Don't Forget

Fara

We are now in September. Tilly has been in prison for seven months. She, who was so morose at the start of her sentence, strangely has renewed energy. Also, she had completely lost her appetite, but now she asks for bigger portions of food. Her previously pale face has been regaining some color for some time now, and her uniform seems to be less floating on her.

Tilly seems more inclined to life. What I find strange in this situation. Especially since the return of Hugo who abuses her every night. It looks like she's accepting what he's doing to her, because she stopped struggling a while ago.

Since she no longer wants to defend herself, I try to touch or throw an object at Hugo when he visits Tilia, but I don't have the strength to do so. Even on nights he doesn't work, she can't sleep more than four hours. I see her shivering in fear under her covers and my heart breaks. After her ex leaves, I stay with her overnight hoping that my presence can bring her comfort, and I often find myself crying in silence with my sister.

I miss Kenziel and I know Tilly thinks of him sometimes, because I hear her whisper his name in her sleep. Part of me is starting to believe the angels probably killed him, but I keep hoping he's trying to get back to Tilia.

Besides, I like to believe he could cure mom. She no longer has the strength to visit her daughter, and she can barely talk on the phone as her situation is getting worse. It pains me to see her so weakened by her cancer. She hardly eats and when she manages to swallow something, she vomits almost all the contents of her stomach. Tilia and I know that her time is running out.

I look at my mother in her hospital bed. She is surrounded by machines connected to her by wires penetrating the veins of her arms emaciated by disease. I watch her lying in her hospital gown and breathing hard. She looks so fragile.

I go to sit in the gray chair placed next to her bed to watch the cars in the hospital parking lot through the sixth-floor window. The phone on the bedside table to her right rings and she strains to catch it. I'd like to push it towards her so she doesn't have to hurt herself, but as always my hand just goes through the object.

—    Nurse! mom yells when she can't reach the handset.

She knows it's Tilia calling her, and that their time together is limited. A lady wearing a sky blue uniform comes into the room and picks up the phone for my mother. She thanks her and the nurse goes back to her business.

—    Hello Tilia, she says slightly out of breath.

I hear Tilly answer her on the other end of the line and Mom smiles. I watch her light up a little while chatting with my sister and I can't help but share their joy. Seeing that mom is in good hands with Tilly, I decide to slip away to visit Alec.

...

—    You love me? Maya asks Alec while hugging him.

—    Of course, he replies, caressing his wolf necklace absent-mindedly.

Maya leaves admiring her engagement ring. Alec stays in their small bathroom with forest green walls to look at himself in the mirror. Shirtless, he thoughtfully fiddles with his necklace around his neck.

—    A wolf... he's been repeating to himself for a while.

He's been trying to remember the meaning of the necklace Tilia gave him before he left her, for about a week. Thinking of my sister isn't as painful as it used to be since he saw her again in that little cafe. It seems that something in him has changed. As if some part of the old Alec was trying to resurface. Unable to awaken the memory buried deep in his memory lost since the accident, he puts on a beige sweater and heads into the living room of the condo he shares with Maya.