Gifted

Chapter 4

"My parents?" Rita asked, her voice dry. She looked at the envelope in her hand; it felt suddenly heavy.
"These are the items we found when we found you. You were abandoned-"
"So...you took me?"
"Yes, well, someone else took you and then we adopted you"
Rita looked at the envelope again, she desperately wanted to open it but she wasn't sure if she should. Her parents noticed her obvious hesitation and interjected to make her feel better.
"You don't need to open it, we just thought that you should know, and better sooner than later."
Her parents waited for her to open it but Rita couldn't bring herself to do it. They stood there awkwardly. Shifting their weight from one door to the next.
"We'll leave you to, um, look at it."
The shuffled out of the room. Leaving her alone. Rita sat down on the wooden floor and stared at the unopened envelope one last time. She took the edge of her nail and pressed it against aged paper. It tore open easily, Rita tipped it upside down and watched as a small pouch slipped out and fell on the floor. Rita looked at it curiously, she went to pick it up then remembered that there could be something else inside the envelope. Rita peered inside the envelope, and there were several pieces of paper. Rita stuck her hand in and pulled them out, they were dusty and worn pictures of a couple. They looked poor but happy. The woman in the picture, the one who must've been her mom, was smiling with the same smile that Rita had. The man in the picture, the one who must've been her father, looked at the camera with the same twinkling eyes that Rita had.

They probably couldn't support a child, that's why they abandoned me.

Rita looked through all of the pictures, they looked American. They looked like her. Rita placed the pictures in the pocket and picked up the pouch, it make a clinking sound. Rita lifted up the worn leather pouch and tugged at the strings to open it. Inside there was a glint of gold. Rita poured its contents into the palm of her hand, it was a charm bracelet, and there was only one charm though. It was a golden "R". Rita undid the clasp and put it on her right wrist. She lifted her arm up and marveled at how it looked. She shook her wrist and listened to the sound of it jingling. It must have cost a fortune, how had they afforded it? They had looked very poor in the photographs. Rita sighed and walked into the kitchen, her parents were eating small salads. Rita sat went to the pantry and the fridge and made herself a sandwich. She sat down with then at the table and ate her meal silently.

"What was in the envelope?" Her mother asked.

"Just some pictures, and a bracelet."

"That's wonderful dear, eat up your sandwich before it turns stale now."

Rita rolled her eyes and took a big bite out of her dinner before continuing to talk.

"What happened to them?"

Her parents stopped eating and exchanged a glance before swallowing and answering.

"We don't know; a government worker found you by a bridge. You we abandoned so we took you in, we don't know if they're alive or dead. I'm sorry honey."

"It's okay, I'm gonna go upstairs and say goodbye to everything, since I have to leave it all behind."

"Well actually you can bring some of them, it was in the letter, I assumed that you had read the whole thing but apparently not."

"I can bring things?"

"Yes, what did you think that you'd be doing all day long?"

"Learning I guess."

"No! You need to do so much more to stay healthy, you'll be socializing, exercising, and testing your new abilities."

"We picked up a box from the store while you were at Robins, we've become so good at packing up that we can to it in ten minutes. We spent the rest of the time searching for a box with the exact dimensions."