Burn the truth (ENG)

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Impatient, I was waiting at the door. The tip of my shoe tapped nervously on the floor as I looked around.

Hearing the lock open, I turned to the door.

The door opened and a woman in her fifties stood in the doorway.

Her dark blond hair had streaks of gray and her dark brown eyes were identical to Camilla's and Ela's.

The fit aunt I knew, now had a wooden stick handy to support her body. A sign that her legs didn't have the desired strength to hold her up.

She held the door tight as she looked at me questioningly. "Hello?"

"Aunt Renee." I took a step forward. "It's me. Zara."

"Zara?" she repeated in her mind. Realization dawned on her. "Eliana's daughter?" she asked wide-eyed.

I nodded slowly.

"My God, how did I not think of that sooner." Her brown eyes studied my face intently. "You seem to look exactly like Matin."

I bit my lip when I heard my father's name. A sigh left my mouth. Focus, Zara.

I shook the thoughts away and stood up straight. "Can I come in?"

Aunt Renée frowned for a moment.

My eyes looked at her desperately. "I want to visit Ela. Please?" I snatched some leaves from my bag and handed them to her. "This is the letter from the court with the permission."

She took the papers in her hands and nodded inside. "Come in."

Relieved, I stepped into the house and took off my shoes. Hearing Ela's voice caught my breath in my throat.

I hadn't seen Ela for two weeks and I was shaking with excitement.

Ever since Faid dropped off my daughter with Aunt Renée, I felt her absence as a rock on my heart.

I didn't had the courage that day to let her go, so Faid took the rope from me and took Ela to Aunt Renée.

Seeing her little figure rocking in the garden, I felt my eyes sting. I had missed her.

"I got a call two weeks ago with the news that my granddaughter would be staying with me temporarily." I looked to the side and saw that Aunt Renée had come and stood next to me with her eyes on Ela.

"I was so surprised. I knew Camilla was pregnant, but that she gave her daughter to you?" Her tone held horror and discontent. "She can't even take care of her own daughter."

It was quiet for a minute.

"I didn't bring Ela into the world," I began softly. "-but I consider her as my own," I stated confidently.

Aunt Renée looked at me searchingly for a moment. "I never played the part of an aunt for you and Faid. Eliana and I weren't even on good terms. Why are you doing this for us, Zara?"

Memories flew by of when Faid and I were swinging in the street, without a home, food or money.

"The bond you had with my mother and the bond between you and me and Faid doesn't define Ela."

My eyes rolled back to Ela. Her dark blond hair flew in the air as she rocked gently. "Ela is a child. A toddler. She was a baby when I found her on my doorstep."

I felt my eyes sting. "I had a hard time at the time. I wasn't well, but Ela warmed my heart. She was the light in my life. Seeing her innocent face, I felt all my worries disappear and now I wish not a day without her."