To Follow you or To Lose you

Chapter 13: Happy birthday?

On March 3rd Camila asked me to take her to a special place. It was her birthday, so I had organized a huge party at the cafe, but she said that very morning as she was resting in my arms that she needed to be somewhere else.

I accepted and canceled everything. I even asked Ally for the day off, who didn't hesitate to give it to me. I used to serve Matthew at the cafe, and that day she could impress him without looking desperate.

Although I felt a slight voice in my mind telling me that something terrible would happen if I didn't work that day and did all the necessary calculations, I decided to concentrate on my girlfriend. It was her who mattered, not my stupid needs.

"Where are we going?" It was the first time in months that I dared to get in my car.

She gave me an address written on a wrinkled piece of paper. Each letter was written in a different color, but I still didn't see the joy in her words.

Besides me, Camila didn't make a sound.

"Is something wrong? Is something wrong? ..." I asked her six times as I turned on my car the same number of times. She denied every opportunity.

I didn't believe her one bit.

"You can tell me, Camz. I'm your girlfriend. You can trust me" As I started driving I held her hand and on my way out I set out to go three times around the building to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything "...Besides, you know that the moon has always had a dark side. There it keeps its secrets, and I'm the moon. I will keep your secrets safe."

But, although my words were meant to make her smile, she didn't.

I didn't insist anymore, because I knew that Camila wasn't the one who spoke out of obligation. Still, I never let go of her hand.

She thanked me with twenty-three kisses on my knuckles, her favorite number of the day. It was also the number of years she was turning.

She didn't say anything when, halfway around, I turned around and went back to the apartment just to circle it twice more. She also wasn't angry when I stopped ten times in a row to get out of the car and make sure no tire had been punctured.

"We're here" I reported when I finally parked the car in front of an ordinary house like the others. That was the indicated direction.

I helped her out of the car twice, and she hugged me the same number of times.

Even without saying a word she knocked on the door six times, but she didn't do it because they wouldn't listen. She did it for me.

When the door opened, I expected a warm meeting, but there were only glances between a blonde woman and my girlfriend, who held my hand with strength.

"Hello mom" Camila greeted, and a little of her dementia seemed to have disappeared with the arrival of the woman.

Camila's mother didn't even smile. Actually, her gaze was stuck in our joined hands.

"Are you one of those now?" She asked her daughter with disgust, and it was because of reactions like hers that I had initially denied me what I felt. She was the reason many feared.

"It has always been me, Mom" Camila replied with some seriousness, and immediately made me enter the house while pulling my hand.

As I pass by her, I swear I felt a terrible cold sweep through my body.

I sat on the couch next to Camila. She was playing with my fingers, and inside my head I was starting to come up with a plan to leave.

"I'm Sinuhe" The cold blonde-haired woman told me when she took off her glasses. In my head I began to count so as not to feel that I was drowning.