After Time Passes

Chapter 3

      Well...I wasn't expecting that. How could it end like that!? How could Andy do that? How could he leave: Woody, Buzz, Rex, Mr. and Mrs. Potato, all his childhood toys? Wouldn't he miss them? They have been with him all his life. As many questions ran thru my head a pang feeling shot thru my heart. Woah! I had trouble breathing. I couldn't describe it, but something was building in my chest making its way through my throat. I felt water at the rim of my eyes. I felt my lip start to quiver. It was an aching feeling I couldn't hold down.
      "There, there," my uncle soothed my back. I somehow ended in his arms. My head buried on his shoulder. My thoughts were all over the place. Feelings I have been trying to forget erupted through my body and I couldn't seem to make it stop. Today has been very emotional. I would have love to this in private, but seeing as I couldn't move my legs to run and hide somehow this felt like the right moment to show my family how much I have been hurting. Tears ran down my face and I realize I was finally grieving my mothers death. I had the sensation my family realize I wasn't just crying over the film.
      "Oh, sweetie," I felt my aunt Juliet's arms wrapping around me gently removing me from my uncles and into hers.
      "Shh, shh shh," she whispered gently. "It's ok. Let it out. Let it all out," she said trying to control her tearful voice.
      "I...," I try speaking through muffle cries. "I...I," I tried again. "Mi...miss hhher," I finally managed to say.
      "I know sweetie, I know you do," she said it so sadly. "We are here for you no matter what. You know you can always talk to us about anything." After a few minutes I was finally able to calm down, and remove my self from her arms. I use my sleeve as a tissue.
      "Here," I see Skyler kneeling down in front of me handing me a tissue.
      "Thanks," I wipe my tears and nose. "Sorry, about that. It wasn't my intention to-," I was cut off by Skyler.
      "No need for apologies. It's all good," he said with a smile as he leaned in to hug me.
      "He's right, Love. You should never apologize for missing her. It's never good to have things bottled in. Even if it's for the smallest of things. You can talk us together, or alone, just let us know. We are all ears, we won't judge," my uncle interjected.
       "Thank you," I said as I look around the room. "Today has actually been really hard. I finally had the courage to visit her tombstone. I don't know what made me do it today of all days, but I just knew I needed too," I explained while my aunt and uncle each hold one of my hands. "Just seeing her, and...," I trailed off and notice my brothers have these genuinely concerns looks on their face I continue, "I just...I just wish she was here with us, and I wish," I felt my eyes water, and throat tighten, "things we were like before."
     Things were a bit serious for a while. We talked about my mom's death affected everyone differently. I was surprise how I never noticed this. Not only did my relationship with my father change, but so did my uncle and his brother. My uncle Shawn loves my father he's his older brother after all. I had kind of forgotten how close they were. I was so focus on my pain that I didn't notice everyone else's. And I kind of felt bad for that. My aunt and uncle continued to remind everyone that sometimes life doesn't go as one plans, and the best thing to do is to learn to make the best of it. This was actually really nice. I didn't expected it to go this way. Part of me still worried if my brothers, and I will ever be able to patch things up, but after today's strange turns of event I can only hope that maybe one day we will.
      "Well, I know what to do to change things around!" my aunt Juliet said excitedly. "Just wait five minutes," she said as she ran off into the hallway.
      "What is it? Tío," I asked him with a confuse look on my face.
      "I have no idea," he said shaking his head slowly from side to side. Jett had brought me a glass of water, and that was really sweet of him. Even though he likes to boss me around, he was actually a big softy. Aunt Juliet then came running down the hall with two boxes on her hands.
      "Here, sweetie," my aunt Juliet place them in front of me.
      "Wow! I thought we were done with presents, Tía. You guys are spoiling me too much."
      "It's your birthday and you're allowed to be spoiled. You just need to receive them, and thank the generous person spend hours trying to find the perfect gift, and receive them without complains," she said as she put a hand on her hip, pointing her finger at me. "I was going to give them to you when we were alone, but I guess now is the perfect time," she says excitedly.
      "Thank you, tía," I said as cheery as possible. I reach for the bigger box first. "Wow!" I said as I pulled out this beautiful black dress. I heard a couple of groans, and decided to ignore them. It was a sleeveless black dress that criss cross to the front and back. I was stun by how beautiful it was. I'm not much of a dress owner, since I feel more comfortable in pants and shorts, but this had to be one of the prettiest things I have ever own. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," I stood up and hugged my tía and kissed her on the cheek. "It really is beautiful!" I gushed at her.
     "I'm glad you like it. The next gift will complete this outfit," she pointed at it. I put the dress back in its box and open the smaller box. She was right. It did complete the outfit. It was a pair of black heels ankle boots.
      "This is great, tía. Thank you so much." If you were to ask my family to describe my sense of style they would say I was a bit of a tomboy. I hardly owned any clothes that many would describe as 'girly'. It was always my mom, or aunt who would dress me up for the occasion. Since, I now turned 15 I felt the need to buy a new set of clothes. I know my aunt will be thrill about it.
     "I'm so glad to hear that. I wasn't sure if you would, since you prefer to play in the mud. I know how much of a tomboy you can be, but I wanted you to own something dressy for the young lady you're becoming," she said smiling down at me.
      "I prefer the tomboy," I heard Uncle Shawn growl and walked over to kitchen.
      "Me too!" the boys said in unison as they followed Uncle Shawn. I had to roll my eyes. Sometimes it sucked being the only girl in the family.
      "Ignore them, honey; you are going to look absolutely stunning in this dress and heels. I always wanted to see you in a dress," she said excitedly. "I haven't seen you in a dress since you were a child." I agreed with her. Maybe looking like a proper lady wouldn't hurt once in a while.
      "Since I'm basically a young women maybe I can go with Victoria to one of those famous parties she always talks about," I told her as we both jumped up and down like young schoolgirls. Well, I was.
      "I will help with hair, make-up," my aunt Juliet whispered into my ear with a smiled on her face. Victoria will be so thrill when I tell her. She is my next door neighbor, and is just 3 years older than me. She was the sister - or even a cousin - I wish I had.
      The rest of the night was rather amazing. We spend the rest of the night watching 'Ridiculousness'. It's a video clip show hosted by Rob Dyrdek on MTV. It's like 'America's Funniest Home Videos', the only difference is that these videos were found online. We spend the rest of the night laughing hysterically. I was laughing so hard I started to cry cause my stomach hurt so much. I had change into my new pajamas' Jett had given me because during the same time Skyler took a drink out of his water bottle there was a clip about a man walking in into a glass window thinking the glass door was wide open and shattered the window completely. Leaving me entirely soaked.