Destiny & Distance

5°

I woke up early, as per usual, and sleepier than ever. I played some music to start waking up and start my chores, after a while I hear my phone ringing so I quickly pause the music and go get the phone
I realize it was a FaceTime call from my sister and automatically start speaking in Spanish

—Hermanita! Te amo y te extraño (Sissy! I love you and I miss you)

—Yo también, Gaby. (So do I, Gabbie)... Pero tengo malas noticias, por eso es que llamo (But I have bad news, that's why I'm calling)

As soon as I heard that, my heart dropped and my head started to picture a hundred of bad things happening to my family. My sister starts to cry

—¿Qué pasó? (What happened?)

—Es sobre Ariana.. (It's about Ariana)

She paused for a bit trying to read my expressions but it only made me irritated

—¡Habla de una vez! (Speak now!)

—Bueno, Ariana... Mataron a Ariana (Well, Ariana... Ariana was murdered)

And that's exactly when my knees became weak, I felt lonelier than ever, I wanted to start running to Venezuela and cry beside my whole family. Ariana was my cousin, she was 2 years younger than me and we always had been really, really close, almost like best friends... Or sisters.

—¿C-cómo? ¿Por qué, cuándo? (H-How? Why and when?)

—Anoche, la mataron para quitarle el carro (Last night, they killed her just to steal her car) pero no te vayas a desesperar, hermana (but don't desperate, sister) quédate ahí, trata de distraerte, pero no te vengas (stay there, try to distract yourself but don't come)

—Me quiero ir, quiero estar sola. No quiero hablar, luego los llamo (I wanna go, I wanna be alone. I don't wanna talk, I'll call you later)

I don't even let my sister say anything before I hang up the phone and start crying even more. We always had plans, we always talked about how we were gonna travel to Miami, Spain and perhaps Australia, have a good time together—I can't even process the fact that she's gone and that I'm not gonna see her anymore. I slowly slide to the floor, sitting down. When I left my country I always thought that she was gonna come right after me and that we were gonna live together, but it isn't going to happen... And to think that it could've been me, I could've been the one murdered if I had stayed in Venezuela.

I was angry at my country more than ever, my eyes were red, I was experiencing an acute headache, my blood was hot, almost boiling, I wasn't only sad but angry and frustrated. I can't believe that country took away so much from me. And I have to take care of my family, I want my sister to move in with me, I need it, I wasn't going to stand another death over a robbery or something even more stupid, I need my family with me.

I stand up and look that my father had sent me a message "Are you okay?" And I just reply "yeah, gotta go to work" wiped away the tears from my face and took a shower. I was angry, I was grumpy, I was sad.

Made my way work, walking as usually, stopped by John's cafeteria to order my breakfast and when I was just leaving, someone tapped on my shoulder

—Gabbie -I recognise that voice, great-

I turned around.

—Hi Chris -I say without a smile, and his smile ceased-

—How... How are you? Where are you going?

—Fine, you? I'm on my way work. -I say as I keep a blank face-

—Is everything alright? Are you okay? -He taps my back and I exploded, again, crying- oh -he hugs me, everyone around us were watching me as I cry-

—I'm.. I'm sorry, I'm not okay, gotta go -wiped the tears away-

—Wait, what's the matter?

—My cousin was murdered last night... we were very close, you know? And I just can't stand the fact that I won't be able to see her again, never ever.

—Wow, what? Murdered? By who, why? -his expression changed even more, he looks worried-

—Yeah, murdered. We don't know who killed her but it was to steal her car... I mean, can you believe it? A life traded for a car... Someone took her life over a car -I start to wipe away my tears and stand still- It wasn't even a new car, a luxury car. It was an old Toyota. Which makes it ten times worse -I sigh- but anyways, I'm so sorry to drag you into this, I needed to vent a bit. Thank you for listening to me, Chris

—I'm just shocked, I'm surprised and angry at whoever took your cousin's life -he looked saddened- I'm sorry it happened to you, Gabbie... And to you family, too -he touches my shoulder in signal of support-

—Yeah, so am I... Chris, I won't keep you here any longer and I'm in a rush too, I have to get to work. Again, thank you, I'll see you later -I say and without waiting for his response, left-

So now what? You'll spend the whole day baking away your sadness while your family is in a bad moment. It'll sound selfish but I just can't keep thinking about this any longer. I glanced down at my hand and saw the little sun tattoo I had in a finger, it was a matching tattoo with Ariana, she got the moon and I got the sun in the same hand and finger right before I left, it meant that no matter the distance between the sun and the moon, they'll always be in the same sky. And so it mean to us, no matter how far away we were from each other, there were always things that brought us back together, no matter the distance. We will always wander in the same sky... But I never thought it'll be this way so soon, I'll always have a piece of her in me, inked in my body 'till the day I die