Chapter 1

17 years later

Ava

I closed the cabinet and sighed, trying to calm the knot in my stomach. I put my backpack on and started walking straight to my class when someone shoved me, pushing me hard against the lockers.

A groan of pain came from my lips, and I fell to my knees while books were scattered on the floor. I felt a shooting pain in my ribs and clenched my teeth while a longing sound came from my lips.

"Be careful where he walks," said the voice of Cora.

I didn’t answer, but I reached for my books before they were kicked away from me. I looked up, full of anger, towards Cora, who was looking at me with her fake nails tapping on her forearm, long eyelashes, and red lips.

A growl-like sound came out of my lips, so loud it made my lockers shake, and she raised an eyebrow.

"I always said that orphans should not be among us," she said, and then, stepping on my hand with her heel, he turned and left.

I cried in pain and grabbed my hand, carrying it to my chest while everyone passed me as if I did not exist.

Tears pricked my eyes, but I didn’t let them go, I couldn’t give her the satisfaction of making me cry.

I took my books, put them in my backpack quickly, and then approached the exit. The bell of the beginning lessons began ringing, but I did not listen. He went out, and I went to the concrete staircases that were on the side of the structure, going up to the top floor and then sitting on the steps.

I took out an apple that I had stolen from the orphanage kitchen that morning and entered it as I opened the book I had borrowed from the school library that morning.

It was always like this. Life in high school had become impossible, and most days, I decided not to attend class. I only showed up when there was homework and special classes. I didn’t even know what I was doing at that school.

All my life, I had studied with poorly trained teachers who were sent to an orphanage. That year, however, the charity that subsidized my high school had left the reins to another institution belonging to a wealthy family that owned one of the small towns located in the woods around the city. The new benefactor had decided to donate a scholarship to each boy from a more disadvantaged situation for each class.

If I’d known sooner, I’d have faked the SATs. I should have made a mistake, so I would have continued to study in an orphanage, and instead, I had given all the right answers without even realizing it. Ultimately, I got the scholarship that compensated for everything I needed to study. Too bad he didn’t make up for all the painkillers I had to take every time I bumped into someone.

That school was the seat of the city's elite, the rich did not love to have poor people around, and, least of all, a red-haired orphan.

So they’d rather threaten and hurt me, thinking they were pushing me to drop out of school, what they didn’t know was that I couldn’t leave school.

My orphanage took half the tuition, and they needed that money. So I found myself locked up there in my worst nightmare come true.

I sighed and started reading. In my years at the orphanage I had started to put aside the money I earned doing jobs everywhere, there were not many, but they could help me when they would throw me out.

There were a few months left before school and, in the summer, my birthday would come, I would have turned eighteen, which meant that from June onwards, I would not have a place to live, and I would have been on my own, I would have to look after myself, I would have been alone.

I shook my head, moved that thought away, and read again as I ate my apple.

*****

The bell at the end of class rang, and I put my books back in my backpack and then went down the stairs to the bus stop.

"Ava!" he heard me calling, and I turned to find my only friend, Keira, running towards me.

Keira wasn’t like the other rich kids at school, she was from a small town nearby, and her parents sent her to this stupid school for some reason. Keira had always been kind to me and helped me in every way possible, even though she often went too far.

"Hey," I said, stopping.

"You didn’t come to class today," she said, arms folded to her chest and shaking her head so that her golden hair moved with her head.

"I didn’t feel like it," I said, shrugging my shoulders, and she frowned, "I had a run-in with Cora, and I preferred to keep my distance," I continued.

She sighed and then stuck her arm inside my "Do you want to come downtown with me? I want to try that new ice cream shop they opened," she said cheerfully.

"I’m sorry, K," I said, looking at her, "Today is my turn to look at the children," and said, "We don’t want to upset Mrs. Rotts," I continued.

"There will be a day when you’re not busy," she said.

"Not in this life," I said, "Why do you have so much freedom today? Your parents let you walk around?" I asked, laughing.

"They only leave me because Be... their friends' son has to do things in the city, otherwise they wouldn’t let me go"

"And how is this son?" I asked, frowning.

"Austin? It’s a stake up in your ass," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Is it blush that I see on your cheeks?" I asked, looking at her.

"No!" she immediately said, shaking her head.

"Liar," I said, laughing, I saw my bus in the distance, "Oh, my ride home has arrived," I said.

"Mine too," she replied, pointing to a Range Rover parked ahead.

I gave her a kiss on the cheek and went to the "Ava!" She called me again, and I turned around, threw a notebook at me, and I grabbed her "Homework for tomorrow!" she said.

"Thank you!" I said, running to the bus and getting on.

I went to the back, sat down, and looked up when I saw Keira getting in the car. I couldn’t see who was inside, the windows were tinted, and I wondered what kind of place Keira lived.

*****

I made a snack for the little ones and let them play in the games room while I prepared the herbal tea for Sandra. I put everything in a tray and went to the employee rooms, to his room, knocked, and entered.

Sandra was lying on the bed, blankets up to her chin. The curtains were closed, which made the room dark and look terrible.

I approached and placed the tray on the bedside table. Although it was dark, I could move well, I didn’t know why, but since I was a child, I could walk around in the darkest places, while the other children complained I was comfortable.

I sat in the chair and listened to Sandra’s heartbeat. Yes, I could do that too. From this morning, she had become weaker, which was not a good sign.

"Sandra," I said, and she grabbed mine.

Sandra was the closest figure to a parent I knew. She was the one who found me one night in the dumpster, left there, with the lid closed, like hiding, wrapped in a handmade cover with Ava on it. Sandra had taken me and immediately took me to the orphanage, treating me and raising me as if I were her daughter.

When I was ten years old, she started to feel bad, and the new orphanage owners decided to stop her working and let her end her life there. From year to year, her condition had worsened, she had lost her sight and rarely managed to leave the room.

"My little Ava," she said, extending her hand and resting it on my cheek.

"Do you want me to help you again? I can make you feel better," I said, and she shook her head.

"Don’t waste this wonderful gift on someone like me, I don’t want you to be sick. My time is almost up," she said.

Tears came to my eyes, "Don’t say that," I said with my choked voice, "How shall I do without you?" I asked.

I knew that Sandra would not live much longer, every day, her heart was beating slower, and I knew that the moment would come when I would enter this room and I would not be able to listen to it anymore.

"You will live," she said, "You will become the wonderful woman you are meant to be. You will find a man who loves you and venerates you as if you were his goddess. You will create your own family, and you will be happy. I want all this for you."

"You’re my family," I said with a string of my voice.

"And I’m grateful for meeting you," she said, and then coughed, taking her handkerchief to her mouth, then took a deep breath and turned her head, "Read me yesterday’s story," she said in a hoarse voice.

I bit my lower lip and took the book, beginning to read the story that she liked so much, the one that spoke of beings who worshipped the moon goddess and that could run free in the woods without fear of anything.