From Her Perspective (BWWM)

XVIII

Leo Bradford

24 years ago

I jolted awake to the cries of my baby sister. I found her holding onto my chest. She had tears running down her small cheeks as she shook against me.

"What's wrong, Auri? Mama!" I shouted as I held her tighter against me before climbing out of bed. I left my room and noticed a light coming from the kitchen. I walked towards it and saw my mom frantically writing on paper. I saw a duffle bag by her feet.

"Mommy, where are you going?" I asked as I rocked Auri against me to calm her down. Mom looked at me with wide eyes as she dropped the pen.

"I'm sorry, Leonardo, but I need to go. You need to take care of your dad and sister, okay?"

"Then who's gonna take care of me, Mommy?"

"You're a big boy, Leo. You'll be just fine,"

"Why can't we go with you?"

"Because you can't," she said, kissing Auri and my foreheads before picking up her duffle bag and walking out the door without a second glance.

Present

I gaped at my little sister as Cleo put a hand on my shoulder.

"How long have you been seeing our mother behind my back?"

"I haven't seen her at all, Leo. I've never even spoken to her,"

"Then how are you sending her all of this money? Why are you sending her money in the first place? That woman has never done anything for you," I barked. Auriella let out a sigh before sitting up in her seat.

"My friend, Mike, is a Private Investigator, and I was telling him how I wanted to find mom an—"

"Find her for what?"

"Have you never wanted to know why she left us? Or wanted to know what she's like?"

"No, because I know exactly who she is. She's the woman who was never around even before she abandoned us. She's the woman who left you crying in my arms with our sick father in the next room as she walked out on us. What more do you need to know?"

"You don't know what it's like, Leo. You have memories of her; I know most of them are bad, but I have nothing. I barely remember Dad. I don't even remember the sound of his voice. I wanted to know if I even looked like her or if we like the same things," she said. Cleo nodded and reached across the table to hold Auri's hand.

I guess I never thought about the fact that she never really knew our parents. Dad died when she was so young, and I never liked talking about either of our parents, so she's barely heard anything about him.

"I wish you would've told me. I still don't understand why you are sending her money,"

"After Mike looked into her, he found out she signed up for one of those crowdfunding websites to get donations to pay for her treatment,"

"Treatment for what?" Cleo asked.

"She has cervical cancer. Stage 4. She may not make it to the end of the year,"

"Why have you kept all of this from us, Auri? I know your mom is a tough subject, but you shouldn't deal with this alone," Cleo said. I nodded as I looked over her bank statements. Auriella nearly went bankrupt, sending payments to a woman who probably had never given her a second thought.

"Her treatment must be really expensive," I said. She looked at me before letting out a deep breath.

"Well, her treatment is barely half of what I send,"