Dreaming, just keep dreaming.

It was Friday, I was just starting the weekend and because of the holiday I didn’t have classes that day, I had woken up at 5 in the morning, I couldn’t sleep as well... There was something strange going on with my dad, I heard he was crying again and I remembered the day before he made me buy beers for the next week’s turkey, but we didn’t have any money, so I hesitated a bit, I got out of my bed as slowly as I could, so he wouldn’t know I was awake at that time. He wasn’t in his room, and from what little I could see, he had pulled the curtains on the floor, the bed mattress was standing by a wall, it was strange to me but then I heard him hit something and I went back to my mission, the sound came from the terrace, I decided to go for it, the neighbors would complain again if they heard that it makes noise at those hours of the morning, when I got to the terrace, I saw him standing on the edge of the terrace, I got too scared and I approached him, I was afraid to come out of nowhere in all that silence and scare him and make him lose his balance, but I was lucky and he saw me coming. -Your mother would not like the idea that you are awake at this hour without your pants as cold as it is. Ignoring a little that he mentioned to my mother I said -I... I heard that you were making noise and I don’t want to have any more problems with the neighbors, dad. -There won’t be problems Ty, I’m not making any noise. -If you weren’t making noise I would have slept well all night. -All right, all right- after doing that he looked up at the sky. -Get down from there, I don’t want you to fall, I don’t want you to di... -I’m here because it’s the closest I can get to your mom. He wouldn’t let me finish what he was saying and what he said left me a little weak in spirit... for a moment I stopped shaking, I didn’t care about the cold and the fact that I didn’t wear my pants, I felt empty inside, my eyes were starting to tremble, but I didn’t want to cry in front of him, I didn’t trust him, so to keep him from seeing me, I took him down and started him walking up the stairs. -I’m not leaving your back until you get down to your room.- It was my way of becoming strong before him, on the one hand I did not want him to see me crying and on the other because it was already dawn and the neighbors would look at me bad for walking almost naked. -Ty, could you go out and do the house shopping? Right now opens the mall, sure that in the store your mom’s friends give us something. I got a little angry. -Dad... I’m not going to take advantage of the situation, I’m going to pay with my money, I don't matter if they give us food. -All right, don’t be mad, military man. We got to the apartment door, and he went straight to his room, he said he was going to the bathroom to take a shower, I guess he wanted to hide what he did in his room, but I’d already seen him, so I let him go. -In a while I will go out to see the food, if you do not find me here do not panic...-As I said it, I realized that the beers I had bought were lying in the living room, all empty except one. -... drunk. -Okay son!-He screamed from his room. In a couple of minutes I left home. -Agh... it really has to snow so early?-I thought between myself, the snow was not strong, but I also did not bring an umbrella with me. On the way I saw the tree in the park where my mom taught me how to ride a bike and I was watching a girl who was running next to another boy smaller than her, her parents looked weird at me, I started to worry that they thought badly of me and I better left the place. I got to the supermarket, headed over to the supervisor’s office to see if my mom’s friend was there, but I didn’t see her, so I stopped by to shop directly. I was not going to buy many things, in the house the one who ate more, was my dad, so it would not be so difficult to choose the food, besides that I already knew his tastes, I spent buying fruits for me, sausages for my dad, some meats and also wanted to buy some tea powder, of those that dissolve in the water and become fast, there were no people, because it was early, but I saw a guy with a girl who quickly hid behind him, they were behind me and since they were the only ones there, I noticed them, I realized that it was the son of my mom’s friend, I kept thinking for a while about why the girl was hiding from me and I decided to get them, I wanted to ask about her mom. -Hey, Ryan, how are you-I talked to him behind his back. -Tyler, how strange to see you here so early. -Yes... Um, my dad asked me to please do the shopping and that. -Tyler, I’m really sorry about what happened with your mom. The girl in the back looked a little off. A few seconds after I saw her, Ryan told me:-Ah, she is Nicole, I’ve been going out with her for a few days.-Addressing Nicole she said:-He is a friend of my mom, his name is Tyler. -Hello Tyler, I do not like much to have met like this but... I’m sorry about your mom too... I was sure she didn’t know about my mother, but I still said hi, too. -My pleasure... don’t worry, I’m-...I sigh a little-... I’m fine, thanks to both of you, by the way, Ryan now that we’re here, is your mom around or something? They went back to see to each other and he said:-She’s in box 2, with some employees. -I wanted to ask how she was, I’ll see her, thank you. I wave goodbye to them and I kept seeing Nicole as I was leaving, she had a way of yellow-green eyes, it was the first time I saw someone with such peculiar eyes, and while I was leaving I noticed that she had a small bruise on his cheek, but I didn’t care, not at all. I got to box 2, where Ryan told me his mom would be. I was there, there were a lot of employees who I recognized their faces from mom’s funeral... In the box where they were, I saw some flowers, I know where the things were going. -Mrs Larson how are you, good morning. Some looked back at me, some cleaned their faces, others didn’t turn around. -Tyler what... What are you doing here, I’m glad to see you, tell me how you are. The lady seemed a little confused, I don’t think she expected to see me there. -Very well, thank you Mrs Larson, I came to do shopping for home, dad asked me to do them. -Ah yes, your dad... how is he? -He is... -I remembered that he was not well, because it was the 4th time that I found him drunk drinking, but it was necessary to lie although Mrs. Larson knew what kind of person my dad is...-...he’s a little depressed about what happened with my mom.-I shouldn’t have mentioned my mom right now.-It was in my head. There was silence among all of us, and I remembered why I was looking for Mrs Larson -Ahm... I met your son, your son told me he would be here, I wanted to know you, how are you? The Lady began to cry. -Tyler, your mom was, and will be always bigger than all of us, she had the most wonderful heart and until the last time we saw her she was still smiling and being kind, gentle, a beautiful person-the more she spoke her voice broke more...-...as it always was and here we will always remember her as Lady of Box 2. As Mrs Larson was speaking, the others began to cry again. I wanted to cry too, I was about to, I even bowed my head so they wouldn’t see me. -Tyler...-I heard someone from the employees say my name. -We will all go in the afternoon to leave these flowers in the cemetery, if you want you can accompany us, we leave early for the holidays, if you like you can come with us.-Accompanying this with a smile at the end. -Yes... with pleasure I go with you. -We will wait in the parking lot, you only take care of looking for the flowers.-Said an employee, was the youngest, even seemed my age, about 15 years. -Yes, I will... After a while of having finally bought everything, I returned home to leave the shopping and to tell my dad that I was going out with Mrs. Larson -Dad, I’m home? -I screamed when I opened the apartment door. - Again you left... I left the groceries in the kitchen, everything in order, I even washed some dishes that my dad had left, I ate the breakfast that dad made, I brushed my teeth, I grabbed a sweater, a hat, an umbrella and a backpack too, having all of that, I returned to the mall, I was buying a burger at McDonald’s for the rest of the afternoon, in case I got hungry, since I didn’t get much lately. I went to check the supermarket and I noticed that they had already closed, I ran quickly to the parking lot, I could not find anywhere the flowers, or Mrs Larson, until I saw Ryan, this time he was alone, and I ran to ask him, the more I ran to Ryan, I noticed the car, the flowers, the girl of my age and Mrs Larson, I passed away from Ryan and I went to the car, luckily I arrived in time... The employee who looked my age approached me again. -Why are you running?-She laughed a little. Between moans I said to her:-It is that, I thought that ya'll had already left, I could not find the car or the flowers and neither to Mrs. Larson. -Don’t worry, it seems that you were educated very well, you are punctual. -Yes... haha, I owe a lot to my mom. -How cute you are Tyler, by the way my name is Angela. She was a very nice girl. -Hi Angela.-I smiled. -Don’t you think it’s too late to greet me again? -We've never said hello or yes? Angela laughed again.-You’re a nice guy you knew it?-She answered me. -No, I didn’t know.-I also laughed with her. After getting to know me a bit with Angela, Mrs Larson came and said: Looks like we’ll be leaving Tyler, you’ll come in my car.-She looked at both of us, Angela and me.-You two, you’re the same age, you’ll get along.-Between me I was happy because I met someone that was my age and is not from school. On the way to the cemetery, a lot was going on in my head, I was worried about my dad, I tried to call him but he didn’t answered, I wrote to him in case he cared about me at some point, I also thought about Angela, I was happy because I remembered I had a burger in my backpack, I started to get hungry, on the other hand I thought that my mom would be happy with all the flowers she would receive, I didn’t want to think of anything negative because I didn’t want to cry, until I thought of something: Why did Nicole hide behind Ryan’s back...? Was she hiding the wound on his cheek? It was very strange and a part of me wanted to find out. We arrived at the cemetery, we were there for several hours, I couldn’t stand it any longer and I cried in front of all the employees, Mrs Larson and Angela. After a while I moved away from my mom’s grave, the atmosphere was depressing, I didn’t want to go back, I think Angela understood me, she came to see me and sat next to me. -Phew... we all loved your mom. -Angela... how is that you work there if you’re only 15? -I wanted to earn my money on my own, my parents save everything they can for my college, so... I don’t get a lot of money and I like buying new clothes, so I met Mrs Larson once when, I accidentally broke two boxes of eggs and she told me to pay, but I didn’t have money to pay for it, I was just going to get some cereal for my little sister, I told her I could do anything to pay for it, that’s when I asked her if he wanted someone my age to work there since, I got no problem working there, plus it was my chance to earn my money, the lady said she couldn’t let someone of my age work there because it could be dangerous for her supermarket and your mom came like an angel and said that if something happened, she would take care of the problems. And so it was, the next day I went and your mom taught me how to work...-Her voice began to break a little.- Even on earth she was an angel, Tyler. By the way, you smell like food, you got a sausage scent or what?-She laughed. She wroke the tense atmosphere that turned at the end, we both started laughing. -No, I have food in my backpack, you want some? -Yes... please, that smell made me hungry. As I pulled out of my backpack my burger she said: -Could you lend me your sweater too? It’s very cold. -Sure, I have a hat if you want it too. -You’re a good boy, Ty. She put on my sweater and ate some of my burger, until without me noticing, she was done. -You were hungry eh? -I’m sorry... It just makes me anxious and... -I understand you don’t worry. It started to get dark, Mrs Larson came to me, said she’d take me out for a drink at her home, and she did, and we said goodbye to each other and left. Back at Mrs Larson’s, we met Mr Larson making dinner, Ryan was with Nicole on the couch. We all said hello and as soon as Mr Larson came in, he said he wanted to talk to his wife, so they sent me to Ryan's room with Ryan and Nicole. -You must be tired Tyler.-Said Ryan. -Yes, a little, yes. Everything was fine, Ryan, Nicole and I started playing on our cell phones, until we heard Mrs Larson coming up the stairs while she was crying, next to her came Mr. Larson. -Ryan.-Said Mr. Larson weakly.-Can you take Tyler to his home? Sorry to have to see these things in other people’s homes, Nicole. -He finished talking and went to his wife’s room. -You heard my dad, I’m sorry you see this Nicole. -Never mind. Both began to leave together, I stayed in Ryan’s room, for my head only something happened: ''Why was Mrs. Larson crying?'' -Tyler, didn’t hear me? Move. I woke up from my thoughts and immediately went down the stairs with them. As we went down we saw Mr. Larson through the window, he was smoking, we were about to leave, until he saw me and said: -You killed her Tyler, your own mom, I don’t want to see you here again and neither in the supermarket of my wife.-He finished talking and threw his cigarette near me. Ryan and Nicole were staring at me strangely, I was in shock.-''Why did Mr Larson tell me that?'' -Tyler, we’ll call you an Uber to come and get you.-Ryan said. -Okay... thank you Ryan. There was a silence between the three, Ryan was calling the Uber, we already confirmed the point where they would pick me up, they spent a few long minutes without Nicol and Ryan speaking to me, they talked to each other alone and I didn’t know how to talk about what Ryan's dad said. -Looks like they’re fixing up some streets around here, Tyler follow us, I’ll take you to the main avenue. -Without finishing telling me everything turned around and began to walk. It seemed like they wanted to be away from me because of what their dad said, and I didn’t know what to do... I was beginning to despair, how am I supposed to tell them something if a man in his 50s told me something like that. As we walked, we saw a madman coming at full speed wanting to pass the fresh pavement of the streets, had the lights of the car intenses, the streets were wet by the small snow that fell that night... For a while I thought... the man or woman driving that car would slow down a bit when he or she saw that we were on the street... I thought that person knew about the paving and would stop when saw the tape that said, ''Don’t pass''... the car didn’t stop... -Guys... ah... that car, that psycho is not going to stop... Ryan stepped forward, the car would pass through the lane where we were and... I think Ryan was a little unsure about whether the car would stop, but Ryan, seeing the car closer to us and speeding, decided to run across the street. -Nicole...-I went back to see Nicole, I saw her eyes, she was still not knowing what to do, Ryan moved without taking his girlfriend with him. -NICOLE! GET OUT OF THERE!-I yelled at her, I think she didn’t know what to do, damn it, her boyfriend didn’t do anything, or say anything, the car was only a few meters from us... -NICOLE DAMN IT! Through my head passed the following sentence: -'You killed her, Tyler... your own mother...'' -''You killed her, Tyler... Ryan’s girlfriend...'' -s**t I DIDN’T KILL ANYONE!-While I was shouting this... I ran towards Nicole and pushed her towards Ryan, who was on the other side of the lane. ... I went back to see the car, I saw nothing but lights, lights of the car that made me blind for a moment when it lit straight into my face. -I'm f*****g dead...