The Weeping woman

Uno

'We found a decapacitated body near the river. The person was identified as Rosa Maria Gomez"

"I...I don't know what to say" I muttered, choking on my tears. I shouldn't have let her go. How could I have been so inevitably stupid?

The police officer began to pinch at the hat he held in his quavering hand, 

"Rosa Maria Gomez; passed away at Twelve O'clock, near the river closest to William Place" he paused, clearly trying to look into my tear streaked eyes, " An autopsy will be carried out. This may be hard for you, but I need to ask you some questions regarding your wife".

"Dad? Dad!" 

"Huh? Oh Lord! Are we already in Mexico?" 

Rosalina sighed, " No, Dad. We only have like, fifteen minutes until we land" 

"Oh!" I sat up from my initial position to get a better look out the plane window. Over Rosalina's shoulder, I could see that we were fully engulfed in cumulus clouds so narrow that the land beneath us was so vivid. 

"Rosalina, why did you wake me up?" 

"Dad, you were sleep talking again" 

I looked down at the ground, trying to conceal my discomfort. Now, for the last fortnight or so,  'sleep talking' has become a common phenomenon for me since Maria's passing. And the dreams I had were frighteningly the same every time, for they centred around the night Maria left us. 

"Oh, I'm sorry if it bothered you" I managed to say when my momentary burden was lifted. 

" It's fine, Dad. It's just that...you were talking about Mom..."  

Sighing, I squeezed her shoulder, still not able to over come my great discomfort. When Maria passed away, Rosalina could no longer live her life 'normally'. You see, when the autopsy results came back, it noted that Rosa had several broken bones, inevitably caused by a 'baseball bat'. The only valid conclusion everyone could come to was that Maria had been assaulted on her way to or from the restaurant.  

To make the current situation more woeful, just a week passed and Alejandro and Fiona ; my two youngest children have disappeared. 'Gone as the wind', as the Police men would say. Once again I was led into another interrogation ; "What school do they attend?" ," When was the last time you were with them?" , "When was the last time you were in contact with them?" and "We found a hat that seemingly belongs to a little boy. We were wondering if this looked familiar to you?" 

Seemingly disappointed with my answers, the Officers shook their heads and told me they will do whatever they can to find my children. 'But for now, get on with your life. Move across the border if you have to. I have been told fate has taken their mother. Best to forget, must be traumatising for you.'

So now, our family ' El Gomez familia' has come down to just me and Rosalina ; and currently, we were on a plane to Mexico. You see, those changes had a great impact on Rosalina. Just like anyone else who has lost a family, Rosalina was pained. My decision to move back to Mexico to live with my family could only improve her already broken life.

And family.

"Ay, Rosalina. I loved your Mother. I still do, very much. But, nothing really lasts forever. Your Mother would have wanted you to carry on with life, as much as I do." 

"I guess you have point, Dad". 

She sighed, and I couldn't help but silently berate myself, mainly because I could never get over her.