Love in Italy

-Prologue-

(Third Person Pov. The story will mostly be in Natalia's Pov. Except for this part.)

-March 27th, 2016- 

Natalia hated hospitals ever since she was 6 and she broke her foot. She hated everything about them: the white walls, bright lights, large waiting rooms. She even hated the smell. Right now, she hated them because her mom was in a room with a bunch of doctors fighting for her life.

Her mom got hit by a drunk driver coming back from work, and the car rolled into a ditch. When the police and medics found her, she was barely breathing and had severe injuries to her spine, neck, and head. So now Natalia was sitting in the hospital waiting room with her Aunt Stella and her cousin Matteo, who came to visit as Matteo's school had off for Spring Break.

"Don't worry Nat. Your mom is a very strong woman. She will be okay." Her Aunt said reassuringly. However, Natalia was still terrified. Her mom was the only family she had in America. The rest of her family lived in Italy. Well, except for her dad. But he divorced her mom before she was born because he didn't want a child. Then when she was 4, he died in a house fire, which Natalia wasn't really that upset about because she never knew him. Really, the only reason they were still in New York was because they didn't have enough money to move back to Italy. Her mom always said she didn't regret moving to New York to go to college, but you could tell whenever she talked about Italy that she really missed it.

"Hey Nat. Why don't you tell me about school?" Matteo asked, trying to take her mind off the situation. It wasn't working.

Natalia just shrugged, "School is school. I aced my math and science tests and we started a new project in art. What about you Matteo?"

"I guess it's okay. I'm terrible at science though. Maybe you could tutor me when we get back to your house."

"Sure Matteo, whatever you want." Natalia said, staring at the ground. She really wanted to take her mind off of her mom, but nothing worked. Not even talking about science, art, or baking, and those were Natalia's favorite things.

"Are you guys Maria DelGatto's family?" A doctor asked. He was in blue scrubs and had a clipboard in his hand.

All three of them nodded. "Is she okay?" Aunt Stella asked, worry in her voice.

The doctor shook his head. "Her head injury was too severe and caused damage to her brain. She flat lined several times during surgery. She passed 10 minutes ago. If you like, you can go see her. I am sorry." The doctor then walked away.

Natalia had tears in her eyes that were threatening to fall. Aunt Stella took her and Matteo's hands and led them into the hospital room. Natalia saw her mom laying on the hospital bed, her curly brown hair lay messily over a pillow, her once tan skin was pale, and her eyes were shut no longer showing her brilliant blue eyes.

Natalia couldn't take it. She walked over to her mom and just started crying. "Wh-y di-d you h-have to go." She joked out through sobs. She took her mom's cold, lifeless hand in her own and held it for one last time. "L-Life is so un-fair. Yo-u should-d be h-here w-with me.-e."

Aunt Stella came over and put a hand on Natalia's shoulder. "Why did she have to leave Aunt Stella?" The 10-year-old girl asked, turning to her aunt. Stella and Matteo both had tears in their eyes, too.

"I don't know, sweetie." Her aunt said, pulling her into a hug.

"Who am I going to live with now?" Natalia sobbed.

"You're going to be coming back to Italy with me and Matteo." Aunt Stella said, hugging Natalia tighter.

This made Natalia feel a little better. She had always wanted to go to Italy. However, she always wanted to go with her mom.

"Yeah, Nat, you can live with me, mom, dad, and Bella. You can go to school with me and meet all my friends. You'll love my bestfriend Rafael!" Matteo said, whipping tears from his eyes.

Natalia went over to her cousin and hugged him. I guess this is my new life now; she thought, letting a few tears fall down her face. 

****

Not me trying not to cry writing this. Anywayyyyyyyys. This is my book! I hope you all like it. I'm super excited to start writing it! I am going to warn you I wanted to include a ton of italian culture in the book but obviously I live in America so most of the stuff I am looking up on google. Well a few things I know because I'm part italian. So yeah if they'res stuff said in italian its probably google translate. And I have zero idea how school works in Italy so I just based it off how highschool works where I live. But besides that I think you guys will like it! I am trying to write the rest of the story in first person so please comment and tell me what I could improve and stuff. 

Sorry about the long A/N and thanks for reading!!!!

-Ari