Dancing In His Storm [BxB] √

23.9: The Storm

AMBROSE

"Who's there?" The woman asked the moment she opened the door and I was standing right at the front door struggling to keep my cool. I noticed she was by far younger than what I'm thinking or better yet, far youthful than what I'm expecting. She looked like she's on her mid-thirties, not that close to my real mother's supposed age and I was thrown over the edge thinking that she's my mother. I became extra anxious at my observation but then the optimistic side of my brain told me to calm down.

"Uhm, hi." I put up a wide smile on my face. "My name's Ambrose and...."

"If this is about solicitation, we don't have any money." I haven't even finished what I was about to say and the woman cut me off thinking that I'm some stranger asking for money. I don't even look like one. I'm just wearing a casual plain black shirt and a leather jacket. Perhaps I sounded like one but whatever.

"I'm not here to solicit." I replied shutting her claim almost instantly.

"Oh sorry. I'm so sorry. Uhm, who are you again?"

"Uhm.....Ahem..." I cleared my throat in order to regain the courage that I just gathered a few minutes ago. "My name's Ambrose and I'm looking for a woman named Delilah Flores?" I mouthed and the words came out pretty hoarsely. Or at least that's how I thought it came out of my mouth.

"Delilah Flores? I don't think we have someone named..... oh wait," The woman paused and the expression on her face went from not knowing the person to eventually recalling something. "Delilah Flores you say?"

"Ahuh." I nodded as I began to feel a swerve of hope.

"yes, I do. She was the last owner of this house. Yeah, I do remember her." The woman revealed and I was a bit disappointed. It's been over a decade and this was supposed to expected.

"Do you happen to know where she moved?" I asked.

"Wait, let me ask my husband about it." The woman replied and she was about to go back inside but then looked back at me. "Would you like to come in for a moment?"

"Uhm, sure." I nodded and the woman paved the way to let me inside the house.

"My husband's fixing the shower pipes." The woman uttered. "Take a seat, dear."

"Thank you." I spat and sat at the couch as I began to feel the essence of this house.

"My name's Layla by the way." The woman muttered quickly introducing herself. "Would you like anything to drink? Juice? Coffee?"

"Uhm, water's okay. I think I won't be staying long anyway."

"Okay, hold on for a second." Layla left and brought herself towards the kitchen which wasn't that far.

I sat wide-eyed and my eyes quickly roamed throughout the room. The reality that my real family once lived here was surreal, it's almost as if I'm traveling back in time just to witness what had gone through here. My sisters and brothers once played and argued and even partied here. I saw this wall frame and there were markings of height measurements with varied names on them. I can't quite read the names and I tried to lean towards it but still, the letters were written in small letters to fit in with the little space that the wall frame provided. Those are probably my siblings' growth and they're still here for me find several years later. The markings were already aging but it's worth it the I saw it.

In my head, I was already trying to picture my sweet and innocent childhood inside of this household. The little Ambrose, or let's say the little Dmitri running around holding his little dinosaur toy or something. My heart was already jumping in this weird feeling that I'm not able to discern.

My eyes continued looking around the house. It's just a simple bungalow, not that large, not that grand and lavish but you can still call it home more especially if everyone cared for each other. The walls were still lined with some stains from whatever that has happened here. I can't believe this was supposed to be my home if my foster parents chose not to adopt me.

"We never had any kind of renovation since we moved in here, except for the setup of all the furniture. We spent all of the little that we saved to buy this house." Layla came back from the kitchen and she was already holding a glass of water. She placed the glass at the mini table right in front of me. "Other than that everything's basically the way it was when Delilah left."

"How long has it been?" I asked grabbing the glass of water.

"What? Since we moved here?"

"Yes," I nodded as I was about to take a sip of water.

"It was just a year ago," Layla answered and I almost choked.

"Just a year ago?"

"You seem surprised." Layla trailed and she was right, I was surprised. My real family was just here a year ago and I'm late, very late. If I had known that I'm just adopted last year, I'd probably found them the first time that I arrived here. "Why are you looking for Delilah, anyway?"

"She's uhm," I paused as I struggled to decide whether I should tell this lady the truth or should I just lie. "She's a friend of my dad."

"A friend of your dad? Don't tell me you're here to collect some debts. I heard that Delilah was buried in debts." Layla revealed and it quickly dawned on me that's probably the reason why she sold this house.

"No, no. My dad just wants to invite her to his upcoming birthday party. They lost contact so I'm here to look for her." I explained and it was just a horrible lie. I can't think of anything to say and I just uttered anything that's on the tip of my tongue.

"Oh alright. That sounds like a high school reunion to me."

"Yeah."

"Honey," Layla yelled as she was already walking towards her husband.

Layla's voice went from the loudest volume until it became almost inaudible the moment she entered the bathroom. I was already jerking my knees as I patiently waited for the return of Layla. The excitement of finding my real family was already engulfing me and I don't know if I can't withhold this feeling any longer.

After a long moment, Layla came back and the look on her face was trying to tell me that she's about to spill some really bad news.

"My husband says he did not get the address. I'm so sorry, honey." Layla mouthed and it became clear to me that this search was going to harder than ever. "But he knows that they moved to an apartment."

"Where? What apartment?" I asked almost immediately.

"I don't exactly know where but it's here at Santa Lucia."

"Oh, alright." I spat, my voice was already gritting in sadness. "Thank you for your help. I have to go now."

"You're very much welcome, honey. I wish you the best of luck."

It was such a big disappointment to leave the house with just a little information to hold on to. I don't know if that information's going to be enough to help me with my quest. I'm sure apartments are everywhere here at Santa Lucia and I might have to visit every single one of them. I never realized finding Delilah was harder than I initially imagined but I'm already here and I'm going to try my best to locate them. I stared at the house one last time, trying to find a sliver of hope.

I went back on the road and I suddenly felt hungry. It's been hours and I still have the rest of the afternoon for my journey. The afternoon heat was scorching too and I'm wearing this leather jacket that did nothing but add up to the heat of the sun. I had to stop for a while to reset and revitalize. I ended up having lunch at a fast food and as I was eating, I was doing some multi-tasking. I began searching for the nearest apartment and began planning my next step. By the time I was done eating, I already listed the first three apartments that I'm going to visit next.

I returned on the road and when I reached the first apartment, I was already harboring this thought that I'm not going to find anything here. And I was right. I went to the second and third apartment on my list and the results were exactly the same.

I became more than exhausted and the sun was already about to set. I had no other choice but to go home with basically zero progress.