Chapter 9

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St. Bernard's Hospital, Gibraltar

Monday, 22 September 2014

10.16hrs

Lauren Garcia sat alone on one of the benches outside further down along the wall near the main entrance of the hospital. She sat with her legs stretched out and folded, mobile in one hand and what seemed to be a freshly lit cigarette in the other.

It was the start of the morning break and I approached her on the bench carrying two fresh cups of coffee in my hands. One regular and one black.

She noticed my footsteps and turned towards me with a smile.

'Que bueno ere. Thanks, Kyle,' she said taking the coffee in my left hand.

I smiled back and took a seat next to her, taking a gentle sip of my hot beverage.

I stared off into the distance towards the Morrison's car park as I blew on my coffee to cool it down a bit. Lauren continued to look at me, noting my peculiar silence as we sat together.

Sufficed to say she could tell when something was on my mind whenever I went full silent and zoned out constantly.

'You OK?' she asked but I continued staring into the distance. It was only when I felt a hand on my shoulder I finally acknowledged her. 'Kyle?'

I turned my head right and looked towards her.

'Huh?' I muttered.

She raised a brow at my strange behaviour.

'Estas bien? You seem out of it.'

I sighed, recollecting my thoughts.

'Yeah... I'm alright.'

'How was your weekend?' asked Lauren. 'Fatima left to Morocco, right?'

'Yeah, she did, on Friday, but... that's not what's bothering me.'

Lauren gave a gentle chuckle.

'Good, because I was going to say, if two days without her can make you this moopy, then por dios, you both clearly spend too much time together.'

I snorted at her attempt to lighten my mood which I greatly appreciated.

'So what's on your mind?' she further asked.

I sighed harder, rubbing my forehead with my left hand I set my hands down on my lap holding the cup with my fingers tips.

'My grandmother visited me on Saturday in the early morning,' I muttered.

'Well that was good of her, wasn't it?'

'It wasn't Eli though,' I added.

Both of Lauren's brows shot open.

'Wait, what do you mean it wasn't her?'

I took a deep breath, turning my head down for a moment. I lifted it up and cleared my throat before continuing.

'It was my other grandmother, from the UK.'

'What?' Lauren quietly gasped.

I nodded my head slowly, still looking at the floor in front of me.

'Yeah... the one from the side of my family who abandoned me when I was born, even after my parents both died.'

'Coño... So what happened?'

I pursed my lips, chewing on my lower one as I recollected everything that happened that very early Saturday morning after I opened the door to Jasmine.

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