Page 137 of Through My Window
“Come on, stand up, it’s time for the count.”
There are about fifteen people in this small room. The host on the TV screen starts counting backward.
Ten . . .
Dani’s laughter . . .
Nine . . .
Carlos’s foolishness . . .
Eight . . .
Yoshi’s nerdy arguments . . .
Seven . . .
Apolo’s innocence . . .
Six . . .
My mother’s disappointment . . .
Five . . .
Ares’s hurtful words . . .
Four . . .
Ares’s sweet words . . .
Three . . .
His beautiful smile when he wakes up . . .
Two . . .
The deep blue of his eyes . . .
One . . .
I love you, Witch.
“Happy New Year!”
Everyone is shouting, hugging, celebrating, and I can’t help but smile, even though thick tears are streaming down my cheeks.
I miss Ares a lot. He’s spending Christmas and New Year’s on an exotic beach in Greece because, apparently, they have family there. I couldn’t help teasing him about the Greek gods going to Greece. Ares asked me over and over again if I wanted him to stay, but how could I allow myself to take time with his family away from him? I’m not that selfish.
My mother hugs me, bringing me back to reality.
“Happy New Year, beautiful! I love you so much.” I return the hug. Our relationship is still a bit broken, but we’re working on it. Of course, I haven’t told her yet that Ares and I are dating. I’m taking it one step at a time. Ares called me hours ago to wish me a happy New Year, the time difference taking its toll.
After a few hugs, I sit on the couch. I have nothing to do—the reality of it takes me by surprise. After welcoming the year, Joshua would always come for me, and we would go out and wish happy New Year all over the streets, with everyone awake and celebrating. I glance at my phone at the opened note on forgiveness that I haven’t finished.
Joshua has always been by my side, and these last few months have been hard without him because we have so many of our own traditions. We used to go out to play in the first snowfall of the year, welcome the kids in scary costumes on Halloween, have marathons of our favorite series, and buy different books so that when we were done reading them, we could exchange them. We had board game nights and bonfires with horror stories next to my house. We even set the yard on fire once, and Mom almost killed us.
I smile at the memory.
