Page 143 of Through My Window
Apolo sits down on his chair, taking a piece of pineapple.
“Remember the picture you took of us this morning?” Claudia nods. Apolo chews for a second and says, “It went viral.”
My mother gives him a grimace of disgust.
“Don’t chew and talk, Apolo, how rude.”
I sit down and check my phone again. I still don’t have a message from the witch.
Where are you, Raquel?
Don’t you miss me?
Because I’m dying to talk to you.
I open my conversation with her, and I notice she hasn’t seen my messages yet. My phone rings in my hands, but my excitement fades when I see it’s Samantha. I move away from the table to answer.
“Hello?”
“Oh, happy New Year, Ares.”
Her voice sounds self-conscious, something’s not right.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
She hesitates on the other end of the line.
“Something happened, Ares.”
FORTY-EIGHT
The Gifts
- RAQUEL -
Medication . . .
Therapy sessions . . .
Psychiatric consultations . . .
And a lot of other things related to Joshua’s condition are all I heard in the hospital as the day went on. I don’t know if it’s from tiredness or lack of sleep, but it was hard for me to pay attention, let alone understand what they were talking about.
My mother practically dragged me out of the building when the clock hit midnight again because I had officially spent twenty-four hours there. She said I needed to rest. Dani arrived to keep Joshua company in my place so his parents could rest too. They were devastated. After crying on my best friend’s shoulder for a while, I said good-bye to Joshua and left.
This is not how I imagined starting the new year. Apparently, life likes to hit us when we least expect it to see how long we can hold on. I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach and left without air, even though I’m breathing. My mind keeps trying to understand, to look for reasons, to point fingers, to blame myself. I still remember my conversation with Joshua before I left:
“I know you want to ask, so just do it.”
Joshua smiles at me.
“It’s okay,” he says.
I rub my arms in an attempt to buy time to choose my words carefully.
“Why? Why did you do it?” I ask.
Joshua looks away, sighing.
