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A sudden burst of sunlight disturbed my otherwise pleasant dreams, and I opened one eye to see my mother flinging the curtains wide with a grim determination on her face. My room was typically messy, dog eared posters hanging on the walls with my favourite girl bands posing on them, floor mostly invisible beneath mountains of clothes. I groaned and rolled over, waiting for the outrage usually reserved for the state of my bedroom, but it didn't come. After several long moments of silence, I couldn't take it anymore. I sat up.
"Get up. Get dressed. You're leaving in 10 minutes."
She faced the wall, not bothering to turn to look at me, I ran my fingers through my hair and shook my head slightly, confused.
"Leaving for where?" It was the first time she had spoken to me in 10 days, since leaving work early and catching Keri and I in a flustered state of undress.
She glanced over her shoulder at me, face stern and unyielding.
"You're going somewhere disciplined where you can concentrate on your school work without…" she paused for a second, and the next word left her lips with barely concealed disgust. "...distractions."
I sat dead still, panic rising in my chest. "No. You can't make me go anywhere without her." I forced myself out of my bed, heading for the door, unsure of where I was running to but knowing I had to escape.
I threw open the door and ran head first into two burly men in military uniforms, who grabbed an arm each. Struggling against them was pointless, but I tried anyway, twisting and pulling helplessly against their tightening grips on me. My mother walked into view, resting her hands on her hips and sighing gently.
"I suspected you might feel that way, so you're going to Germany." She gestured to the soldiers and they turned to leave.
"One day you'll thank me." Then I was pulled down the stairs and she was gone.
*****