Late that night, I was sprawled
across the salmon satin coverlet atop my bed, my ear buds in place, but no
sound emitting from them. My gaze bore unseeingly into the dark abyss overhead.
The flicker of memory gazed back at me. It was everything my father had said
and everything he had omitted.
He followed her up the stairs, both of them beaming and anxious. My mom,
as drawn from his memories, was tall, tan, slender, muscular, and fragile. Her
long, dark blond hair needed a brush, but still looked radiant in its wild
nature. Her eyes were faded cerulean, hidden beneath long lashes and
complimented by full pink lips. As they climbed, she kept looking over her
shoulder, but her eyes scanned for something beyond my father. There was
tension in her smile, her lips appearing as though they were pulled too tightly;
she tried to emulate the carefree nature he had remembered, but it felt like a
cheap imitation. He didn’t care, though; she was here again, and they were
together.
When they reached the hotel room, she shushed him and quietly led. There
was an exchange of money in favor of a stout lady in a pressed maid’s uniform,
and then hustling into a dark corner of the small room.
Mom stood back as my father looked at me, at the child half-asleep
between pillows and blankets. His expression was joyous at first sight, but
quickly darkened. His cool composure failed him in the moments before Mom said,
“She just turned four months old last week.”
As he swiveled around to look properly at her, she let her defenses fall,
morphing into another person. Her jovial youth evaporated to reveal a worn
woman, sleepless for worry. The muscles that had been tense and strong fell,
leaving her deflated. Even the untamed halo of hair seemed to exhaust.
“Her name is Abriel,” she said weakly, a slight smile lifting her face. My
father hugged her intensely, truly happy. “I can’t take care of her, Charlie,”
Mom whispered. “Please, take her…you can give her a better life.”
The memory dissolved before me. I
knew the rest, but none with such vivid imagery.
Mom went missing again a
short while afterwards. When two years had passed without a trace, they
proclaimed her dead. According to Drei, she had been taken by bounty hunters. Dad
didn’t know it, but somehow I knew it to be the truth. Just as I was the only
one who knew the only reason she came back was for me. To spare me a worse
fate.
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