𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍

02.

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oh i'm just a kid, never use my brain
i only use my heart

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CHAPTER TWO,
OMNISCIENT POV.

sage didn't know mama cele. all she knew was that the woman was her mom's mother, whom she rarely ever spoke about. it was a bit odd, seeing as she spoke of and with the rest of her family often—even those who lived in mexico, with her mother.

she also knew that adamaris asked about her often, for some reason. it was probably because adamaris actually remembered the woman.

her and sage used to fly down every other summer when they were kids and stay with her, apparently they loved it. they loved mama cele, too. unfortunately, sage didn't remember her or what she was like, because she was about seven when they stopped going. she has vague memories of running around in a backyard, chasing chickens with adamaris and walking through a colorful little street market, but that was all.

she doesn't know why they stopped going either. adamaris had begged their mom to visit mama cele every summer after that, but she refused. though that never stopped her older sister from begging and pleading to go, ever so persistent.

now that she thought about it, it made more and more sense for adamaris to head straight down there as refuge from well, here. she was almost glad she knew where her sister might be, or where she was headed, until she realized she didn't know where in mexico.

tracking adamaris down just got a whole lot harder.

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the teen was pleased with herself when she realized there was a possibility she wouldn't have resort to asking her mom where mama cele lived (as if she'd tell her, anyway) because she could just search through old photographs. maybe somewhere among all of them, there was a date and location jotted down. the only downside of that was that she'd have to go up to their creepy attic, which she thought looked like something straight out of an horror film.

so there she was, crouching in the dimly lit room, surrounded by dust, cobwebs, and boxes. there were a couple scattered around, boxes they'd never unpacked when they'd moved years back. she finally found the one labeled 'pictures & books' and immediately opened it, finding multiple photo albums varying in size.

she reached for the oldest looking one—the one with the most signs of ageing and tear—surprised when a couple of photos and papers slipped right out of it.

she picked them up, shining her phone's flashlight on them to get a better look. the first picture was very obviously her mom, a wide smile on her face and looking like a younger adamaris. the similarity was almost uncanny. the polaroid was a little yellowed, with a very faint 'soledad, 1984' written on the bottom right corner in faded black ink.

the next two were pictures she'd never seen before. the first was, again, her mom, but this time sitting next to a middle aged woman, who was carrying a small curly haired girl in her lap. she tried to ignore the way her chest ached when she looked at the woman, instead looking back to her mom. her arms were wrapped around her huge swollen belly, so she figured the little girl was adamaris and her mom had been pregnant with her. she turned the photograph to see the words 'en casa de mama cele' and nothing else, to her disappointment. the second one displayed the same woman, who she'd now established was mama cele, and a younger her and adamaris on a floral couch. she was sprawled across her grandma's lap, all bright eyes and laughter, while her sister grinned straight at the camera, two teeth missing in her smile. they must've been about four and six years old, at most. she flipped the picture and was met with a feeling of defeat when there was no writing at all.