Flicker of Hope

Chapter 10

Evianna's POV

Unbelievable.

They're right in front of me. la mia famiglia.

(my family)

I see mum standing up and running towards me and the next thing I know, I am engulfed in a tight hug. I can feel her tears dropping on my shirt but at this moment, I don't care. I hug her tightly, not wanting to let her go.

She then looked up at me and cupped my face. "Sei reale? Sei la mia Evie?," she asked, admiring every inch of my face, making sure that the person standing in front of her is her real daughter.

(Are you real? Are you my Evie?)

"Si. Sono tua figlia. Mi manchi mum." I said softly which made mum cry harder.

(Yes. I'm your daughter. I miss you mum)

"Oh mia principessa. La mia unica e unica figlia." I looked up and saw my dad looking at me with admiration.

(Oh my princess. My one and only daughter)

Breaking the hug with my mum, I hugged my dad which was reciprocated by an even tighter embrace.

"Fiore" I heard a cracked voice said and saw that it was my eldest brother, Zeke. Tears are threatening to spill from his eyes.

(flower)

"Hey, Zeke" I said softly, making him smile and hug me. "Mi manchi, fiore. Mi manca il tuo sorriso.

(I miss you, flower. I miss your smile)

"Evie" a voice said beside me. Tony.

"Ciao Tony," he looked at me shocked and his eyes held happiness. "You remember me," he asked with a small voice. "Of course I remember my cooking fairy," I said, chuckling at the memory. Tony's face lit up and he hugged me while mumbling "lei si ricorda di me" repeatedly.

(she remembers me)

Releasing the hug, I saw Elias and Ezra walking towards me and hugging the living shit out of me.

"Hey guys," I hugged them back. I'm missing a triplet to only see that Ethan was standing there with tears running down his face behind his twins.

"Non abbraccerai la tua stella" I asked him and without missing a beat, I felt Ethan's arms around me.

(are you not going to hug your star)

"La mia vita brillerà di nuovo con te, mia stella," Ethan whispered to me, still crying.

(My life will shine bright again with you back, my star)

After hugging the triplets, I see Alex still sitting there like a rock. It looks like he's in a trance. So I went up to him and being the good sister that I am, I smacked the back of his head.

Everyone snickered at that but this seems to work as he stared at me with tears in his eyes and whispered "orsa"

(bear)

"Si. I am mad at you though for not coming up to me in school. I thought you didn't realise that it was me and that you have forgotten about your sorella"

(sister)

Immediately, he shook his head "Of course I didn't forget you. I was just so in shock that I didn't know what to do. The moment it registered in my brain, you were already running out of school. So I ran straight home and told the rest,"

"Oh yea, I did run away," I said while rubbing my neck nervously.

Just then, I see a little boy fiddling with his fingers beside mum. I crouched down to his level and gave him a warm smile.

"Hey little guy. My name is Evie. What's yours?," I asked him softly and he looked at me in awe and sniffled.

"I'm Emilio and I'm seven years old," hesitantly he continued "are you my sissy?," he asked.

Smiling, I said "That's right, I'm your sissy. Are you okay with that?," I asked and he nodded his head excited. He wrapped his little arms around my neck and I quickly hugged him back.

I stand back up with him in my arms to see my family looking at me with adoration.

"How? When? What?," dad said looking at Μπαμπάς.

(dad)

Μπαμπάς looked at me with a soft expression and told me with his eyes that it was my story to tell if I wanted to. He'll be supporting any decision I make. I gave him a nod and he said to them "You better sit down for this. It's a long story"

I sat in between Ana and Ryan. I can see Ana, Ryan, Gio and the Kastellanos looking at me in concern. They know that whatever I am going to say is going to be painful. Memories that I don't want to relive. But they deserve to know and understand that what happened there made me the person that I am today. I just hope they don't look at me differently. Maybe I'll skip some parts.

I looked towards the three people that I call my best friends for reassurance because whatever I had to say, they know it too. They experienced it first hand. By bringing it up, they will relive the torture too. I don't want them feeling like that so I will not bring it up if they are not comfortable. Instead, they gave me a small smile indicating that it was alright.

Taking a deep breath, I started telling them the nightmare that I had to endure for eight years of my life. And I still am until today.

"It started the day the house caught on fire. The day I was kidnapped...."