Knock knock.
Selena heard a knock on the door, and it was Aunt Alina. Selena caught a glimpse of her aunt's voice telling her to come down to dinner. The child replied quickly and told her to come out. Nevertheless, Selena stood right in front of the room door thinking about something but still hesitated to step out. Her hand twisted the doorknob gently but still heard the creaking sound from the old rotten doorknob. The little girl sauntered, one step at a time. Selena also does not understand why she always wants to leave this place in his heart, but when she can, she hesitates. It is really not happy here, there is always a smouldering fire in its head that wants to spread its wings to fly away, but she hesitated before the invitation. Selena went downstairs; next to the old wooden round table was a suitcase half her body size. The red-haired girl stared at the suitcase and could not help but be surprised.
"Let's eat!" Aunt Alina's sharp voice made Selena startle and get out of her frozen state in front of that suitcase.
"Yes." Selena scratched her head and hurried to the back of the kitchen; she asked her aunt about the suitcase; she did not know where her aunt was going. However, no, the suitcase is for her.
Aunt Alina, who has never folded her things, has prepared a big suitcase for Selena to go to school. The girl was stunned; she did not know how to react, whether she should be touched or upset when she thought that Aunt Alina wanted to send her away. The plate of pasta that Aunt Alina made for Selena sucks, but this is one of the rare times aunt Alina makes food for Selena if she does not want to order food from outside. Selena was silent, and her aunt did not say a word. The girl finished eating and was about to wash the dishes when Aunt Alina stopped her, stammering that she did not need to wash dishes and clean up today because none of her boyfriends came. Selena just hummed and went back to her room. Crossing the living room, she looked at the suitcase again and unconsciously let out a heavy sigh.
That night, Selena curled up in her pure white comforter. Suddenly, she pulled the blanket up to smell it, and she was trying to remember the smell of this room because the next night, she would have to sleep in another strange place.
Selena suddenly thought of something and then sat up, and she quietly sauntered towards her aunt's room. Selena suddenly stood in front of Aunt Alina's door; she was about to knock but stopped. The little girl suddenly plopped down in front of her room again and leaned her head on the door, still like that for almost an hour. Selena wanted to say goodbye to her aunt. Selena sobbed but still tried not to let the tears spill out of the corners of his eyes. Selena has been as strong as ever over the past ten years; hiding her feelings is probably the most emotionally abusive thing she has ever done, but it is also what she is the best at in so many things. It has endured for many years.
Furthermore, perhaps the thing that makes little Selena become attached to this place is none other than her aunt Alina – whom she raised and accompanied in her life before. Selena just realized how much she loves her aunt Alina. Even though she did not cut her flesh to give birth to her, Alina was the one who replaced her parents in everything a birth should do. Then Selena put her hands on the pillow, her legs were steady, and she went downstairs, took out a pen and paper, and wrote a few small words.
Aunt Alina woke up in the middle of the night, and she forgot something she needed to take away for her niece. Alina fumbled around behind the kitchen, looking for the remaining milk cans she intended to put in a suitcase for Selena to carry because her entire fortune was nothing but little Selena. Alina lingered for a while, and her clumsy hand accidentally bumped into a particular tin box on the kitchen frame; suddenly, a small yellow-gold note fell next to Alina's feet. She moved her foot and bent down to pick up the piece of paper. Aunt Alina's thin hand gently rested on her trembling lips. Alina has been tenacious for ten years, raising Selena alone from the day she could not even speak.
Nevertheless, today she felt so weak that her soul was almost broken, but she still had to fight to keep her thin legs from falling. At the bottom of her barren heart, where it felt like a hot iron was piercing and holding on forever, she felt terrible about not being able to take care of Selena. However, deep in her unspeakable anguish lies a reluctant attachment that she cannot tell anyone. Was it because she clearly understood that she could no longer protect her niece's safety from the danger that Mr Althelstan had told her about earlier that she now had to let her only granddaughter go alone to a place far away. As for herself, there is no one next to her in this big London. Alina's eyes became wet, and the glittering tears soon spread down her cheeks, falling onto the small piece of paper as she read the precise words that Selena had written down for her.
Selena carefully listed where each item was placed. She warned Alina not to throw cigarette butts all over the room lest she get burned. Selena also records the phone numbers of fast-food restaurants for her to call. She shed more tears when she had given Selena nothing but the problem with her parents for the past ten years and vented it all on her. After all, is her past indulgence and irresponsibility, even her frenzied behaviour that lacks depth in thought, just a psychological manifestation of some pain that penetrates her heart? That a fifteen-and-a-half year old like Selena cannot understand? Like the way her eyes turned angry and worried every time she heard the word "Liam Patrick" that her granddaughter could not comprehend?
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The following day, when the sun had not yet penetrated through the opposite buildings, the red-haired Selena had woken up before. She bathed and groomed herself as if excited for a fascinating secret journey. She wore a sweater over a white shirt and a short plaid skirt over her knees, looking perfectly normal like English high school girls, but it was the same outfit she made herself. It has supposed to be the most stable of the old stuff. Selena quickly walked down the stairs and went downstairs; her aunt Alina had a glass of milk next to the cereal on the table; it was indeed the best breakfast in a decade. This time, aunt Alina prepared for it. Little Selena thought back to last week's charred bread samples and silently thanked her clumsy aunt.
"Hurry, Sir Althelstan will be right there!" His aunt urged again in a sharp voice but imbued with care like a real mother this time. Selena gently moved the wooden chair and sat down at the table, her hand gently touching and stroking the table as if trying to remember the feeling of home.
Ding Dong
The doorbell rang from outside the door with a loud, shrill voice, echoing in little Selena's mind. Never had he heard the doorbell of this house and was in such a confused mood. Selena snorted, both excited and curious about the steps ahead. However, she knew that she would be lonely and that her future was a thorny journey. Nevertheless, Selena told herself it would not matter because she could not have been happier all these years ago. Then when she thought back to the past, she felt her heart sink again; she was sad when she thought about the scene of Aunt Alina – her only relative who had to stay here alone for a whole year.
The clack of a cane hit the rotten floor. Sir Althestan came to pick her up; he stood with his hands on the cane, bowed slightly and raised his eyebrows as if he was waiting for Selena. Aunt Alina hastily dragged the bulky suitcase to the front door as if to see off her little girl. Little Selena nodded, ambling behind her like a puppy that could not bear to leave its owner.
"Selena… let's go. It is time to leave…" Selena let go of both hands, and she spoke hesitantly, her words more like a question than a goodbye.
Aunt Alina breathed a sigh of relief, then she looked at Athelstan and said, "Be careful!". She instead wanted to warn him, but she seemed to trust him more. Aunt Alina must have known this Headmaster very well before she accepted to give her niece she worked so hard to raise for decades to follow him to a place where Selena had never seen before.