GuiTara

🎵~2

🎶And I know you're no good for me, so I tried to forget the memories ~ Kygo feat. Miguel

●Tara Afua Henrie●

"Here we are." Nando pulled up in the driveway of a red-brick detached house with a well-adorned front porch. "Home sweet home."

Once the front door clicked open, Pam flicked on a switch. The lightbulb buzzed slightly before flooding the foyer with dim orange light.

"You need to call the electrician," Pam scolded Nando as we walked in. "This lightbulb could explode on our heads one day."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll call him tomorrow," he muttered, carrying my luggage upstairs.

"Why can't you call him now?" Pam asked with a hand on her hip.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nando quizzed his wife. "It's late."

She rolled her eyes before following him upstairs. Keke wandered off through an archway into the kitchen to get some water.

I stepped into the living room. Brown comfy furniture complemented the cream-colored walls well. The wall facing the curtains was covered in framed family photos. I cringed at the sight of a seventeen-year-old me, standing next to Mama and Pam in one of the wedding photos--I was so chubby back then, I didn't pull off the bob cut that well, the bridesmaid earrings made my earlobes look too long. Despite the heavy makeup, I could still spot several pimples on my brown face. Boy, teenage me sucked.

The biggest photos hung above a huge plasma screen, sitting on a white TV stand. It was a picture of Pam, Nando, and Keke at Disneyland. Keke sat on her dad's shoulders, clutching a Daisy Duck balloon and smiling like she'd just won big in a lottery. Nando held Keke's foot to keep her balanced on his shoulders, and his other arm secured Pam to his side as they both gave happy smiles to the camera. I said a silent prayer in my head to have a family like this one day.

"Auntie T." Keke ran to my side. "Come on, I'll take you to your room. It's right next to mine." Grabbing my wrist, she led me up the stairs and into a hallway with two doors on the right, two more on the left, and a fitted wardrobe. Pam stood at the far end, fidgeting with the last door on the left. Beside her sat my luggage, so I automatically assumed that was my room.

"This is the bathroom, and that's Mama and Papi's room." Keke pointed at the two doors next to the fitted closet. "And this is my room, see." Her room door had a big Dora the Explorer sticker on it, with smaller stickers of Dora herself, her monkey, and other characters surrounding the big one.

"You're a huge Dora fan, huh?"

'Yeaah!" Her grin expanded. "I want to be like her and go exploring too!"

"Aww, that's great." I scooped my niece up. "I bet you'll make a great explorer."

"Finally!" Pam grunted, stealing our attention as she pushed the yellow door open. "The door lock is a little faulty. Nando really needs to call a maintenance man."

"Why can't you call him?" With Keke in my arms, I covered the distance to where my sister stood.

Pam entered the semi-dark room. "I cook and clean. Nando takes care of broken stuff in the house." She moved around a bit before turning the light on. "Ok. This is your place now."

Setting my niece down, I took a step into the cozy room. Everything was simple yet lovely. Below a rectangle window that overlooked the rest of the Mexican neighborhood was a built-in sofa. A full-length mirror with a golden frame leaned against the white wall on my left. Next to that was a study table and a standing fan. An antique wardrobe sat a few meters away from the black and white polka-dot bed that looked so inviting.