Chapter 1

building her parents said was going to be their new house. She didn't like the situation one bit but there was nothing she could do. 

She sat in the living room waiting for her parents. Though she was told that she could take a room of her choice, she still preferred having her parents, most especially her mother pick a room for her. 

Her parents finally ended their conversation with the house agent and came into the living room to see her sitting on one of the couches.

″Anna, what are you doing here?″ her father, Basha Siromani, asked her.

″I was waiting for you and Mom to come show me to my new room″, she replied. 

″You didn't have to do that″, her mother, Riley Siromani, said as she took her hand.

They led her up the stairs to the first floor. Although Anna had been used to the life of the rich, she couldn't help but marvel at the decoration and size of the first floor. That floor had its own living room, kitchen and also housed ten rooms. 

The decor was more than beautiful and the furnishing of the living room alone could run a big firm for four whole years. The walls were lined with paintings and other pictures. Some of those pictures were of her and the others were of her parents and their respective families. But there was no picture of the reason for their movement to America and she was grateful for that. 

They passed the living room, which had the kitchen adjoining it and walked into a long corridor. This was where the rooms were. 

There were five rooms on the right and five on the left. 

When they got to the third room on the right, Anna's parents stopped so she followed suit. Her mom opened the door and led them into a very large room. It was big enough to be called an apartment. The walls were painted purple and there was a queen sized bed resting on the wall opposite the door. 

The room had a mini living room by the right that was separated from the main bedroom by a wall of glass. It had two couches, two arm chairs and a comforter. All the furniture was cream colored. There was also a large TV there. The main bedroom was sparsely furnished. It just had the basic things like the bed, a wardrobe, a dresser, a cabinet and a shoe rack.

″We couldn't furnish it more because we didn't quite know your taste″, her Mom said. 

How lovely, Anna thought.

″I hope it's OK by you″, her mother went on.

″It's-″, Anna started.

″What's all this fuss over a room?″ her dad asked, cutting her off, ″Annabelle, if there's anything you need to be added to your room, you can tell us. For now, we have work to do.″

With that, he took her mom by the hand and they left her in the new world they brought her into. 

Anna had no problems with the room. She never had specific preferences and if there was anything she want to be added, she could easily make it. 

She took her boxes and put them beside her bed. She thought of what to do first and decided to unpack. 

She unpacked all her things and put them where they belonged. Her clothes went to the wardrobe, her underwear into the cabinet and her footwear on the shoe rack. Then she put her hair kit in one of the two drawers of the dresser. Her hair kit contained her shampoo, combs, hair bands and hair cream. Then she put her face and body kits in the other drawer.

When she had finished unpacking her stuff, she decided to have a bath. She brought out her body kit,  took her soap and stepped into the bathroom with her towel wrapped around her. She decided on a bath instead of a shower so that she could think. After running the water, she stepped into the tub and embraced the calm it gave. 

How did they get here? 

Why did this have to happen? 

She never had a peaceful family but she managed and then this had to happen. 

She was even surprised that her parents appeared to care about her reaction to things. They were too caught up in their work and quarrels to look in her direction after all. Maybe they did care but just didn't know how to show it. 

Though her mother was American, she didn't quite like the country. She had met very few Americans before but they didn't create a good impression. Apart from that, her mother didn't create a good impression either. How she missed Pakistan. 

She kept asking why her parents thought that the best way to fight their problem was to migrate. Migrating was the same thing as running. It was the same thing as showing the mad woman that they were weak. In Anna's opinion, her parents should have stood their ground and fought her. 

Anyway, that was in the past. Anna had to focus on her parents and her future but she highly doubted the possibility of that. She missed Pakistan and everything about it. She missed the few friends she had because they were dear to her. They were her family.

Her parents were hardly ever at home because of their work and when they were, they were always too busy. She rarely saw any member of their extended family and the only other person at home was the housekeeper, so her friends meant everything to her. Of course she could contact them through social media but that was different from seeing them face to face. 

Oh well, she had no choice. There was nothing that sixteen year old Annabelle Siromani could do. 

After her very long bath of about an hour, she dried herself, rubbed some lotion onto her skin and began to comb her long, black hair. After that she wore her pajamas which was just a long sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts.

She went to her mini living room and turned the TV on. She began to watch Bakugan but after watching for thirty minutes, she decided to take a nap instead because of the pounding headache she had.