CHAPTER 1; GUESTS

 

I was walking down the quiet street of home with the girl I’d come to love so much, my girlfriend, Christine. We were coming back from school, we were holding hands, and her head was on my shoulder, just the way she always liked it. I was pulling my bicycle from the other side; I did that most of the time because we always came back home together.

That time my life was perfect. I had a normal perfect life; my parents, my younger brother and a beautiful girl by my side, who loved me so much, and whom I loved as much. School was great, I was doing pretty well with my grades, and no one was bullying me or anything like that. I was left with one year until I finish school and join college, MIT, it was one thing I wanted to do ever since I was nine years old. Unlike some people, I wasn’t confused about this, I couldn’t wait to go to college.

“Babe, I guess you’ve got guests; very rich guests I presume,” Christine said, while focusing on the car that was in front of my house.

It was a black limo shining under the fading sun of evening. I never saw that car before and I didn’t know why it was there.

“I’ve never saw that car before. And we don’t have any relatives who are that rich, at least not those our parents have shown us, or the ones we saw in family reunion last year. There was no one with a car like that,” I explained myself shocked and surprised.

“Well, it looks like you are going to find out.” She stated as we stopped on the path heading to the front door.

“No, I will escort you first,” I refused to go right away, that person whoever it was could wait.

“No, go ahead. You do that all the time. It won’t harm me if you’d skip today.” She reached for my lips and brushed a kiss as in persuasion, “I love you.” She said softly.

And with that, I was left with no choice but to give in and let her go by herself. Her home is a couple houses down the street, other times I always escorted her then I would come back home afterwards. She wanted to leave but I grabbed her hand and pulled her back to me. Then, I kissed her passionately, and said, “I could let you steal my goodbye kiss. I love you.” I kissed her one more time before letting her go.

“I know, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She concluded and turned to head home.

I looked at her athletic body with the perfect shape, probably because of all the exercises. Her brunette hair swung as she walked, they were long and thick; I loved the way she walked, I don’t whether it was because of her height which was almost six foot or it was because she was a cheerleader. She walked like some kind of model and she did look like a model. She turned around and looked at me with her captivating attractive emerald eyes, she blew me a kiss and disappeared at the corner.

After she was gone it was time for me to meet this person, this guest. When Christine was with me, I wasn’t that curious, but now, I was very curious about this person. I rushed through the porch to the front door and barged in right away.

I went to the living room which wasn’t a very big room, but which I was fond of, I had lots of good memories in it, with all the games we’ve played in it. I always loved being in it, but today, I didn’t think it was going to be as comfortable being there as any other days. When I got there I found these two elegant people, a man and a woman, which explained the car outside. And right at the moment they saw me, they flashed me this million dollars smile, like they were very fond of me. While I on the other hand didn’t have a clue who they were.

My parents were sitting on the opposite couch from them. They, however, had different expressions on their faces. They were nervous, even though they smiled as well, they couldn’t hide it. Something was wrong with them, or the guests who had just arrived.

“Hello Henrik.” The man greeted me warmly, but that just set me on high alert, defcon one. A stranger wasn’t supposed to know my name, and if my parents told them my name, why?

“Mom, dad, what’s going on?” I couldn’t reply his greeting, I wanted to know what was going on first.

“Henrik, have a seat first, then we will explain everything to you.” Mom said, and I was surprised she used my full name, she always called me Rick.

For a second I hesitated because I had a weird feeling in my gut. I felt like I wouldn’t like what they were going to tell me.

“Listen to your mother, Henrik.” Dad said in authority tone, which he used in critical situations, like when I almost got expelled in school for getting myself in trouble. But now it was a different situation and he was just as serious as back then, so I instantly obliged. However, that just proved my suspicions that something was seriously wrong today. I sat down and looked at them back and forth because I sat on the small couch that was at the middle of the room. Then suddenly, it felt like one of those talks parents have with their children, but except this one, there was two strangers who seemed to be the reason why I was sitting on the couch awkwardly. The strangers who nobody wanted to say who they were.

A while passed and nobody said a word; my parents seemed like it was hard for them, and the guests were waiting because even if they tried to say something I wouldn’t have believed them, if it was something serious. What were they so afraid to spit out anyways?

“Ahm! The man cleared his throat signaling my parents for something.

My mother straightened her shoulders and it was the second time I saw her doing it, she did it again once before when we were in middle school, my brother and I; when she refused to let us watch TV before finishing our homework’s.

Then she introduced them, “Henrik, this is Mr. And Mrs. Richards.”

“Hi, nice to meet you.” I said and shook their hands just the way I was supposed to do when meeting new people.

“And they are your parents; your real parents.” Mom continued.

It hit me like a silver knife, square in the chest. And for a minute, I couldn’t breathe, I dropped back to the couch and mom, Vivian, not the new woman; she came by my side. But I raised my hand up stopping her. I didn’t real want anyone near me at that time.

I was shocked because I never went looking for them. I knew I was adopted and I was totally okay with that. But to see them in my house just now meant one thing, they came to take me away. I didn’t care if he were my real parents; they abandoned me, Vivian and Michael took me in. They are my parents, my real parents; they took care of me since I was little. Not these two strangers. I wasn’t going to go anywhere with them, if they came to visit that’s okay. I would accept it, but not taking me away. My family was here and nowhere else.

“Rick darling, are you okay?” Vivian called me and I was back from my stupor.

“Yah, I’m okay. I was just taken by surprise.” I said, but it couldn’t even cut what was going on in my mind at that time. For seventeen years, I’d lived without knowing them. And now they popped up out of nowhere coming to me, claiming to be my parents.

“Why aren’t you saying anything son?” Michael asked, with a nervous smile on his face.

“What’s there to say? I mean, I’ve lived for seventeen years without knowing them. They are practically strangers to me.” I knew I sounded rude, but that’s how I felt; suddenly, dad’s expression changed and his face contracted, signaling me to behave, so I suddenly looked down.

“We know that and we will explain everything on our way home.” Mr. Richards explained and something caught my attention.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked curiously,

“It means, you’ll be leaving with us, home.” Mrs. Richards spoke for the first time since I entered the room, and her voice was sweet motherly kind of voice; I would’ve gotten comfort out of it, if I wasn’t on a verge of losing my home.

“Wait, wait, wait; nobody said anything about leaving. Mom, dad tell me you’ll not agree with this, I don’t want to leave, please!” I was begging and I could see how much Vivian was hurting, but it was as if they already surrendered.

Michael shrugged, “I’m sorry son, it has to be done.” He said sadly, he was as sad as Vivian was, which was something I couldn’t understand, if they didn’t want me to leave, why did they agree me being taken away then?

“No, this cannot happen to me. What if I refuse to go with them? Will they force me?” I blurted, and I was going hysterical now, I could frown and smile and grin and frown back again. I wasn’t going to give up my life, my family, my girlfriend and my friends just like that.

“Of course, we won’t force you.” Mrs. Richards said.

“But it’s necessary and very important for you to come with us.” Mr. Richards added.

“What’s important for me right now, is for me to stay with my family, and keep living my life. And for you to go back wherever you came from. Thanks for the visit though,” I said as sarcastically as I could then, I got up to leave.

“Son, please sit down. Arrangements are already done, leaving now won’t change anything.” The seriousness of his tone and face made it clear that there was no going back. How can this happen to me? Why did my life had to change now? Right when everything was perfect. Here I was going to be an outsider once again, somewhere I didn’t even know where. After trying so hard to fit in, and belong to this place, but it was being stripped away from me and there was nothing I could do about it.

“We’ll leave tomorrow morning. We will come back tomorrow after you’ve arranged everything for the trip.” Mr. Richards said.

My eyes were wide open in shock, then I said, “But tomorrow I have school. Besides I haven’t said goodbye to my friends and my girlfriend.” I complained.

“You’ll call them then. I’m sorry but it’s urgent that we leave tomorrow.” Mr. Richards explained.

“Yah right, urgent.” I repeated under clenched teeth, so no one heard.

I was so pissed I would’ve ran away, if I didn’t cherish Michael and Vivian so much. I didn’t want to get them worried, so I was going to do what I had to. Go living with these two perfect strangers calling themselves my parents.

“Okay, with that done; we’ll leave till tomorrow. We’ve booked a hotel nearby.” Mr. Richards concluded. Then they got up and shook hands with my parents, thanking them and say their goodbyes. After, they escorted them to their limo, and soon after, they left.

I was at the door waiting, didn’t real want to follow them, after all I was going to live with them anyway. I needed to spend my last few hours in the house that I’ve had the best time of my life. Mom came back rushing to me and I felt a sudden warmth, too bad I was going to miss all this. She hugged me so tight that I almost choked,

“I’m so sorry darling. So sorry, we couldn’t do anything. Tell me you don’t hate us, please?” she said pleadingly and that touched my heart.

“How can I hate you mom? You are the best mother in the whole world.” I hugged her back, and even though I was angry couple seconds ago, feeling her embrace made it all go away.

“I’m sorry son that you have to go like this.” Dad hugged me too afterwards. And that made me feel at ease, maybe it was true that there was nothing they could do.

“Maybe I’ll get some time to visit you guys.” I assumed.

“Let’s hope son, we would love that.” He replied sadly,

“I’ll make dinner while you are starting to prepare your things, okay?” mom suggested and I liked the sound of that, I was a little starved, but I was too shocked before and I didn’t realize I was hungry until now.

“Okay.” I said, then I went upstairs to my room to get my things ready.

When I got in my room, there was too many things I wanted to take with me, I didn’t even know which ones to take and which ones to leave behind. But before I could decide I needed to call some people first; first was my best friend, Nick, and then Mark, Stephan and Vicky; my other friends.

They were surprised all of them, but I had no explanation myself, it felt kind of cliché even to me that I was going to live with my real parents. I didn’t tell that though I just told them I was moving to live somewhere else, explanation, later. Then, I was left with the hard part, calling Christine: I knew she was going to be heartbroken hearing what I had to tell, but I had to, I couldn’t just leave her like that. And among the things that made it really hard for me to leave home was her.

But I guess you can’t have everything. I stared at her name in my phone, not knowing whether to call her or not, after couple seconds the lock went back on. And for a second I thought it would be better not to call her, but then, it would be rude leaving without saying goodbye to her, especially after saying goodbye to everyone else. So I picked up my phone again, and this time I called right away while praying for it to go straight to voicemail, so that it could save me the explanations. But soon after the first ring she picked up,

“Hey babe, I was just thinking about you right now. I wondered when you’ll call me.” She sounded excited and happy for my call. I knew what I was about to tell her would hurt her so much, but I had to tell her.

“Christine I need to tell you something.” I said curtly, I had no way to sugarcoat it, so I said it out right away,

“What is it? You sound strange, are you okay?” all the excitement was now gone and she sounded completely worried, “does it have anything to do with the car we saw earlier.” I would have loved to tell her the whole story but I didn’t.

“I’m leaving tomorrow, I don’t know if I’m going to come back.” I said short and clear, and I knew the news was like a dagger to her heart, but that was the only way I could manage to tell her. She was quiet for almost half a minute without saying anything, I thought she hang up, but the next time she talking her voice was shaky like she was on a verge of crying or something.

“Are you breaking up with me Rick?” she asked quietly and very cautiously, and I was frozen in place with her question because it wasn’t what I expected.

I couldn’t answer it right away, it took me couple seconds and when I finally managed, “No Christine, you know how much I love you. I can never do something like that….” I tried to explain myself.

“Then what is it? And don’t tell me you are going to leave because that is a lie, and I won’t let you leave me like that,” and she was turned to her stubborn self, and there was no way I was going to convince her that it was true that I was going to leave her. But I needed to try, it was the only explanation I had.

I took a couple seconds to let her calm down then I tried, “Christine please, I’m begging you to try and understand me, I’ll never break up with you, but what I’m telling you is true. Tomorrow morning I’ll be leaving to a different place, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever come back; so I wanted to tell you that I’ll always love you and that you’ll always be in my heart.” I paused because the other end of the phone was quiet, like she hang up, “Christine are you there?” I asked suspiciously,

“Why are you doing this to me? You made me fall in love with you so that you can leave right away, I ain’t buying that, I refuse to believe you,” she started to sob, and I wish she didn’t do that because she made me feel guilty while it wasn’t even my fault, I was just as shocked.

“Don’t do that Christine, you know I never wanted to hurt you.” I said in shaky voice because her crying was starting to get into me.

“You don’t do it, don’t you dare act like it’s not a big deal. God damn it Rick, why can’t you understand I love more than anybody I’ve ever loved before, I just can’t accept it, I want you with me, I need you Rick. I’m begging you, not to leave me.” She said through sobs, and made it very hard for me to tell her what I had to, but I had to, to make me a complete monster who broke her heart.

“I wish I could my love, it’s not a decision I can make.” I said while I literally shuttered in pieces inside.

She sniffed couple times and what I heard next was not what I had expected, but I actually deserved it, “You are a real jerk, don’t ever call me or text me and forget you have ever met someone like me, and I’ll do the same,” she was furious, which was the last thing I could expect from her.

“Christine it’s not like what you think, it’s…” I couldn’t finish,

“Goodbye Henrik.” She said then she hang up.

Great, I thought, then suddenly a pulse of rage rushed through me and I threw my phone to the floor which shuttered in pieces, but I didn’t care, I was going to throw it away anyway, if Christine didn’t want anything to do with me, then there was no point of having a phone.

I took my bag and shoved some stuffs in and few pictures of my parents and my brother, and this was officially the worse day of my life, but I had a feeling this wasn’t the only day that would be bad for me. After I’ve got my things ready it was time for dinner, even though, I didn’t feel like eating I had to go there because it was the very last time that I would have dinner like that for a long time, with my real family.

I went down and everyone was already at the table, and even Luke was back, my brother, adoptive brother; the food was saved and everyone was very quiet today. Luke was the only one who acted normal and only because mom and dad didn’t tell him.

“Something is wrong, isn’t it?” he asked cautiously perusing all of us, but none of us wanted to say anything, there was no way we were going to drop this bomb on him, we all knew how much he loved me and cared for me, even though I was just adopted. He would never accept me leaving without any possibility of coming back, “can somebody say something?” he asked again, and both mom and dad looked at me, which led him to look at me as well.

And I guess they were right to expect me to say something because I was the one who was leaving, and the ones who came were my parents, “Tomorrow I’m going to live with my real parents,” I said it short waiting for him to burst, but he laughed instead.

And he said, “but nobody know where you parents are, so that is practically impossible.” He speculated all of us and when he found our faces are serious, now he considered the concept, “why didn’t you tell me until now? That you found them, am I not your brother? Brothers tell each other everything, you used to tell me everything and I always tell you everything, why did you hide it?” he was hurt, I could see it in his eyes.

“Luke. It’s not like that, I found out this evening, they came here,” I said

“And they want to take you right away? What if you refuse?” he was curious and angry, sadly I already tried to refuse and it didn’t work, so it was already a done deal.

“No I can’t, they said it’s important that I leave with them tomorrow.”

“Who do they think they are? They can’t tell you do anything, they don’t even know you.” He said rage fully, but it was too late to get angry,

“Luke, there is nothing we can do.” Dad said calmly,

“Yah, right.” He said through clenched teeth then he pushed his plate and left the table,

I heard him going upstairs angrily because of his steps, he was stomping the floor which made those old woods of the stairs to crack in pain under his feet. Well, looks like I made angry every one of my closest friends. Soon after, I left the dinning as well, I didn’t real feel like eating anymore.

I went to my room to get some sleep before going to wonderland, that’s what I called my real parents place because I didn’t even know where the place was. But I couldn’t get myself to sleep because of Luke, I didn’t want him to be angry at me, so I woke up and went to his room to explain things.

I knocked on the door and waited for couple minutes for him to respond. At first I thought he won’t want to see me, but I hoped that he would open the door for me, and as I hoped he asked,

“Who is it?” his voice was filled with anguish, so I hesitated for a second but I responded,

“It’s me.” I said quietly and cautiously; Luke is one of those people with blazing anger, you definitely don’t want to cross his path when he is in that mood.

“Come in, it is open.” He was calmer now, and it was comforting to know that he wasn’t angry at me as I thought,

I went in and he was playing with his video game, just like I expected. He always played his video games whenever he was upset,

“Can I join you?” I asked charmingly one of the tricks I always used to make him calm.

“Sure.” He said curtly while his eyes were fixed on the screen.

It bothered me though, I picked up my pad and then, he set the game for two players. And during this time, he didn’t say a single word to me. We were playing car racing game, the one game that I knew to play so well, and the only game that we played together. I didn’t real like his other violent games, that’s why this was the only game we played together. I won the first three games we played without talking to each other, but then I tried to make a conversation,

“Man! You are getting real slow these days. I think your driver, or your car doesn’t want to cooperate. Ten bucks and I’ll give you mine.” I mocked him,

“Ha-ha, very funny, but no thanks I’ll stick with my car and my driver and I’m gonna get you this time.” He said confidently,

“And we shall see, that was pretty a hefty deal, you know my car is way better than yours.” I tried to convince him.

“No, I don’t move around changing things, I appreciate what I have. Unlike you, you just found your parents and now you want to go with them right away. Do you even care all the years you’ve spent here, about me and mom and dad?” he blasted and his mood was already changed.

“Luke, I never wanted to leave, this is my home and you know that. It’s just that I don’t have a choice. And I’m doing this for mom and dad because I don’t want them to get in trouble because of those people. They wouldn’t have given me up if they didn’t get scared of something, and I’m going to find out what it is. Then, I’m going to come back home; so I just want you to accept it too and take care of mom and dad for me until I come back.” I said quietly just in case mom and dad weren’t asleep yet they wouldn’t hear.

“So you are going on a mission?” he was suddenly excited instead of angry like before.

“Exactly, I’m going on a mission. And I want you to keep this between us, okay?” I whispered to him,

He nodded and he high fived me, giving the sign that he totally believed me. Actually, I wanted to believe myself that I was going there to find out the secret they used against my parents, so that they will give me to them right away. But, the other part of me told me that there was more than what I thought, so I didn’t real know what to expect of this new life I was going to live in.

We played couple more games and felt tired, so I just told Luke I was tired and I wanted to sleep for the journey to the unknown tomorrow. He wished me good night and I left the room, but before I could leave he reminded of my mission so that I wouldn’t forget while I sleep.

Luke was two years younger than me and he was obsessed with fiction, that’s why he got very excited when I told him that I was going on mission. He was fat and wore glasses probably because of staring on computers and video games for too long; he had black hairs like dad, and brown eyes like both our parents, and he was a little short, that’s why I called him shorty sometimes.

I dropped on my bed and couple seconds later I was fast asleep, away from all the drama that had happened.

 

 

 

 

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CHAPTER 2; MOVING

 

 

I woke up sun rays burning my face, I hated it when this happened, and I always realize that I’m already late for school. So I always rush to the bathroom to take shower, but today instead I turned to the other side of the bed and pulled my covers to my face and kept sleeping. I didn’t want to wake up and face those people again, I’d already had enough of them for those hours they were here, and I never wanted to see the face of the people who were going to ruin my life forever. People who were going to separate me from my family for claiming they were my real family.

If only I could make them forget me and never come for me in the first place. I wouldn’t hesitate to make them forget everything about me and wipe myself completely from their memories, not leaving even a vague memory of my existence. But that was practically impossible, so I just slept in my bed drowning in my sorrow of leaving my home. I didn’t sleep for long though because mom came in to wake me up. She said that I had to make sure that I was ready before Mr. and Mrs. Richards come. I woke up and went to the bathroom to wash all the numbness I was feeling at that time.

The mere thought of going to live with those people made my whole body numb, they were completely different from current parents, the parents that I’ve lived with for seventeen years; they weren’t rich like them, but they had been the best parents I could ever wish to have. Unlike them who abandoned me after I was born.

After the shower I went to my room, I took my black jeans and black t-shirt. Then I put on one of my supra, and after that I was good to go. I wish I could slow down the time so that they would come late, but that wasn’t possible and if I could, it was already too late because I heard the doorbell rang. I didn’t need to be told that it was them, apart from knowing that they were the only people we were expecting, I had this weird feeling when they came, like I could sense them or something, even though it sounded completely ridiculous in my mind. I went downstairs to meet them, and finally go to wherever they wanted to take me.

Downstairs, I found them sitting on the same couch they seated yesterday. And they smiled widely when they saw me, and I think the woman was more excited to see me, like she couldn’t wait to see me again. Well, I never wanted to see them, that’s for sure.

“Hello Henrik.” She greeted me charmingly, her face showed desire that she wanted to get close to me, but I found it hard to accept this woman, it was just hard.

“Hello,” I replied coldly then I seated down.

“I hope everything is ready now.” Said Mr. Richards, and I didn’t really like the sound of his voice because it felt like he was commanding me, and I didn’t like that. Just because I accepted to go with him didn’t mean he had the right to push me around. I didn’t say anything because I was angry, did he think he already had authority over me? Well, I didn’t think so, he was a stranger to me. And he was going to stay that way for a very long time, and if he would treat me like that he was going to be a stranger forever.

“What your father meant to say is, if you have arranged everything that you need, and you don’t have to take too much, we can get some things on the way.” She corrected her husband, I guess she heard the annoying tone he used as well.

“Yah, everything is ready.” I said shortly, then mom came to the living room,

“Breakfast is ready and we would like you to join us Mr. and Mrs. Richards, if you don’t mind of course.” She said with a warm smile that always get me to smile back every single time.

“Quite the contrary, we’d love to, Vivian,” Mr. Richards said charmingly.

Then we all headed to the dining, I got really happy when I got there. There was pan cakes and cupcakes and milkshake, exactly my favorite things for breakfast. Then there was eggs and toast breads.

“How did you know I love cupcakes?” Mr. Richards asked, and I wish he never asked because that only proved that I was somehow related to this man.

“I didn’t, I made them for Rick as a goodbye gift.” Mom said in shock,

“Oh,” he mumbled,

Then there was an awkward moment and silence, but I never mind because I couldn’t wait to taste all the delicacies that were on the table,

“Shall we?” I interrupted the silence and the awkwardness.

“Yes of course.” My mother said and soon everyone join me and sat down. At least this morning wasn’t all that bad as I thought.

After that we all had breakfast quietly, and Luke wouldn’t stop looking at me and smile every time, guessing he still remembered what I told him. And that he thought the plan was now in motion. If things were that simple I would have smiled back, but I knew things aren’t always black and white. I wasn’t even sure that if what I told him was true or not, what if they just decided to give me up because they thought it would be better for me to live with my real parents? What if they got tired of living with somebody else’s child while they already had their own? Those were the question I didn’t have answers for, and I couldn’t dare ask.

Breakfast ended fast, just like in a flash, and too soon for my liking. I wanted to spend more time in this beautiful house with lots of beautiful memories. Then Luke helped me to grab my luggage and put it in the limo, and I took some few stuffs that I wanted to have with me, like my parents’ pictures and my childhood pictures too. I know they weren’t my real parents, but they felt real, they were the ones I felt comfortable calling parents.

“Call us from time to time okay,” dad said while saying goodbye to me in a hug,

“And don’t forget us, because we will never forget you.” Mom said after coming to hug me as well.

“I will call you soon after I arrive there. And I’ll never forget any of you, for you are still my family.” I said to them while heading to the car, which resembled my worst nightmare. But before I could get in, I felt something missing; I remembered that things didn’t go so well with Christine last night, and now I was leaving without clearing things with her. I sighed and got in the car hoping she will forgive me someday.

But right at that moment I heard someone knocking the window hysterically, it got all of us in the car confused. I wondered what happened, I even thought that mom and dad changed their minds and that they wanted me back. As much as I wanted that to be true but I knew that was not it, it was something else. I opened the door to see who the person was, and I was glad I did. Christine was there standing, eyes all wet, I felt sorry for and angry at myself for hurting her like that; I didn’t even know how deeply she loved me. Instantly I got out of the car and hugged her because I knew she needed it and I needed it. She sobbed on my shoulder and I held her tighter. I wish I could do something, but I was still thinking about that something, she said something surprising,

“I don’t want to stay here. Take me with you, I don’t want to be alone without you.” She said agitated,

And for a second it sounded like a pretty good idea, and since she was living with her sister, it wouldn’t be that hard to leave. And I wouldn’t feel so alone when I get to this new home. I looked at my new parents for approval, but all I got was a denial.

“That’s not possible, she can’t come.” Mr. Richards said firmly like there was no discussing about it, I suddenly found this man to be very bossy and that got me very angry, why was he doing that? It’s not like we were in army or anything, besides my parents, my other parents never bossed me around, so that was pretty irritating.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 20.10.2015

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