-Prologue-
"It ends as it begins." Those were the last words I heard my dad saying, he was standing near the door in the living room, holding a sports bag with one hand and dragging a suitcase on the other, with my mother sitting on the couch that's facing the door, she buried her face in her hands. Melancholy filled the room and he finally went out. The instance the door closed, she got up, her eyes were red and few tears were on her face, she took two striding steps towards the door, "Mama" she froze at the realization of my voice, she wiped the tears off of her face and turned to face me, she approached me and knelt to embrace me, "what are you doing up?" she asked in a voice so thick one would swear she was forced to speak. I evaded her question with a question of my own, "Was that dad?"
there was silence that lasted for a few seconds and she cleared her throat, placed her hands on my shoulders, and looked me in the eye and answered, " uhm, yes, uh, dad was called to attend an important meeting that is out of town, so, why don't we, get you in bed so you can get strong like that favorite cartoon character of yours." she said in a brief and forced laughter. Without a word, she took my hand and walked me to my room, my brothers were still asleep so I told her goodnight and snuck in bed, in a few minutes time, I was out like a candle.


© Adrian Richelieu