Miles Away

Prologue!

Miles Salvador
(7 years old)

"Wake up little boy!" I heard a voice calling me.

Darkness.
My eyelids were heavy, tired from lack of sleep and now I couldn't even open them.

Darkness again!

"I told you to wake up!" The voice was heard louder. Stronger.

I tried to open my eyes and in front of me, in a blurry vision, stood a man in his 50s, his hair somewhat gray, with a wild look. Almost murderous.

The room I was in - lying on the cold floor - was dark, without any windows in it. I couldn't sleep all night. I was scared!

My back ached and my hands were shaking from the cold of the night that passed.

"Get up!" He commands.
I tried, but in vain. I felt my head get wet from the cold water, which goes through my body up to the end of my shoulders.

My body froze. My eyes opened in shock and now I could see better. I wrapped my arms around my body to provide some warmth. Now I could recognize the person in front of me.

My grandfather.

"Did the night you spend in the dark room serve you as a lesson? So that you don't stick your nose where you don't belong." He asked as he grabbed my arms and lifted me to my feet like I was a toy. I didn't have a big body for my age, I was even smaller than I should have been. My momma told me that when I grow up I will be a big man. I trust my mom, she never lies to me.

I nodded.
I didn't like to talk a lot.
"Do you remember what I told you? Have you learned your mother's name now?" He chuckled.

"Her name is MOM!" I spoke back.
"I see! You still need to learn your lesson. If you refuse to call her by her name I will be obligated to let you sleep here everynight." He grabbed my arm by force. It hurts, but i prefer this better than seeing him kill people in front of me.

It isn't like the people that dies in the cartoons. Their blood is thicker and they scream a lot. Sometimes when i close my eyes their voice echoed in my head like some church bells.
Their faces are scary.
I don't like horror movies!
My mom don't let me see them. I prefer Tom and Jarry better.
But the voice, the faces in my head are even scarier.

"Follow me!" He ordered. I did. My small and tired steps, somewhat trembling legs follow his large figure as I walk down a corridor. Finally I could see some light. My eyes started to hurt now and when we passed by a mirror I could see them redden.

As we stopped in the living room, I could see two big men who were standing by the door, my mother was sitting in the armchair. Her eyes were filled with tears. I started running towards her. The only moment where I found myself strong.
"Miles, my baby." She rose to her feet and approached me. Her cheeks were covered in tears. I don't want my momma cry.

"Momma don't cry." I wiped her eyes with my hands as she knelt down to reach my length. They were small, but they matched the size of her big and beautiful eyes.

"Look at your mom's lips Miles." Samuel, my grandfather said as he took a glass of drink in his hand. It looks like alcohol to me.
I looked at her lips, which were cracked at the corner. The blood had just dried and there was a purple stain on his forehead. I think. Sometimes I mix up the colors. It must have hurt a lot.
"Do you want it to happen again to her?" he asked. I shook my head. NO!

"Call her by her name then."
I wanted to fight back. I didn't want to call her by her name. I did not understand how parents did not love their children. How he treated my mother in that way to take revenge on his wife. But then if I thought about it, my father doesn't love me either. He left my mom when she was waiting for me to come to life.

Maybe it was my fault.
He left her because he didn't want me

"Tell him Andrea or i will make him sleep in the dark room. "
Mom's eyes filled with panic.
" No Please....
Miles call me by my name." She said to me as she caressed my hair lightly.

"No you are my momma," I protested. I turned my eyes full of anger and eyebrows gathered together in Samuel's direction.
"Mom!" I yelled angrily. I wanted to hit him, but I knew that neither in body nor in length could I measure up to him.

"Ok, so take the little boy," He ordered his man
They got closer.
"NO!" Mom yelled.
"MILES MY NAME IS ANDREA!" Again, she shouted. My cheeks were heated by the temperature of the tears that fell without stopping.
I flinched hard.
If he had not caught us now, we would be free, far from here. I would call my mom the way I wanted. I would hug her the way I wanted. I would smell her scent as she would put me to sleep with bedtime stories.

"Ok, enough!" His deep voice fills the room. I jumped up in fright.

Mom hugs me in her arms.

Andrea hugs me in her arms!

He turned towards us and as Andrea rose to her feet he reached out to hit her.
"ANDREA!" I screamed and his hand stopped a few centimeters away from her face.

"Good boy," he smirked.
I didn't have a father. But from now on, I don't have a mother either.

" I will become the daughter you want me to be. The perfect daughter in the eyes of the world. No one would know that I have a son... Just let me see him and don't hurt him. Please!" She pleaded.
He seemed to think for a while.
"I agree. Now I will be your father and Andrea will be your sister in the eyes of the world. Call me father!"

"I don't have a father."
"Babe, please," Andrea said . Her eyes were so sad. I looked at her bruises. Maybe if I kiss them they will be healed. It always works in movies.
"Ok" I managed to get out of my mouth as a stutter. I didn't want him to hurt her.

He looked at me from head to toe.
"Life is a bitch Andrea, just like your mother was." Samuel said, placing the glass on the table. Mom covers my ears as she pulls me close to her belly. Although I could still hear very little.

"My mother was a bitch, but you are a monster. You don't deserve to be a father." I heard her speak very little, the voice as if it was slowly fading away. Her voice was filled with anger.

He made a disgusted look and then left with his two men.
As soon as the room was empty- only me and her left- my body felt the warmth of both hands that gathered in it.
"Miles, I love you very much. You are the most precious thing I have. I'm sorry that you are suffering because of my fault." She said with eyes in a river of tears.

"I love you too. I will get strong and I will get you out of here. I swear." She smiled.

When I grow up I will save you moma.
I will be your prince charming.
I don't need a father.
Neither do you.
He doesn't deserve us.