The Open Window

The Open Window: chapter 1

Chapter 1

In 1998, I met the most beautiful girl, Lani is what I called her. Her real name is Noelani Perez. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean and her hair as brown as morning coffee. Her skin was the perfect olive color. But I didn't fall in love with her because of her beauty, but because the way she stood up for herself and how independent she was. She showed that she didn't need a man to fight her battles but she showed that she couldn't do everything either, she is honest and not stuck up. Lani is as open as a book but mysterious as a ninja, she is also amazing. But let me just start from the beginning...

December 1997
I'm a senior at the university of NY. My name is Cameron Loan and I'm 23 years old. I'm sick and tired of living in the city; I've been here my whole life. It's the same old things, same street slang, same Dominican food from around the corner, same speed, same buildings, same lights, same constructions, same delis, same story. I have to get out of here and I will, but I don't know where to go.

A few minutes pass by, so I randomly just chose a nation by spinning my globe that I had in my studio apartment. As it spun, I watched it before I could land my finger on it...Spain. "It landed on Spain...YAAAY. I thought it was gonna land on Alaska, somewhere cold. Ok, so now I got to think of what I'm going to take. Thank God I took four years of Spanish in high school and three years in college." I said to myself. But the greatest thing about Spain is that I get to go see my beautiful mother over there which I haven't gotten to see in 20 years. Yes, she left when I was three but because she had no papers so she was kicked out and my father, who is white, had to raise me and he did a great job. They technically weren't legally married.

I went to buy a valid luggage because some luggage aren't allowed in some airports. It was good size and when I got home I just started to pack right away. As I packed I wonder what else I would find over there, I wondered how my mother was, is she still alive, does she have a phone, did she remarry? Over the years my dad had a brain tumor growing and it wasn't removable because it was too sensitive and too late. He died when I was 20 years old and sadly mom never found out. The only memory I remember of my parents being together was when we were in the super market in Bronx, New York and some guy came up and hit on my mom. Mom defended herself but the guy wouldn't stop touching her. Before this all happened my dad had gone off to get a basket for the things. I was with my mother and got scared as this big man was trying to do something to my mother.

So I did what any kid would do, I yelled for my dad, calling his name for the first time "Richard, daddy! Help!" I saw my dad turn so fast and he came running like a super hero and tackled the big man. I remember it like that because I was a kid haha. From that memory I knew and learned how much men should respect women. And my father always told me, "Respect your lady and all the woman of the world. The difference between your lady and the women of the world is that you respect, love, show off your lady and the rest you just gotta respect them. The lesson out of this Cameron is that you respect everyone around you no matter what they've done or who they are, you respect." I'll never forget those words, he always told me that when I made new friends or on my birthday just so every time my birthday comes I always remember what he said.

Anyways now that I am packed, I gotta gather my passport and all of that kind of stuff. It's about to be winter break in like two days. I don't have nothing to do for my classes so these last two days I'm just going to clean around and plan my trip a little more. I gotta buy the plane ticket with the money I saved up over the years. I can't call my mom because I don't have her number and I don't know anybody else, but I do want to search for her but I don't know how. Spain is as big as Texas and that's pretty big to find her. But I have faith that I will find her.

December 20, 1997 (one day left until winter break)
I headed out because I had to assign someone to housesit my basic New York studio apartment. As I walked out with my steaming cup of coffee, I looked up and saw the most beautiful sun rise I've ever seen in New York. Here there's always noise no matter what, but for a second I heard silence. Is it really possible to hear something you really can't hear? It was a morning song with no lyrics, just a symphony of quietness. Then all the horns started honking, sirens became louder than ever, and the trains rumbled like a crowd at football stadiums. I couldn't wait to leave all this chaos, they should call it the city of chaos who ever they are. But this morning as I saw that sun rise, I saw my father; he was truly a good man.

I had forgotten that I had a friend named Ovilia Diaz who was from Spain, I had asked her if she knew any private investigators. Surprisingly, she was one herself. She graduated like three years before me. And we also dated a few times... ANYWAYS I went over her apartment and we greeted each other. "Hey Cameron, come in." She said as she opens the door with one arm and showing off the apartment with the other. "Hey Liv, I haven't seen you in awhile. How's it going? House that career of yours?" I said awkwardly but in a playful way. We would pretend to be that "awkward couple." We laughed after that because we couldn't hold it in. I've known Liv since high school, she's more of a friend than an ex.

"The career is great so far. Sometimes I doubt if it's what I really want to do but than I remember the whole reason I started, to find criminals or lost people. Anyways all I need is basic information to find your mom. Are you ready." She asks.
"Ya, I'm ready." I said as we sat down at her big and multiple computers that she had in her apartment office.
"Ok, I'm going to need her name, her birthday, social security, and where she was born. Then pictures will pop up and you'll know which one but I doubt more than one will pop because of her social security number, unless it was stolen." She laughed and I laughed with her awkwardly hoping no one stole my mother's identity.
"Her name is Mari Camila Gomez Loan, her birthday is January 1st, 1956 she gave birth to me when she was 18, her social security number is ***-**-****, and she was born Spain, Europe." I know all of this because my mother left it for me with my father with a few letters. She wanted me to know why she had to leave and that she loved me very much but most of all I know she wants me to find her again. And I will.
"Found her, is that her right there?" Liv asked with excitement and curiosity.
"Ya that's my— that's my mom..." I said with joy bursting inside me as I looked at her picture in my hand and at the computer back, and forth. She still looked young but you could tell she aged a little more. My mother is beautiful.