CHAPTER TWO
1201 Words
NATHALIE
"Hey little guy, I'm over here" I answer.
It's Benny, he has been knocking on my door for a while now.
I was in the bathroom then.
He runs inside and falls onto my body.
I almost fall back on the ground, thanks to gravity of course, but I'm more stronger than it right now.
"Whatcha doing now?" the poor boy asks.
He's so full of life.
You can never believe that his parents died just a month ago.
The Ramirez have been a very kind and passionate I've since ever known them but that tragic plane crash had to take them away from us so soon.
It all happened on their way back from Europe.
Mr Fernando Ramirez was a rich billionaire here in Mexico and his wife, Amelia Ramirez, who was his wife as well as his business partner too.
They took me in five years ago, to take care of their little baby who's seven years old now and he's left all alone in this cruel world.
Well, I heard during the funeral that he has an older brother, who's currently living in the States now.
From the little I heard of him that day, because I've never heard the couple talking about him during their life time.
I've always thought that Benjamin was their only son.
He's a business man and one of the richest in San Fransisco.
I guess it runs in the family after all.
I don't even know how he even looks like because I've never seen a picture of him around and I didn't have the privilege of meeting him during the funeral but I learnt that his name was Hudson or something like that.
Now that his parents are dead, he's going to live with his older brother since he's still a minor.
I'm really going to miss my little boy.
I'm gonna miss his cute smile, his laugh.
Gosh! Who am I kidding, I'm gonna miss all of him.
He's the sole reason I'm staying here and since he's moving to San Fransisco, I have no reason to stay here anymore.
"What are those on your bed, are they newspapers?" he asks, taking me off guard.
I let go of him and cover them quickly with my blanket.
"Now there's nothing on the bed" I say and laugh nervously.
"Since when did you start reading the news, you said that you hate them?" he asks again.
"It's good to try new things sometimes you know" I answer him but it's a lie.
The truth is I hate news, like really hate it, but now I have no other choice but to read it.
I was busy looking for job vacancies and apartment to buy.
I don't want him seeing all this now, he'll be broken hearted and I don't want to be a reason to wreck his melancholic heart.
"My big bro is coming to take us to San Fransisco, you're coming too, right?" he asks.
Sometimes this boy speaks like an adult and he makes me all emotional when he does that.
I lean down in front of him and hug him, just to hide my teary eyes from him.
'I wish I could, but you have to go without me this time' that's what I want to say but I decided against it.
"Sure, little boy" I say instead.
"Now, why don't we go and get some ice cream" I say, changing the emotional topic.
"Yay! Ice cream" he screams in delight.
That's what I like about him, always into ice creams.
I stand up and hold his hands and we walk out together after wearing our coats. It's pretty cold outside these days.
HUDSON
I walk over to their graves.
I place a rose flower on my mom's grave and a lily on my father's.
They were their favourites, when they were still alive.
Lucky I still remember that, huh.
"Mama, Papa" I call out their names.
"Uhmm, it's...it's me, Hudson, your son" I mutter.
It looks silly right, I'm trying to talk to dead people, but I still believe that they are hearing me.
I haven't been there for them when they needed me. I was in some foreign country miles away.
The memories of all the arguments we had before I finally ditched them and moved out comes flowing through my head.
I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye to them.
"What were you guys thinking?" I shout at them.
"I'm...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude" I apologize, trying to hold back my tears.
I'm feeling guilty as it is, but if you look at it on the bright side, it was all my father's fault. He forced me to do that, but that's a story to be told some other time.
"Why did you have to go and make this silly will, I mean, what's going on in that head of yours?" I ask.
I feel so angry right now.
"Why do you had to go and put me in this kind of situation, why?" I shout again.
I'm really starting to get out of control.
My tear drenched chin proves that.
"Can you at least give me a sign that what I'm about to do is right or wrong" I say.
How foolish of me. I don't believe in these kind of superstition anymore.
But at least I can try, there's no harm in that, right?.
"Please, at least just this once, try and listen to what I have to say" I continue.
I open my mouth to say something but then I was stopped when I feel a hand on my shoulder.
I turn around to see who it is.
It's my driver, Bradford.
He's like a friend to me and I'm sure he's here to comfort me.
"I know you're hurting Sir, but you have to be strong for him" he says, referring to my little brother.
I'm such a bad person.
I haven't even seen him since after the funeral, which was a month ago and I didn't even try to reach out to him.
It's not like I've been there for him for the past years. I literally left him when he was a baby. I have only seen him once or twice.
"You know he doesn't have the heart to take all this by himself" he says.
He's right. My brother has heart... Forget it, I don't want to even think about it.
I get up from my kneeling position. He's right I have to be there for him now that he has no one to lean on to. I'm the only relative he has left in this world.
He hand over a handkerchief to me to clean my face with.
It's pretty messy, I'm sure.
After cleaning my face, I throw it away.
Whatever that is used in the cemetery, stays in the cemetery.
"Take me to the house" I say as I walk past him.
I have to go and make things right.
Which is go and see my little brother and knock some senses into that nanny of his.
There's no way I'm gonna let a stranger move in with me.
- Writer
