the beautiful calligraphy of the wedding invitation, she wasn't too surprised. On the same day as the divorce, Nat had told them about her relationship with an Australian nurse; three years had passed since then, but it was only a matter of time... exactly that. It was strange for Maya, technically her adoptive mother was about to marry someone else — her stepfather? — and all Maya could think about was how lazy it made her feel to attend the event.

It was hard for her to think about Nat; everything was confusing regarding the importance she had had since her father found her in the hospital backyard. Maya's father met Natalia in his third year of college; according to the story, he knew they would be great friends from the moment they exchanged a word. Nat came from a large family, and he, on the contrary, had left his in California; both were alone in the city, and somehow, in that friendship, they found a complement. After college, both interned at the same hospital; she specialized in emergency medicine and he in general medicine. That same hospital was where Maya arrived when she was just a few months old.

Maya spent 6 months in the neonatal intensive care unit; she was too small and had some small, almost tiny, strange objects in her hands. Her father, then just a newly minted Dr. Mark, visited her every day and felt a certain responsibility as the person who found her. But on the other hand, having Maya's presence nearby calmed him, as if both of them were warding off each other's loneliness. With time and many vitamins, Maya grew up and ceased to be a high-risk patient, with the only note being that according to one of the medical reports, the small foreign objects in her palms would disappear over the years and were nothing to worry about.

If that had been the case, Nat would still be with them.

When her father decided he wanted to adopt her, it was a surprise to everyone who knew him. At that time, he was recently single with a smelly apartment in New York and nothing but the desire to turn his luck around and start a family on his own. Nat laughed in his face until she realized he was serious; even though she thought it was crazy, she helped him as any friend would... and married him.

Well, Maya believed there was more to it, but her father always summarized the story; he was far from being a candidate in the eyes of the adoption center, and that's why he traded the apartment for a family home and together with Nat managed to become the epitome of the perfect American family.

"Nat was single back then, just like me," her father had explained a few years ago. "It seemed like a good arrangement. She could carry on with her life, and I could raise you knowing you had another guardian," he added, making a wry face. "I think she always saw herself as your fairy godmother, even though that wasn't the original plan. After the adoption, she stuck around, and we both got to see you grow up."

Following the pattern of inexplicable bad luck that Maya seemed to possess, that didn't last long, and the harmless gems up to that point automatically activated, and everything went to waste, including the plan to one day be able to remove them. Clearly, Maya didn't remember anything from the first times she caused an object to explode, but she knew it was the beginning of chaos in her life. It all started with anger, which caused a tantrum, which caused an explosion that destroyed an entire wall... and then peace and deafening silence followed.