They told me they are adopting me. They said they are my parents now. I have to call them Mom and Dad.
One month ago, in the middle of the night, some men broke open the basement door and took me out. Since then, I’ve been in a hospital. Today they’re taking me to their house. They said I’ll live with them from now on.
The car door opens. Mom takes my hand. I don’t like being touched, but I don’t say anything. She leads me inside a very big house.
“Zloban, dear, this is your home from now on,” she says with a smile.
The big door opens and we walk in. The house is bright. There isn’t even a single corner that’s dark. It’s suffocating me.
“Where’s Avi?” Mom asks a woman who comes out from another room.
“She’s drawing in the morning room,” the woman says.
Mom takes me there. She opens the door and steps inside. A girl is sitting near the window, sunlight falling all over her.
She turns when she hears us. Something strange happens inside my chest. She gets up and runs toward us, grinning. She stops right in front of me.
“Mama, is he my big brother?” she asks, still smiling.
“Yes, baby. He’s your big brother, Zloban.”
“Zoan?”
Mom chuckles. “Not Zoan, sweetheart. Zloban.”
She tilts her head. “Zoan,” she says again.
Mom laughs and bends down in front of me. “Zloban, this is your younger sister, Avira.”
I nod.
Then I feel a small body press against me. Her little hands wrap around my back. My whole body goes stiff.
She looks up at me, her chin pressing against my chest. “I’ll always love you, Zoan.”
She moves away from me, then holds my hand. “Mama, can I show Zoan his room?”
Mom nods, smiling.
Avira pulls me out of the room and takes me upstairs. She stops in front of a door and opens it. The room is full of toys.
“This is my room,” she says proudly.
Then she takes me to the room beside it and opens that door too. “And this is your room.”
The room is big. There’s a large bed, clean sheets, and a balcony where air comes in.
She runs inside, still holding my hand, and stops near a box on the floor. She sits down and looks up at me with a grin. “Do you know what’s inside?”
I shake my head.
She opens the box. “Toys and books!”
She takes out a small red car and holds it out to me. I take it and turn it in my hands, looking at it from all sides. Then I place it on the floor.
“You don’t like it?” she asks, her face falling.
I shake my head again.
