Sands Of Time

Emotional Damage pt. 2

  **It was then that I heard it. The soft sound of a rattling breath, and a rough string of coughing that came from my mother's bedroom.**

*_______*

  I looked at Bruno, and then back to where my mother's room was located. I stood up from the chair, the small pain in my knee forgotten with the worrisome sounds raking through the air. Bruno shadowed me as we moved across the house to her bedroom door. Another string of rattling coughs came from within, I placed my fingers on the knob and turned. The door swung in. It was dark in the room, so Bruno ran back to get one of the candles from the sitting area. The light spilled in, driving away the darkness, and there was  Mamá, laying on her back in bed. Her breathing was very light, and she looked sick. Her skin was pale even in the dim glow of the candle and the bags under her eyes looked darker. I could have kicked myself when I realized that she had been hiding it with make up.

  I ran to her bedside and ignored the pain in my knee when I dropped down on it next to her. When I took her hand in mine, it was cool and clamy, and as I did, she slowly turned her head to look at me. Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry. I never... could find the right... time to tell you." Her speech was slow and halting from the shallow breaths. She had hid it so well that I had no idea she was sick. Sure, she seemed a little more sluggish than usual today, but...but...

  "Má, don't talk like that." Tears started to fall down my face again. "Julieta... Bruno can go get Julieta and..." My mother shook her head slowly, and closed her eyes.

  "Don't... cry, hija. I... go to be... with your father...now." Bruno stepped up beside me, placed the candle on the bedside table, and put his hand on my shoulder. Mamá opened her eyes just enough to look up at him. I watcher her swallow hard as she pulled her hand out of mine, and beckoned him to come closer. I watched, tears burning my eyes, as he knelt down next to me. Her hand reached out, and rested on his cheek. I watched as a tear slipped from the corner of his eye. Her words were soft, and quiet, but they hit like a ton of bricks.

  "I was wrong...about you. Take...care of...mí Mariposita,... hijo." A long rattling breath passed her lips as her eyes closed, and she lay still. Bruno caught her hand as it slipped from his cheek. The shock of what happened kept him in place as he held her hand. He took a shaky breath as he placed it on her other, across her stomach.

  "Mamá?" My voice broke. "Mamá!" Bruno's arms wrapped around me as I cried ugly tears of heartbreak against him. We sat on the floor for a few minutes before Bruno attempted to help me stand up.

  "Come away, querida." But when he tried to guide me away from my mother, something snapped, and I couldn't just leave her like this. I fought his grip, but I was too weak by this point to get out of his grasp. "She's at peace, mí amor. There's nothing we can do." He was trying to stay strong for me, even with the small waver in his voice. He guided me to the kitchen, and sat me in a chair at the table.

  Bruno got a glass out of the cupboard, and poured some water in it at the sink. I watched as he walked around the table, and stood in front of me. He, too, was watching me carefully as he held the glass out. "Drink." I looked up at him, and nodded. My hand reached for the glass and I put it to my lips. The cool water slid down my throat as I took a sip. With a nod, Bruno went about rummaging around the kitchen to find the fixings for hot cocoa. I went to stand up to help him, but when he turned around and caught me, his voice got stern. "Siéntate. No estás en forma ahora mismo." The tone he used was on the softer side but made me sit back in my chair none the less. Instead of chopping the bar of chocolate, I watched him brake it into small chuncks with his hands. Bruno was focused on what he was doing, and while he was no Julieta, I assumed he had watched her make the drink plenty of times in the past. He got a pot on the stove so he could boil some milk, and I watched as he hovered his hand over it to make sure the heat would be sufficient. Then, he turned to pull out a couple of mugs for us. I sat there watching him, the grace in which he actually moved when he wasn't overthinking his own self worth and existence was amazing. He seemed to stand a little straighter too, and while he only stood at five feet four inches, he made up for it in other ways. You didn't need physical hight to house a radiant soul. In my current state, it wasn't hard for my mind to drift, so when Bruno caught me stareing at him, he pushed himself off the counter where he had been leaning, and stepped over to me. I watched as he knelt down, his eyes staring back into mine, "Mí amor. You need to drink." I sighed and put the glass up to my lips again and took another sip.