I'm not alone

Chapter Six

Chapter Six - Talking with Aunt Anila 

I stayed in the car with my head on the steering wheel, stopped in an alley , when I didn't disturb anybody. 

Silence.

Occasionally , there were heard the engines of the cars that were passing by  and the children that were playing in the neighborhood with each other. I closed my eyes and imagined myself as them, running after the ball, but everytime I approached it and bent down to catch it, the ball went further away, I couldn't catch it, I ran faster and everything happened so quickly , I slipped .

I remembered how I'd been crying for hours, not for the small wound on the knee, but because all the children there were pointing at me and joking, saying that I was only a girl, I couldn't catch any ball. I wanted to yell at them that the next time it was them who would run and try to catch a fast ball like that, but my eyes just filled with tears and something had formed in my throat not letting me say anything, it was impossible to make any syllable to form a word, so I ran inside the house, towards my dad that waited for me with wide arms. Then, he was always there for me.

He cooked for me, played with me and never got tired watching me comb my barbies' hair that were gifts from mom and dad for my birthdays, he always read me stories, he told me his adventures when he was my age every single night.

That day he helped me bandage my leg, and with delicacy wiped the tears from my eyes and promised to speak to those children.

"Nobody worries my princess."-he whispered that night before kissing me in the forehead and than left the room.

He didn't whisper anything, no words , no farewell letter when he left my life. When he abandoned me.

I opened my eyes and saw the surrounding neighborhood where I had grown up. Somewhere beyond ,there was a huge apartment where our house had been, just like every other building that had occupied our city . One day it was just a small city and the other day it was a concrete chaos and dust, where it was difficult to even  breath. The square where we once used to play now was turned into a parking fee. It seemed like even an alley had an owner.

I wondered to myself , our lives belong to whom? Who plays with us like we were puppets of a forgotten theater, who is the director, the screenwriter of our choices , our suffering? 

I grabbed my phone  from the bag I'd thrown away in the seat beside me , and without thinking twice I called the only number I'd never forget.

"Hello, you are talking to Anila Peige." 

"Aunt Anila , I'm Clara."

"Wow, Clara, I wasn't waiting to hear from you."

"Hmm, I don't know, I'm sorry, I just wanted to talk to you .To meet you."

"Honey, is there any problem ? Has anything happened?"

"No nothing , I just want to talk to you , let's meet for a coffee. Do you have free time?"

"Of course, I'll be waiting for you at our usual place ."

"Thank you."-and after I thanked her again, to be sure she had listened I hung up. Twenty minutes. I  had some time to stay in that forgotten alley before I was sorrounded by the unstoppable noise of the traffic of out city.

—

 It was not necessary to tell her everything, I didn't have to speak for her to understand me. I felt relieved that I didn't have to tell her , to describe the events that were killing me, to talk about bitter feelings which I couldn't escape from.