Hidden, Forbidden

GONE 🌙

~LISA~

Seeing them lowered into the ground brought the final realization that they were truly gone. It still all seemed like a dream. One minute we are all having breakfast together and the next minute, there are two coffins in front of us. Life really comes at you fast.

The burial was done and it was a beautiful ceremony. It wasn’t beautified by decorations, but by the amount of people that showed up.

My parents were good people and it was beautiful to see so many people come to pay their last respects.

We stood by the side giving appreciation and farewells to the people that came when I noticed a man, scary aura, approaching us. He walked with so much confidence with a deadly stare. You just know this isn’t someone to mess with.

“Good day sir”

“Hmm, you must be Lisa, and valentine, Damien, Emel”

“Yes sir”

“Your father worked for me. It’s so sad to loose one of our own”

I scoffed silently, sad my foot! It was so clear he wasn’t moved by my fathers death. We have heard stories. He doesn’t care about his workers, makes them work without insurance and under the worst conditions without proper safety measures in check.

Val gave me a slight nudge as a warning to keep my self together.

“A pleasure to meet you sir” Val said extending his hand for a shake.

“Likewise” Mr. Black responded returning the hand shake.

“Like I said, it’s so sad to loose one of our own. I heard what happened to your mother too. I’ll like to offer some form of help if you don’t mind”

“Help?” I asked

“Yes, Lisa. If I remember correctly your father mentioned you and Damien are in high school.”

“Yeah” I answered already having an idea where this conversation was heading to.

“Okay then. Then I’ll like to sponsor, let’s say more like a scholarship. If that’s okay with you, I’ll make calls immediately and put everything in order and you can be sitting in a classroom on Monday.” We all remained silent, I guess we were all indecisive and quite overwhelmed by everything. “No need to rush. You can give me a call,” he said giving his business card to Damien, “when you make up your mind.”

“No problem Mr. Black, we will.”

“But preferably tonight, so I can put everything in order as soon as possible” he said as he turned to leave.

“Well, there’s that” I said to kill the silence. “Are we taking his offer?” Damien asked.

“We’ll talk about it when we get home” Val said clearly not in the mood to discuss anything further.

I turned to talk to Damien as Val walked away

“Soooooo”

“Soooooo”

And we both giggled

“Come on let’s get home”

“Sure” I got down to Emel’s height and whispered in her ear “why don’t we go home and I might just get you some candy on our way home”

“Really?!” She said with so much excitement

“Yes peanut” I laughed and gave her a light kiss on her head. Seeing her happy makes me happy and I will do anything to see my siblings happy.

Getting home after making two different candy-stops to get the exact type Emel likes, we walk in and everywhere feels empty. I could feel the shared emotions as we all came to a stop just after going through the door, starting into the empty place we once loved to rush home to.

“Emel, go freshen up while I talk to your brother and sister okay” Val said and we took that as a cue to sit down and get serious.

“I know today has been a rough day, but the sooner we discuss these things, it will be better. There’s going to be shared responsibilities from now on. One person can’t carry us. There will be so many bills to pay and sadly my salary might not be enough to even get us through a month.” Val said

“I could get a job after school” Damien suggested

“Me too!” It was definitely a great idea.

“Are you sure you can balance both school and work”

“Of course Val, I’m a big girl”

He laughed, “that’s right, but you are still my baby sister” he said patting my head. I gave a little pout as he did that because I’m definitely not a baby.

“And, before we forget, school…”

“Yeah, that. Val do you think we should take Mr. Blacks offer?” I asked

“Well it’s clear he is doing that to clear his conscience for making our father and all his workers work without insurance or safety” Damian said with clear anger in his tone.

“Not the best thing, but it will really save us some cost because I don’t think I can afford to pay both your fees with the little money we’ll earn. We need to prioritize and put our money into other things. As sad as it may be, it will really be of help.”

“Hmmm, yeah” Damien said , clearly still not happy with the situation

“Give the card to me Damien, I’ll make the call and all arrangements with Mr. Black” Val said collecting the card from Damien and walking out dialing the number.

“Damien”

“Hmmm”

“I’m nervous”

“About?”

“A new environment, new faces, new people. I’m scared”

“No need to be, I’ll be right there” I moved closer and laid on his shoulder gaining some sort of comfort. Taking a deep breath in, all I could say was “okay”