I'm With You

Chapter 14

"H-He died?" Eira breathed and Miguel nodded his head.

"Cancer... he died on his fourth birthday." Miguel said and Eira bit her lip, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry." She said softly, but he shook his head, giving her a reassuring smile.

"It's okay... he wasn't sick for too long before he went and although that sounds bad, I'm glad it was fast. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like for him to have suffered for a year, two years of his life. His Mom wasn't around much, but I'm not mad at her about it... she had bad postpartum depression, she couldn't care for him, she didn't really feel anything towards him but she still tried. She came to all the doctor's appointments, she stayed afterward for a couple of hours and she was there holding his hand when he died, singing him to sleep... we haven't really spoken since his funeral, I think she moved to New Jersey with her new boyfriend." Miguel said and Eira sighed.

"I'm still sorry... what was his name?"

"Cody, I have a tattoo of him." Miguel said, pulling his shirt down to reveal his chest and she saw a handprint tattooed on his chest over his heart with 'Cody' written in children's handwriting. "He did it at school before he got too sick to keep going to school altogether, it seemed right," Miguel said, shrugging his shoulders and Eira nodded her head slowly.

"I know how much it sucks to lose someone... Cody was lucky to have a Dad like you." She breathed and Miguel looked over at her, seeing her nibbling on a fry as she stared down into her lap.

"And Mackenzie is lucky to have a big sister like you," Miguel said and Eira sighed, looking over at her sister who was still laid unconscious on the bed, the IV dripping down quickly in an attempt to warm her blood.

"Is she a doctor too? Cody's Mom?" Eira asked, desperate to get the conversation away from her and Miguel understood immediately.

"No, she was my high school girlfriend... got together senior year, she got pregnant pretty fast and we had Cody when we were both eighteen. He came to live with me after a week because she was struggling and my parents helped out a lot whilst I was studying and my sister helped out too when she could." Miguel said and Eira looked over at him.

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah, a twin sister." Miguel rolled his eyes, making her crack a smile. "She's annoying, but I couldn't do this without her... I mean, I thought we were close until I met you and Mackenzie and I haven't even seen what she's like when she's conscious." Miguel said in a playful way and Eira smiled sadly over at Mackenzie.

"Trust me, if all you had was each other, you'd be as close as us... just don't take your parents for granted, okay? They may annoy you and... and do things you find frustrating, but know there's people out there who would do anything to be pissed off by being grounded or being fussed over."

"I can't imagine what you guys must have been through." He admitted.

"Mackenzie isn't lucky to have me, you know... I'm lucky to have her." Eira choked out, tears burning her eyes.

"I'm sure she'd disagree." He tried to comfort her, but she shook her head.

"When we were first homeless, I got into drugs and drinking... it's so easy to fall into those habits when everybody around you is doing it... one day, Mackenzie had enough and she dragged me into an alleyway where we'd be alone and she barricaded us in with dumpsters and trash bags and she didn't leave my side whilst I detoxed... I was horrible to her, I was yelling at her, insulting her, I thought I was dying and it was never going to end... but it did and I haven't touched alcohol or drugs since then and you know how old she was when she did that for me?" Eira asked and Miguel slowly shook his head, nervous for the answer. "Twelve... she was twelve years old, trying to get her seventeen-year-old sister clean."

Miguel was stunned at her honesty - that she had a past with drug and alcohol addiction, but what shocked him the most was how long they'd been homeless for. They'd been homeless for over five years. Miguel found himself leaning closer to her, locking his arms around her in a tight hug and Eira was instantly trying to fight him off of her but he refused to let her go and she eventually gave up fighting and cried into his chest, practically screaming through sobs into him and he held her tighter."It's okay... it's gonna be okay." Miguel breathed, clinging onto her as she held onto him as if her life depended on it.

"I miss my parents." Eira choked out through her sobs and Miguel pulled her closer to him, letting a few tears fall himself as he let her just cry into his chest - letting her get out all the emotions she'd held back for years.