Fall to Pieces

No Pearly Gates

After passing the gates, I hop put the car and I am immediately surrounded by young children.
"Hola! Hola! Hola!" They all chant. Remembering the stuff I bought for them, I pull out little loop bags from my backpack and hand it to them. To see their little faces with such happiness and glee makes me smile. A little girl smiles at me, and I have to smile back. Her curly back hair is tied back by a white ribbon, and she's wearing a little pink dress. "¿Quién eres?" She asks. She wants to know who I am. Handing her a loop bag, I kneel to her height and answer, "Me llamo Anastasia O'Neil. ¿Quién es used?" (Who are you?)
"Ana..sta...sia?" I nod. "Yo soy Raina. Encantada!"
Giggling, I whisper, "Mucho gusto." (Its a pleasure to meet you.)
Standing up, I face Eddy (God, he gets more sexy every time I look at him...). He really looks surprised now. "Yo confieso, you are not turning out to be what I thought you would."
Grinning, because really, with a face like that, how long can I stay mad at a face like that? Not very long. "No hay mas cera que la que arde." (What you see is what you get.)
He rolls his eyes, and I follow him into the house, I look around. Not that it bothers me, but everything is worn and breaking down. There is one big house, the one that Eddy is leading me to, and I notice the paint is peeling and it needs lots of repairs. There are about fifteen cabins, I'm guessing that's where the kids sleep, because the next building is of a semipermanent wood construction, and is painted in a bright green and white.
"That's the school," Eddy points out. "And the cabins over there are for the extra kids to sleep. Not everyone can sleep in the house."
"How many kids are there?"
"Over 150."
"Wow. That's a lot."
"Yup." He stops at the door. "I should warn you, my mother is very..."
I lift my eyebrow. "What, you're scared I'm going to tell your mother that you annoy the living daylights out of me?"
"No," he snarls. "I'm giving you a warning. She's the nurturing type."
Pushing the door open, I mock him and taunt, "Oh, I'm so scared."
"Welcome! Hola! I am Celestia! Anastasia, my God, you look so skinny? They no feed you in America? Ey, sit, sit! Plane ride was good? Yes? Eduardo behave and pick you up on-"
My God. She has not stopped talking since I stepped through the door, and her accent is ten times thicker than Eddy's. I look at Eddy, who smirks and mouths, "Oh, I'm so scared."
I smile at the woman. "Thanks. They do feed us in North America, I slept the whole plane ride and Eduardo didn't tell me that was his full name."
Celestia twirls and glares at Eddy. "I no give the name Eddy. I give you Eduardo. You no listen. Ay, I'm done with you." Turning back to me, she smiles so brightly the sun must be jealous. "Come, come! I give you tour, okay?"
And all of a sudden I don't feel that dull ache that burdens me any more. I mean, of course its still there, but slowly, I can feel it fading away. After all, this is the start of a new life.
I hope.