My heart began to pound when I saw what my children thought of me. I had spent years working hard to raise the money to bring them into the world and I had worked doubly hard to finish my studies so that they would be proud of the mother they had.Eugene, had helped me by backing me up where he could, but, I worked hard so that they would have a strong mother to lean on, and now, they were supporting me and telling me that they had noticed my every effort.I was happy, immensely happy and proud for the woman I had become and that my children noticed, but, I could not forget that they had done something wrong and I had to punish them, make them see that, even though they were outraged, they could not harm several families like that."I am very glad that they want to protect me, but, they must know how to do it. The chaos they made in the company, not only affects your father...""That gentleman is not my father." The children say and I sigh deeply."Even if they don't feel that way, he
It was clear that things were not going my way and so, I needed to speak clearly, before it was all too late and my children were left with a person who was only going to teach them how to be violent. But, I didn't know how to talk about it. It was a sensitive subject, that I hadn't told anyone, but, that they might soon notice and so, I needed Helmut to change. I needed him to be a good father to the children."I'm sorry" says Helmut causing me to snap out of my thoughts."What did you say?" I ask in a daze."Let's have a good talk. go take a shower and I will wait for you in the car, so we can go out and have a good talk" Helmut says and I nod knowing that I should tell him my condition and maybe with that, he will change.I walk into the house and see the kids running around in towels. They both go back to being kids with their water wars and I take a deep breath as I watch them fill the house with mud and water."You have to clean it all up when you are done" I warn them."Yes, m
One month laterI leave the office taking a deep breath. As always, I keep the medical results safe and hide them in the storage room I have at the bank. With my children a bit curious, I have to hide all the medical documents in the bank as if they were money. I leave the hospital and walk to the bank, very sadly. Disguisingly, I have been taking medicine to calm the symptoms that have already started to show a lot, but, things have not been going well.The word surgery is repeated over and over again in my mind and I sigh deeply because I know I cannot accept such treatment with two children who need me. I walk into the bank's storeroom and when I have just put the documents away, I hear Helmut's voice."Aitana?" asks Helmut and I turn around in surprise."What are you doing here, Mr. Baumann?""I came to fix some important documents and check my wine cellar, is everything okay, you look a bit pale" Helmut says and I sigh deeply.'How could I not look pale when they just recently t
I turn away from Helmut's gaze, because I feel I can't allow myself to flinch from sweet words that, while comforting in the thought that I wouldn't be in a coffin alone, distress me because my children would be."Please don't talk like that, there is not just you and me, but the children. They need us and if one of us fails, the remaining parent should be that backup who would have both of them."Are you sick?" asks Helmut and I'm thankful I'm looking out my window or he would notice my fear and surprise."I'm just saying that, in case something happens to one of us. I don't have any more family and neither do you, so, we can only support them ourselves." "I hope that's what it is and not that you're hiding something from me" Helmut says and I take a deep breath."Back to the initial topic, am I the only one you shared your money with?""By signing the divorce you became the owner of half of my stuff.""Why would you give me something like that?""With all of them I promised to set
Omnipresent narratorAitana couldn't stop shaking, she wanted to see her daughter awake and healthy. She wished the call had been because she had played a prank and not because she was sick. But, there was no way to change what was happening.The principal went to the school and brought Albert, who upon learning what had happened to his sister, had transformed into a boy who screamed and broke everything in his path, because they didn't want to take him to his sister.That was surprising, because Albert was a very quiet child. But, like his mother, anything related to his family drove him crazy and that's why he acted like that. However, as soon as he arrived at the hospital and saw his mother with his sister, he took a deep breath and managed to calm down."Mom" Albert says and immediately, Aitana wipes her cheek slyly and smiles trying to appear calm, although it is really calm that she lacks the most."You're here, honey" Aitana murmurs."We're here for the little girl for x-rays"
Helmut, after his wife had disappeared, took it upon himself to investigate her life, wishing he could understand her. To be able to make things right this time, so he understood Aitana's fear. A girl who had had to be hospitalized for several years where her treatments had ruined her family.'It was because of her illness that her parents accepted my father's help in order for her to marry me' Helmut says mentally.'Aitana, maybe it's just part of a protocol. Ariana will be fine. Don't lose hope' Helmut asks and Aitana nods as she watches her daughter slowly wake up."Mom" whispers Ariana and immediately Aitana places her hand on her daughter's covered arm. Winter had caused sheets to cover Ariana's body up to her neck. So, it was only when she pulled her hands out of the sheets and took her mother's hands that she felt her cold hands and saw how on her arms there were faint purple and red marks."Here I am, honey," says Aitana trying to control her urge to cry as she understands why
The doctors take Aitana to another room so as not to disturb Ariana, who is slightly awakened by the noise. Meanwhile, Helmut looks at his son and, distressed, speaks to him."Keep an eye on your mother, I'm going to see what's going on with your mother" says Helmut and his son nods, taking his mother's place, clinging to his sister's hand."What's wrong, why is it so noisy?" asks Ariana struggling not to fall asleep."Mom was arguing with the doctors because they don't want to give you princess sheets" lies Albert as he strokes his sister's hair."Don't let them put sheets on me other than pink. Fight for it, brother" whispers Ariana and Helmut smiles as he sees that not even illness, make his sister's love for things pink and bright diminish."It will" says Albert as he prays that this day is just a bad dream.On the other hand, the doctors start asking Helmut questions about Aitana, from her blood type to whether she suffers from any diseases. While basic facts like blood type and
Helmut looked for some hint of a joke. Because to him, it was impossible for such a strong person to have such an aggressive tumor. It was impossible in his mind that the woman who survived leukemia as a child, and even passed the test of her curse and cured him, now had a tumor in her head.Stunned, he stepped back, as he saw Aitana's calm look, as if she had not told him that she was going to die. That his chance of survival didn't even exceed ten percent. "This is not a good time to joke, Aitana," Helmut says in a brittle voice."I came back here for you. I came back because I need you to take care of the children when I... die." Aitana says and Helmut brings his hands to his head as he looks everywhere but at the woman who has graphically dropped a bomb on him that prevents him from breathing normally."Please tell me it's a lie," Helmut pleads with her."It isn't. I went to the doctor today. Basically my tumor is pressing my brain against my skull to get some space. The headache
Fifteen years laterThe world continued its course, my pack had been consolidated thanks to Ariana's contributions. Albert, today he was returning home after fourteen years studying at the academy. Although he always saw for special dates or the anniversary of his mother's death, this time his return was different, because he saw to stay.Ariana gave orders to her people, while I had become a gardener who kept the garden where Aitana rests beautiful. Although to be honest there is little I have to do, because the islanders take turns every few hours to take care of the flowers and bring new ones in honor of the woman who fought to the end.So, I am almost all the time exercising, answering Ariana's tough questions so my brain doesn't rust and going to medical checkups at the insistence of my children.But, today, I would not be the boring man in his monotonous routine, today I would see my son. That one who had succeeded in that academy that now had t
Everyone on the island begins to show their respect for Aitana, while I watch as everything we experience here passes like a few seconds in a trailer. Remembering how I despised her and she wanted to leave here, throwing herself out of a window, makes me realize how much we have changed.Because it is in this place where she wanted to escape from, where she now wants to be forever. One by one they leave, leaving only Cleotilde's family and my closest men, those who knew our story.The night arrives and the castles are illuminated, at Aitana's request, we enter the one that was my castle, where the memories of my mistakes slap me so hard that I find it complicated to continue, however, a warm hand is placed on my hand and invites me to continue."Collect all the pain in here, I want to take it with me." Aitana says and I swallow hard."Aitana...""I am an expert in bearing pain, let me pick up all that pain clinging to those memories, I will take them with me
Six months laterWe had spent the time the doctors had given Aitana and although I wish that was the sign that they had made a mistake with the diagnosis, that was not the case. She had gotten much worse. So much that it hurt.There were times when she didn't remember who she was, others, where she didn't know how to move and at some, she would become so violent as she screamed for them to end her life. She would vomit, many times she would soil herself because she couldn't even warn them.Other times, she would wake up not knowing how to talk and with each step, her brain cancer would take over so much that we had to put the videos and photos we had taken on each walk, because many times she was suspicious even of the children.Today, for example, she did not speak, she did not move, it seemed that she was in a vegetable state, but, it was because her brain was barely functioning, being invaded by a tumor that looked like something full of spikes that were even
We had to let go and I was glad that even remembering all that we had lived and not remembering how well we had spent these months traveling, she decided to move forward. I couldn't say that I decided without knowing what I was doing, because Aitana knew it and I was glad she didn't hold a grudge."I want to leave here. I want us to resume our family trip today" Aitana says and I try to process what's going on."I understand, we will be leaving today" I say trying to get up."Although I don't remember what happened these past few months, there are pictures that give me an idea of it. Also, a few days ago, I had started to write down my thoughts of what I had experienced and although I left a general idea of what I had experienced, I know that I have enjoyed it. That we have been happy" says Aitana and I nod."We really have been. Even though we have measured time, we've spent time being happy the four of us." I murmur and she holds out her hand, which I take.
I could not understand what was going on. The woman who had been hostile when I asked her to come back, was now kissing me. I didn't understand what was going on and although I wanted to kiss her, I pulled away feeling that I was taking advantage of her confusion."Is something wrong?" asks Aitana and I stick closer to the back of my seat, to be away from her."I don't want you because of your mental confusion to feel like I'm taking advantage of you by kissing you" I say and she smiles."I'm the one who started the kiss.""But, I have my memories and I know you didn't agree to come back with me before the surgery or after you didn't have all your memories of the past like you do now." I murmur and she smiles."You are so cautious now. You don't look like the man who kissed me on our wedding day, just because I had another man's scent near me" she murmurs.I immediately, blush for having been so bold knowing I had a curse that could have killed he
The following dayWe had not been able to leave Amsterdam as we had planned, because Aitana was still not awake. Fortunately, the doctors said it was exhaustion that had her sleeping and not something serious.Exhausted from almost no sleep, thinking that she would wake up, I go out to have some coffee and with the computer working on the door of her room, I wait for the hours to pass. However, I have barely managed to sit up in the chair, when I hear a groan.Fearing that something bad has happened in my absence, I open the door to the room, which makes my legs weaken. The woman, who had not woken up, moans slightly as she tries to get up."I'll help you" I say running to her.Gingerly, I help her to sit up and I stand watching her, waiting for a scolding for allowing her to fall, an apology for scaring us or anything. I don't care if it's an insult, what matters to me, is that she speaks.That she tells my mind that she's alive. Because just seeing he
After the words he had said, the boys tried to be strong, but, again they walked away and in front of the pulpit they cried begging for strength to face this, I felt the same way.In silence I cried and when we ran out of energy, we looked at each other and I felt it, the connection of father and sons had been formed, there was no way for anyone in the world to deny or doubt that they were my sons, because this calamity, had consolidated the attempts of connection that in the past had been tried to be made.Something good had happened among so much suffering, but, I did not like the way it had happened. It was painful, we were united, but, it was painful to see my children suffer and me not being able to do something to be able to alleviate their pain."What should we do now?" asks Albert"Show strength to their mother. She suffers a lot, but, she keeps it quiet because she doesn't want you to realize what is happening. But, she didn't want to do that
The hours pass and we are finally allowed to see Aitana after several tests were done and confirmed that she was out of danger. Relief overcomes us and the boys thank God audibly as they wait to see their mother.Happy that my children are not violent like me, we advance to the room where the woman is still not awake. The doctor watches me and I understand that the time to know everything is now.So, I nod for the doctor to come to us and help me to tell what is happening with Aitana. Because I know that alone I can't and I can't disturb more Aitana who tries to look strong, although she suffers a lot."Guys..." I say calling their attention, after they both take their mother's hand, to then kiss this or her forehead."Is something wrong?" asks Albert when he sees that the doctor doesn't leave."I want you to hear your mother's health report. But, before that, I want you to tell me something, are you guys tough guys?" I ask and they look at each other"
I felt that the hourglass that showed me that I had little time left with Aitana, had run out of time from one moment to the next and it was all someone's fault. So, I run towards the people trying to run away from me.Seeing how they run, the desire to hunt takes over me and I run transforming myself into the wolf that never loses a prey. The beast that appeared when the curse caused me to only see my prey to kill it.I run after my prey and many people present scream when they see me turn into an animal, but, I don't care about that. My wife had been hurt and they had to pay for it. Without any fear that the man would die on the spot. I throw myself at him and he falls down with his face looking up at me."S-sir, please. Don't hurt me" the man says in a whisper, while in his gaze there is a fear I can't describe, the only thing that surprises me is that he didn't wet his pants because of the fear he feels.He knew how to do it. Just one bite, one scratch and hi