The Imposter

Chapter Eight

After waking up from the coma, I had a lot of questions, but I knew that it may not be the time for them. How was Valeria? Did she know what had happened to me? When would I be able to see her? I knew from the moment that I accepted the role of Esteban Salazar that I could no longer ask those questions. I had to keep them to myself. Maybe one day, they would all be answered. Maybe one day, I would be able to see my sister again.

Two weeks after I woke up, Mrs. Salazar came back with Ellie, her assistant. Ellie looked as though she was overwhelmed. But she did everything that she was asked to do. 

The day I left the hospital, another woman came. I had no idea who she was. “Who is she?” I asked, looking at the woman. Our eyes made contact and it was as if we had met each other before. She smiled at me not minding my face of disgust towards her.  “This is my sister,” Mrs. Salazar began. “She is going to be helping me get you ready.” I smiled at the woman and she smiled back. “My name is Daisy. I know all of this must be new to you, but I want to help you be as ready as you can.” She was very jittery. Opposite of Mrs. Salazar.

  I didn’t understand. “Be ready for what?” The two women looked at each other and then began to laugh. “You didn’t think that you were just going to walk into my house and pretend to be my son did you?” Mrs. Salazar looked at me.

Her sister began to take clothes out of the bag. “Here, you have to get dressed. We will be leaving soon.” The two women walked out of the room to give me privacy. As I stood, I still felt pain from the cut.  I got dressed. The clothes that they gave me fit perfectly. It was clothes that I couldn’t ever imagine wearing. I got dressed quickly and went to the door to let them know I was ready. Both women came back in and grabbed me. “It’s time to go,” Mrs. Salazar said. As we walked out of the hospital, I looked at both women and thought of what I was getting myself into. This was now something much bigger than what I thought it would be. But I had no choice, if I wanted to see my sister again, I would have to go along with the plan. 

We got in the car and drove. We drove for two hours. I saw a sign that said Welcome to Seattle.  I was back home, except we entered an area which I had never been to. The houses there were spectacular. There were mansions, at least they looked like mansions compared to my old house. We drove past five houses before getting to the one. The  Salazar's house. 

The car stopped and the women got out. Jaime waited for me to get out. “Aren’t you coming?” He said in his usual rude tone, I had grown accustomed to. I quickly got off of the car and followed the women inside. 

Inside Ellie waited for us. She had her tablet at hand waiting to inform Mrs. Salazar.  She began telling her something, but Mr. Salazar was uninterested. We sat on a couch. I looked around to see what I could see. I felt as though I was in a candy shop. I couldn’t believe my eyes, was this really the house I would spend my days in? Right after we sat down Mrs. Salazar and her sister began a conversation. After twenty minutes, Mrs. Salazar’s sister tapped me on my shoulder. I had gotten lost in thought once again. Mrs. Salazar had already left and her sister was there waiting for me. “Are you ready?” I nodded and we walked upstairs. 

We walked into a grand bedroom. “This will be your room,” she said. I walked around touching everything. I couldn’t believe it. “Do you like it?” Like it, I loved it. “What’s not to love? It’s so big. Are you sure this is for me?” She nodded. “Yes, it is. We bought things that we thought  you would like. Here’s a tablet, a phone, your TV, and clothes. If you need anything else let us know.” She walked towards the door. “And just to let you know, everything has a tracker on it, so we can check if you try to contact anyone.” 

I looked around the room as she left. This was unbelievable. All of this was mine. Well, actually it was Esteban’s but he wouldn’t mind if I used it. Would he? I was so jealous of Esteban. I wish I could have had at least a quarter of this. 

Later that day we had dinner. Everything was exquisite. We had a banquet. At least I thought it was a banquet. There were trys after trays of food. Appetizers, meals, and desert.  My favorite thing was the lobster. I had never had anything quite like it. At this moment I wished that my sister was there to try all of this. Oh, how I missed her. 

There was a question that I was dying to ask. “Is it okay if I call my friend Jonah?” Mrs. Salazar turned down that thought rapidly. “Please, I promise I won’t tell him where I’m at. I just want him to know that I’m okay.” Mrs. Salazar was about to turn down the idea, when her sister stepped in. “I think that it would be a good idea. He should call, but you have to promise you won’t let him know where you’re at or what you’re doing. Do you understand?” I nodded. Of course I understood. All I wanted to do was let someone know that I was okay. Mrs. Salazar didn’t think that it was a good idea, but her sister sort of convinced her.   I asked to be excused and I went to my room. 

In my room, I grabbed my phone. I began to dial. There was so much excitement in my heart. I was about to tell my best friend that I was alive. I wish I could see his face as I tell him it was me. The phone began to ring. As it rang, I thought to myself, I can’t do this. What if he doesn’t take it too well? Or what if he wanted to know where I was at? I wouldn’t be able to tell him anything. I hung up. I threw the phone on the bedroom floor close to the door. I hadn’t noticed that Daisy was in the room. 

She picked up the phone and gave it back to me. I was surprised to see her there. “I didn’t mean to startle you” she said with that smile on her face she always had. “Is everything okay?” she asked as she looked at the phone. I shook my head.   “No,” I confessed. For some strange reason I could tell her what was wrong. “How am I supposed to let my friend know that I’m alive, but that he can’t know where I’m at?"

Daisy put her hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell him today. Maybe tonight you get rest and think things clearly and tomorrow you call him.” I couldn’t believe what she was saying. She was so nice as opposed to her sister, but why? Why was she nice to me, what did she get out of it? “Why are you so nice to me?” I asked, she laughed. “Well,” she began, “I think you’re going through a tough time and you need someone to show you some compassion. You just went through something very tragic and this must be too much for you.” She looked at her watch. “It’s getting late, you should get some rest. We have a big day planned for tomorrow.” I nodded and said good night. That night all I could think of was how I was going to tell Jonah that I was alive. Before going to bed, I wrote another note for Valeria. 

Hey, 

I know. I know that by now you must be scared and terrified by what’s happened. Let me tell you none of that is true. I’m not dead. It was all a sick lie. That man, Mr. Jackson, was the one who threw me off the bridge. I can’t imagine how you must feel right now. You must be devastated. If you ever read this, I wouldn’t even be able to explain what happened. It may have been a miracle. 

That night, I was rescued. I was rescued by a man named Jaime. He’s such a grump. Like Mr. Tomas. Remember him? Anyways, this man works for a very wealthy lady. I was in a coma for some weeks and when I woke up, I was in a very fancy hospital. This lady’s name is Mrs. Salazar. She has a very famous blog, maybe you know about it? Well, she offered me a once in a lifetime opportunity. You see her son, Esteban disappeared years ago and all her friends wonder what happened to him. She asked me to pretend to be her son. I couldn’t refuse. She would have sent me back to Mr. Jackson. And of course, he would have just claimed it was a miracle. So I accepted.

I hope to one day see you again.

Love you, more than ever. 

Erick

After writing that I layed on the bed as some tears fell.