Sylvie Maradona: The Story Of A Monster

Chapter 10: The Recovery

{We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.}

   Two years had passed since the "Red Night" and no one had fully recover. Rachel tried her best to move on with her husband, Dereck. And Crista was doing her best to help Ahmed who is now in a mental hospital. Since the boy was still a minor, she had to take care of her dead friend's company as well.
  Sylvie's funeral took place on a rainy Tuesday. Everyone attempted, even Rachel, who was standing kind of away from the casket and walked closer only when everyone was gone. She let a few white roses, Sylvie's favourites, on the grave and let a few tears run down her cheeks.
"Good night, Sylvie. I hope you are happier there...and I'm sorry for everything."
  She was feeling bad about everything that happened.
"Do you blame yourself?" She heard a female voice, that sent shivers down her spine. She turned around to see Crista.
"What?" Her mind wasn't able to understand what she was being asked.
"It's quite common for someone involved in a situation like this to feel a kind of guilt."
"I have a high percentage of responsibility."
"It was an accident, Rachel."
  They had to forget.

  Even if she was really hated the last days of her life, there were a lot of people who went to say the last goodbye. The government decided to  burry Sylvie as a general and on her coffin they placed both the USA and Argentinian flag. Both of the national anthems were listened. Her coffin was dragged down slowly and respectfully in the ground. She was finally placed in her eternity house.

  But our main character is somewhere far away. No I don't mean heaven neither hell. Sylvie fooled you too. She is not an angel with cute white wings neither a little demon running here and there. She is alive and back in Buenos Aires. Locked up in her family's house, with her mother, sister and nephews.
 
  It was a warm morning when Felicia Maradona was watching the news. The TV was talking about a terrible fire in the city centre of New York. While she was enjoying her morning coffee and baking an orange cake in the over she heard the door of the garden opening.
"Maria? Are you back already?" She didn't receive an answer. She took off her glasses and got up. She was only a few inches away from the door when the bell rang. "Did you forget your keys?" She grabbed the door knob, twisted it over and opened it wide. On her doorstep she saw an almost scary figure. A human dressed in rags. They were keeping their head down. Hiding their features inside his hoodie. "Can I help you?" the benevolent woman asked. The answer she received, however, left her speechless. The figure in front of her raised her head and took off her hood. Her daughter's face appeared in the sunlight. "Sylvie..."
  Sylvie didn't say a word. She just stared into her mother's eyes. Without any sentences she was telling her "Mom, I'm tired of everything." Her face and hands were slightly scorched. Her eyes were heavy. She looked much older than her actual age. Felicia herself didn't need any further explanation. She opened her hands and embraced her lost daughter. Sylvie cried in her mother's arms like a child after all this time. Her chest was pumping up and down. She needed time to find herself.

  These past two years she never spoke a word to no one. Everyday she was replaying the terrifying night that she left everything behind and ran away. She never forget and misses Ahmed more and more every single hour.
Today she was staring down the city from their garden, the garden they used to play when they were kids. The city she grew up in. Maria, her sister, two years older than Sylvie, is a lawyer. She walked closer to Sylvie holding two cups of hot tea.
"Here" she offers her one "Come on. It's your favourite. Dad used to say to drink it before the sun goes down or else you are not gonna be able to sleep. Wasn't he right? Of course he was." Sylvie was still remaining silent.
"I don't want you here. I did respect your situation but you really need to leave. You only create problems. Just leave. Please." Maria walked back in the house letting her staring down the city.
How heartbreaking. Her only hope in this world was kicking her out. She loved her family, as much as if she didn't want to admit it. She was replaying her sister's words in her mind. She couldn't stand it anymore. She fell to the ground and started crying. Everyone hated on her and she didn't know what to do.