The Life Of Andrés De Fonollosa

home sweet home

After walking out of the alley he turned right and saw his house. Well, you couldn't really call it a house, it looked more like a run down, old ruin.

Andrés slowly walked up to the old door, breathed in deeply and then entered. He lived with three other families in this house. Everybody had one room to themselves. There was only one bathroom and that had to be shared with everybody.
Andrés walked up to the door with a big eight on it. His family's apartment.

Again he took a deep breath before entering, then as he entered he almost choked on the amount of smoke that was in this room. Yes, his mother smoked. She often did. Andrés thought that was the reason why his brother Sergio was ill as a child and always has to go to hospital. No one had ever told him what the reason was so he had no choice but to presume.

His mother marched up to him, hit his head hard and said angrily:„Where have you been, Andrés? I thought something might have happened to you since you were gone for so long!
Do you have it?"
Andrés was holding his head where his mother had slapped him. The hit shocked him more than it actually hurt him.
He put his hand in the pocket and hesitated. He didn't want to give this beautiful piece away but he certainly didn't want another slap, so he took the necklace out of his pocket and handed it carefully over. She smiled as she took the necklace and rubbed his head the way she always did when she was happy with him and then said:„Good job, that will bring us a lot of money." Easy for her to forget she had just slapped him.
Then she turned around hid the necklace under the floorboards, walked to the door, opened it and left.

Andrés knew, it was time to see how Sergio was doing in hospital and if he could come home today. His mother went walking to the hospital nearly every single day leaving him alone. His father worked all day, so he never saw his son.
Andrés really missed him.

Often people wondered why he was called Andrés de Fonollosa and his brother was called Sergio Marquina even though they were brothers. It was actually quite an easy answer. Andrés and Sergio were only half brothers. They both had the same mother but a different father. Sergio's father was a very intelligent thief. He did everything to try to pay for his son so he could get good treatment in hospital. Andrés father however never stole anything in his life before and worked in a very factory. He was poor and honest. He didn't know his son had started to steal to survive. He must never know.
He always wanted his son to be different, to work in a company, maybe even his own.

Andrés started to cook something for his family. Every Wednesday he had the job to cook. And every time he prepared food he always made an extra portion for Sergio, just in case he came home, which was actually quite rare. Today however was exactly that day, the day he would come home. Andrés just didn't realize that yet.

Just as Andrés finished cooking he heard the door get unlocked and in came Sergio's father. ‚Why was he here?', Andrés thought to himself. Sergio's father usually lived in his own apartment about five minutes away. He tended to only join, when his son was here.‚Wait' Andrés thought, does that mean Sergio is coming?'
Andrés smiled to himself. Finally there could be someone his age around him. He always really missed his brother.

Slowly Sergio walked into the room. Followed, very closely behind him was his mother. She was holding his hand to stabilise him.

Andrés smiled out of happiness and shouted:„Sergio!" He then ran up to him and held him tightly.

It was as if time had stopped. Andrés never wanted this moment to end. Now that Sergio was here, Andrés really noticed how much he actually had missed him. He was finally back . It was always really difficult for him, an eight year old being 24/7 with his mother. They were too poor to send him to school so he didn't have any friends and couldn't hang out with anybody his age.

Then, suddenly Sergio's father said with a angry tone:„ Andrés, let go of Sergio. You are just going to hurt him."
Andrés quickly did as he was told since he knew Sergio's father didn't like him. He never knew why but since his birth Sergio's father had tried to keep him away from his own son.

Sergio smiled at him and said quietly:„Hello brother. I have missed you and I am happy to see you now." Andrés smiled too. Sergio's voice was always calm, quiet and it always sounded so educated. As if he already lived had a long and wise life.
Andrés on the other hand had a loud, dominant but, he proudly thought, a posh and smooth voice.

Then again Sergio's angry, annoying father looked around the room, spotted the food on the table and said:„Did you cook that Fonollosa?" He looked Andrés straight in the eyes. Andrés looked down to break the eye contact and then slowly nodded.
Sergio's father looked at him disappointed. He looked at his son, shook his head and said to Andrés:„Look at my son. He has been through hell in hospital and finely, when he gets one, only ONE day at home, you cook this junk for him.
Do you actually think he will even get close to that food?"

Andrés looked down, then he looked at the meal he had prepared. It really didn't look that bad. Sergio's father lived in a poor apartment but he wasn't actually that poor. He often stole things without getting caught. So why didn't he provide decent food? He had money. Enough money for good food.  He just couldn't afford to pay even more for Sergio's treatment.
That's the reason why he was working on a plan to rob a bank.
‚Well good luck with that', Andrés thought to himself ‚You will never make it!'

He looked back at Sergio's father and said casually:„ Sir, if I had good ingredients to cook with, I would have also prepared something better. But since we live in such a poor, little flat with no money, how am I able to do that?
If you wanted your son to eat something nice than you should have stolen something, sold it and gone to a nice restaurant with him. But wait: You prefer to waste your money and time trying to work out a plan and buying the right equipment to rob an unrobbable bank"
   
                             Silence

Andrés mother shouted:„ Andrés, how dare you?" She marched up to Andrés and gave him another very hard slap.
Andrés head flew to the side. His cheek started to burn, so he put his hand on his cheek and slowly looked back at his mother.
She looked furious. Then he heard a slight giggle. It was Sergio's father smiling and laughing slightly. Andrés felt like grabbing a knife and splitting his ugly and thick scull with it.

Andrés mother went up to her ex and started to apologize to him. 'How could my mother betray me like that?'Andres thought.
Andrés would never understand how  she would do everything to put him down. Silly weak woman.

Then Sergio said slowly: „Father, I think Andrés cooked a nice meal given the ingredients he had. Thank you for cooking, my dear brother, I will enjoy the meal."
Sergio's father looked at his son as if he had just betrayed him in the worst way possible. But Sergio just ignored him and walked up to the table and sat down. Soon Andrés followed his brother and closely behind his mother came.

Sergio's father hesitated but he didn't want to leave his son alone, so he slowly walked over to the others.

It was a very unpleasant family meal. No one spoke, so there was an awkward silence which infected the whole room.

This was Andrés' everyday life and it was awful. He hated his life, he hated his family (well except for Sergio) and he just wanted to grow up, leave the house as soon as possible and start a new and very different life all by himself. If Sergio didn't have to go to hospital when Andrés was older, he would happily invite him to live with him in his house but otherwise no one out of the family would ever be even allowed to come close to him ever  again. He would turn his back on the whole pack of them and hope they rot in misery and poverty. He would show them that he was different. He just had to wait. His time would come.