Sunshine's shadow

6

25th September 2018

It had taken a lot longer than I had expected to set Granny's affairs in order. I had to wait for Happy to ride down last week so we could go through her belongings and decide what to keep, what to donate and what to bin. Some items had stickers on them that said Happy or Sunshine and we kept our respective gifts. I looked at the box that held mine and carried it to my SUV.

I strolled through my empty room one last time. I had stripped the faded, old posters off the walls that had been up since I was a teenager. I was lucky Granny didn't mind my version of decorating, which was just covering the walls with my high school crush Andy Biersack. Guess I always had a thing for the tattooed bad boy type. I looked around the barren walls. The place felt empty without all the pieces that made it a home. The hallway wallpaper had rectangles of a different shade where picture frames hung and most of the furniture had already been taken to Happy's house.

I smiled at the thought of my uncle settling down and snorted, he got a house not married with children. I can't imagine him going that far since he had the same philosophy that Nestor and I did towards children. No, he wouldn't be filling house with anything other than the pitter patter of dog paws.

With a final walkthrough of the house complete, I stepped out and let the social housing men in to take away the rest of the beds and couch away. I figured there were plenty of people who needed it and couldn't afford to buy them. They were quick in loading their van up and thanking me before pulling out. I locked the door and put the keys in the lockbox for the real estate agent to pick up and shed a final tear. I found this moment more upsetting than the actually funeral.

When I pulled myself together I started my trip to Santo Padre, hopefully the last one for a long time. Nestor had been chasing leads and barely sleeping so I didn't get to see him. Most of my nights were spent with Cristobal, Em and Miguel too when they were available. To say I was looking forward to Nestor was a severe understatement.

Needing some lunch I stopped by a diner and sat in a booth. Someone had left a newspaper on the table and my eyes widened at the story near the last page. It was a report about a murder of a nun at the Santa Madre festival, that resulted in a stampede of festival goers. Forgetting about eating, I left the diner and sped to Santo Padre after I saw Emily on the list of people injured at the festival last week.

I felt Nestor at home before I even pulled into the quiet street and I parked as quickly as I could. The door opened as I skipped up the steps and I slammed into his open arms. I breathed in his cologne and I felt him rest his chin on my head. Finally looking up at him I saw how tired he was looking and even more bruises were scattered across his cheek. I let my walls down and felt his aura and gasped before pulling away. I felt the urge to shower after feeling the sickly, sticky darkness that overwhelmed me.

"What the hell have you been doing?" I asked not really sure I wanted to know because I knew it was bad.

Before he could answer I noticed all the spirits that filled our home. At the very front was a nun and I felt my stomach heave with the realisation of what he did. I pushed my way into the house and ran to the bathroom before vomiting in the toilet. I couldn't think with the amount of angry spirits shouting at me their demands.

"Please, shhhh." I begged as I curled up on the cool tile floor.

"Sunshine?" Nestor asked concerned through the door.

I couldn't even muster an answer from the pounding in my head and the queasy feeling that still gripped my stomach. So many people had been killed by him while I was away, it was insane. I felt tears stream down my face as I saw a little bit clinging to his father and I pulled myself up to cough up more bile.