Rina had to go home after that, but they agreed to meet the next day to discuss what they should do. Upon arriving home Rina found out that her family had plans for the New Year's Eve that didn't include her. Their excuse was that they thought she was going out with friends but the truth was that they didn't want to spend time with her. She couldn't understand what she did wrong for them to ignore her so much. It was her hope that they would at least spend the holidays together, but she realized she was expecting too much of them. Even though from time to time they communicated, in a way, they were never a real family. There were always them and her, they were never a unit. Well, maybe they were a family when her father was there, but she could barely remember those times. All she could remember was her brothers and mother ignoring her and not including her in family outings. No matter how many times they excluded her from family plans, she kept hoping that they would change their minds and spend some quality time with her. All around her, she could see examples of relatively happy families, and it hurt her to realize that her family would never be like that. Other families had problems but the most important difference was that they were solving the problems together. In contrast, in Rina's family, there was always her on one side and the rest of her family on the other. The only thing she could do was just accept the fact that they would do one more thing without her, and go to her room to get lost in some magical world that the books offered.

The next day she went to school like nothing unusual ever happened. Like she didn't meet another invisible girl like her family didn't forget about her yet again. She tried to act like it was just another day in a long string of boring days but her brain was in overdrive. There were so many things happening that she couldn't focus on her school work. That was actually very strange for her because she usually loved school. It made her forget about her problems at home, to forget about the fact that she had no friends and all the other small things that made her life. The school was something that usually occupied her mind since it was one of the things that helped her run away. Other ways for her to run away were reading and writing, but even that wasn't going well in the last few weeks. Finding out that she was actually invisible from time to time did nothing to help her self-esteem. What made her feel a bit better, was the fact that she wasn't alone, Serena was going through the same thing. Maybe there was hope, after all, hope that the two of them would be able to figure out what was happening. She couldn't wait for the school to end, and for her and Serena to be able to chat about what it all meant and how they could control it.

After school, Rina met up with Serena at the library and surprisingly enough they were both visible. It seemed as if being seen by the other one kept them grounded. "What do you think we should do now?" Rina asked eager to continue research into her invisibility. "Rina, I am sorry. I know how eager you are for us to figure this out, I am too, but... It feels that now that I am visible again I should go back and check on things back home. My foster parents probably didn't miss me at all but I did have a friend, and I am wondering if I still do. I feel like I have to go back, to get some kind of closure. But don't worry, I can promise you that I will do my best to research about all this. Having been invisible for this long I do have a few tricks that I used to get the information I need. I always assumed that my invisibility was irreversible but now that I know we can deal with this I will try to find out what I can. Is that okay?" She asked hesitantly. "Yes, of course. I understand what you mean, if I had any friends I would also need some closure. When are you planning on coming back?" Rina asked trying to hide how much she didn't want Serena to go. "I don't know. I will definitely be gone for a week or two." "Oh, I see." Was all Rina could say as the last hope of her not being on her own on the New Year's Eve came crashing down. Of course, she didn't say anything to Serena because no matter how much she felt like a sister to Rina, it would be strange to ask her to stay. So they said goodbye as Serena promised to be back as soon as possible.

The next week passed in a blur and it was pretty uneventful for Rina. She did turn invisible a few times when people were noticing her less and less but luckily it didn't cause her any problems in school. At home, everyone was too busy preparing for the New Year's celebration to even bother with preaching her about how empty her life was. Sometimes she even missed that because it seemed that for a brief moment they at least they cared about her. What she found out, later on, was that they didn't really care, they just wanted to be in charge of her life. It gave them a feeling of power that they lacked in their own lives, and it made her even sadder to know that once again it was all about them. Rina spent most of her time in her room writing a story about a girl who had all the amazing magical friends and wonderful adventures. Sometimes she had to stop writing because her tears fell and blurred the ink. Only then would she realize that she was crying. It was like she was creating a life she wanted to have but knew that she never would. Creating a perfect life made her only sadder about her real life, but she couldn't allow herself to wallow in the sadness. She didn't want to go into the New Year invisible. However, as the New Year's day arrived, and she was left home alone she couldn't help but drown herself in misery and of course, in consequence, she turned invisible.

"That's just great! Not only am I all alone on this special night, but I am also invisible." Rina thought to herself as she tried to think of some fun ways to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. Finally, she settled down in the living room with a cup of cocoa next to the fireplace. The good thing about being home alone was that she could enjoy the warmth and the beauty of the fireplace without anyone bothering her. Usually, the other members of her family would ask her to do something or would preach her about her wasted life the moment she sat down to enjoy the warmth. So it was the perfect opportunity for her to enjoy small joys that being home alone brought with it. The thing was, although she enjoyed doing that, she was still sad that there was no one with whom she could share the moment, friends or family it didn't matter. Being alone in that special moment felt pathetic, so she tried to cheer herself up by doing all her favorite things but it only partially worked. Nevertheless, she settled in comfortably and waited for the new year to arrive in the hopes that it would bring her all that she craved for, for such a long time.