A Year?!

"pack for a year"

I re-read the texts from my mother in disbelief. this was really happening. 

instantly I called her, desperately hoping she would pick up. sure enough I soon heard the girls voice come from the phone.

"good morning!"

I smile at her grogginess, assuming she'd just woken up.

"good morning. do me a favor and pack suitcases for a year." I demanded

"ummmm why?" she asked.

"marina, just do it." I say, trying to put a slightly annoyed edge to my voice to make it seem like I was uninterested.

she groaned and then hung up, before texting me what she should pack. I told her to pack for hot and cold weather and to bring a heap of bathing suits. 

she sent back a quick ok and I told her to be fully packed within the next hour, and to put on some comfy-ish clothes. 

she read the message but didn't reply so I quickly went over to Elliott's chat and asked her to keep an eye on marina and not give her any clues about where they were going. he said ok and we chatted for a bit about random things before only 15 minutes of the hour was left. 

Marina texted me telling me she was ready so I told her to go downstairs and put the suitcase in the car and then enter the car itself. 

if it was a normal day, she would have suspected what was happening, but about two weeks ago, we acted like it was impossible for her to come live with me. so she suspected nothing.

she got in the car, video calling me all the way. Elliott and her parents were already inside and a destination was set on a phone to get somewhere. it said about 20 minutes to go to this mystery place, little did she know, it was the airport, and the envelope that was lying in the center console, was a ticket to Sao Paulo. 

she hung up the call and quickly fell asleep. we both stayed up until 4 am last night.

...

when they got to the airport, Elliott shook her awake. she groaned with annoyance but opened her eyes to find herself at the airport. everyone got out of the car so she followed suit. her dad got her 4 bags of luggage out of the back of the car and settled it down on the ground next to her. 

"can someone tell me what the hell is going on please before I freak out and think you're sending me to boarding school!" she said, slightly raising her voice. 

her mother handed her the envelope.

inside contained a letter, and inside the letter, the ticket.

she set down her backpack she was holding and opened the envelope and saw a piece of paper. she unfolded It and read through it slowly.

my dearest lemon blender,

I was so sad that you could not come to me. so sad. I thought this destination would be a good picker-upper because I know you were sad too.

love

cupcake

I was confused but looked in to the envelope to see if there was anything else. 

inside was a boarding pass, but strangely enough, the destination was blacked out. they had a special ticket made so that marina wouldn't know where she was going until she actually boarded the plane.

she was confused yet again, but her family was already taking her bags inside the AirPort to dispatch. 

a few minutes later, she was left with nothing but her backpack and it was getting close to her boarding time, so her family guided her to the check in line which was already quite large. 

they said their goodbyes and made her promise to call every once in a while, they told her they loved her and that they were all gonna miss her. 

she shed a small tear softly, still not knowing where the fuck she was off to. then the line started moving and she said one last quick goodbye to her parents. 

soon enough she was approved to go through to the plane and settle in. 

she reached her seat and put her backpack under her and simply waited for her destination to be told. she tried looking at the ticket one more time just to see if there was any clues, only to find nothing.

she became antsy but soon enough everyone was aboard the plane and the flight attendant called the peoples attention. 

marina inched forward in her seat, anxious to know her destination.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentleman, thank you for flying with Avianca on your trip to....."

it seemed like the time for her to say where they were going was forever. but soon enough she said

"sao paulo, brazil"