Gifted

Chapter 3

Rita sat on her friend's bed, sitting across from her was an awake looking Robin. Rita felt acutely aware of how he was staring at her, waiting for her to explain.

"What do you mean you're moving?" he asked in partial disbelief.

"My parent's job", Rita lied "it makes them move around a lot."

"You can't leave me; I'll be alone again." His voice cracked.

"I have to, it's because of their job."

"No, you don't get it, you're my only friend."

Rita knew that she was his only friend, he was her only friend. She hadn't wanted to make a friend, it would make it easier for her when she had to leave, but Robin had wormed his way into her life. They had had many classes together and he spent lots of his time telling her jokes. She had tried to ignore them, but once she laughed he was encouraged and told her even more, they were soon best friends, but now that didn't matter because she had to leave him. She didn't want to go away, but she had too.
"Sorry for having to leave," Rita mumbled.

"Don't say sorry," Robin mumbled, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say sorry"

Robin groaned and shoved his head into a pillow, he mumbled something that Rita couldn't understand.

"Sorry, what was that?"

Robin lifted his head up and looked at Rita with a gloomy face.

"I said that I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

Robins face lit up suddenly, a huge grin spread across his face and he looked at Rita happily.

"We can keep in touch, we can send emails, or text, or write each other. And I can come visit you or you could come visit me!"

Rita smiled and nodded but on the inside she was screaming, she would have to "accidentally" loose his number, or delete his contact, or lose her phone, or forget her email password.

"Yeah... that's a great idea; we can keep in touch."

"I'll give you my skype, we can try it out now. And then it'll be like you never left."

"Well, I've gotta leave", Rita lied, "Go pack up."

Robin looked crestfallen but he nodded.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

Robin sat up straight.

"So soon? Why am I only hearing about this now?"

Rita shrugged but didn't answer. She looked down and fiddled with her hair, she felt guilty for something she couldn't change.

You could've changed it though, you could've failed on purpose. But then you would have let your parents down.

Rita sighed, she couldn't do anything right. She looked at Robin who seemed to be thinking of something to say. He looked up and opened his mouth, and then closed it, he did this several times before he said anything.

"Bye."

"Bye."

"I'll come over to see you leave."

"I'll wait."

Rita slid off the bed and walked down the stairs, she opened the door and let herself out. Robin closed the door behind her, when Rita turned around to wave goodbye she saw Robin watching her sadly through the window.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He called out after her, his voice muffled by the glass. Rita looked down, he was her best friend, of all the friends she had ever had; he was her favorite. She had to leave him, and she couldn't keep in touch. Why did she make it through, if she hadn't she would be able to live a normal life, she wouldn't remember anything but she would be normal. She would be able to get an actual job, and stay with her friends, and she wouldn't have to leave them. Rita knew that she was special, she should be happy that she was being given this opportunity. Her name would go down in history, she would be a turning point for the world; this project would change her life for the better. Rita was trying to be grateful, but it was hard.

Stop thinking negatively

Rita told herself, she filled her head with happy thoughts. It would be worth it, after a certain amount of time they would let them go free; they were people after all, not just science experiments. They would be amazing, they would be special and different. Rita opened up the door to her house, her parents had their suitcases and hers. They could've been ready to leave, everything they needed was packed up. Everything they needed consisted of six outfits, two pairs of shoes, toiletries, and electronics. The rest of her belongings went with the house. Rita noticed that her suitcase didn't look like it was about to burst like it usually did, she walked over and unzipped it. From what she saw, there were three outfits, pajamas, toothbrush, sweatshirt and that's it.

"Where's all of my stuff, this isn't even enough to last me a week."

"They take away your belongings sweetie, this will get you through until we arrive at the lab."

"Oh."

Her parents exchanged a glance and slowly took out a weathered envelope.

"I- We thought that you should see this. We didn't want to show you before because we thought you might try to find them and we didn't want to lose you. Now you can't go back, before you could fail but now you can know."

Rita glanced at her parents warily, they were standing together holding out the envelope. She reached out and took it from them, the envelope looked in perfect condition, no rips or tears, but it looked old.

"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about."

Her parents exchanged a single glance, they looked at the floor, and then at her. They seemed hesitant, but determined.

"Rita, that envelope is from your parents, your real parents."