The Journey to Freedom: Path to WW3

Chapter XXXV

Things never go the way you expect them to. That's both the joy and frustration in life. I'm finding as I get older that I don't mind, though. It's the surprises that tickle me the most, the things you don't see coming.

Michael Stuhlbarg

"When did you propose cuz?" Daniel asks again.

"Last night when I spent the night at her house." I reply.

Daniel starts going off me. "Hell naw cuz, Genesis was just killed, so was Zaelia and Elizabeth, you can't just jump into another relationship or get married just like that. You need time for yourself cuz. Hell naw, I don't like this shit one bit."

Kevin was calling Daniel's name while Daniel was going off on me. Until Daniel stopped ranting.

"D, its not your choice. Its his, if he feels that he's ready then he's ready. Nicholas doesn't think like everyone else, he has his way of dealing with things and you have yours. You have to let him deal with it in his own way." Kevin yells at him.

I unbuckle my seatbelt and go to the restroom.

I can hear Kevin tell Daniel, "Look what you did. Damn man, Nicholas has already suffered too much...."

I close the door behind me. I can barely hear what they say and try to drown them out. I sit on the toilet and start wondering if Daniel was right. Was I rushing it? Maybe I needed some time alone. Then I hear a voice in Spanish and look around to see who's calling me. I look in to the mirror and see Zaelia.

She tells me in Spanish, "Tu siempre has sido tú. Siempre has hecho las cosas a tú manera y siempre has seguido adelante por eso. Nunca dejes que nadie te haga dudar de ti mismo. Quisiera estar ahí para decirte que todo va estar bien pero no estoy. Necesitas que ser feliz en tu vida. No vale la pena seguir en el pasado. Si alomejor las cosas van hacer raras pero tienes que aprender a seguir adelante mi amor. Haz lo mejor para ti y las niñas."

I start to cry and tell her that I miss her. I wish she was alive so that they can have their mother. I would never let anyone take her place. Then I hear my grandmother's voice and see her in the mirror.

"Ay mi niño. No importa lo que digan los demás. Es tu responsabilidad de ser feliz. No al otro lado. Hay un propósito para ti y sigues en el camino correcto. Nomás deja las manos de Dios que te guíen y todo va estar bien. Ya verás."

I touch the mirror and tell my grandmother not to leave me. Then a hand appears on the mirror reaching out to touch my hand.

"Papi quiero que seas feliz. Ya no te quiero ver llorar. Evelyn te va ser muy feliz y te va quitar tu tristeza. Te lo prometo que un día nos vamos a ver de nuevo. Pero por mientras quiero que seas feliz y que vivas una vida feliz papi."

Then Genesis disappears from the mirror, I cry even harder and fall to my knees. I ask god to give me the right answers and that I just want my pain to go away. I ask him to please send me a sign that he will find a way to take my pain away. Suddenly there's a knock on the door and Evelyn asks me to open the door for her. I open the door and she comes into the restroom with me.

Your friends are arguing with your cousin, is there anything you can do to make them stop. I feel like its all my fault. Eve wipes my tears away and tell her what just happened with the mirror. She wipes my tears away and tells me that it will be ok, if I want her to go back then she will leave. I cut her off and tell her that I don't want her to leave. I asked God to send me a sign and that the sign was her knocking on the door. And now I know that she is my future no matter what anyone says. She kisses me and tells me that she will be the best wife that she can be. That she will always wait for me and will be loyal until she dies. I tell her the same thing and start walking out the door. Everyone sees me coming and ask me if I'm ok, I tell them that I was fine. That I was just talking to Genesis, my grandmother and Zaelia in the mirror in the restroom.