Lahat ng Kabanata ng No Return: Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

The others were enthusiastic about the song Jim was making and they spent the afternoon working on it. However, it was an awkward while for them, caught in the crossed fire of Jim’s temper and Sean’s mocking indifference. So they felt relieved when Sean’s phone buzzed and he just dropped the sticks to stand up.“Whadda fuck you doing?” Jim asked. “We’re in the middle of the fucking song!”Sean circled the drums to grab his stuff. “You gotta pick me up before seven,” he replied, turning off Jim’s amp again. “So move your ass.”“Oh, right,” said Tom, putting his bass down. “Deb booked you guys for that fancy gala.”Jim left his guitar, snorting and cursing under his breath before gifting them with another theatrical exit. The others turned to Sean for some kind of explanation.Sean shrugged. “She’s leaving tomorrow,” he said, and wa

The red carpet ended at the building’s fancy gates, and right past them, in the large, luxurious lobby, more reporters lay in wait, from outlets willing and able to pay for a better access to the celebrities in attendance. Silvia hesitated, seeing that whole new swarm of cameras and microphones and lights.“Let Jim handle them,” said Sean, nodding to the other end of the lobby.Jim met her eyes and nodded, swallowing his laughter because she couldn’t quite tell what nightmare was worse: facing more reporters or being left alone with his brother.She couldn’t help another chill when Sean rested a hand on the small of her back to guide her among the people. However, they’d hardly taken a couple of steps when someone behind them called out, “Silvia?”They turned around, surprised, to find another woman.“Cecilia?” said Silvia in disbelief.Sean’s eyebrows jumped up when Silvia hugged the woman, both of them laughing and patting each other’s back.Jim didn’t see it, busy with the reporter

It was sort of weird. Being with Jim usually involved having people around, but now they were all alone, making their way through the usual crowd in LAX. Come to think about it, both of them loved having an active social life. Maybe that was why she hadn’t needed any major adjusting over the last ten days in LA.…?Silvia would’ve punched herself best Fight Club style. She had only minutes left with him and she was pondering about their social habits? Really?She checked in for her flight and they headed to the boarding area in no hurry.“So you think you can be back by January ten.”“Yup. I gotta report to work with Jo on the fifteenth, but I want a couple of free days before that.”They walked a whole minute in silence.Silvia wondered why all of a sudden they didn’t seem to have anything left to say. Why were they avoiding eye contact? Why did she feel like getting into the boarding

It’d been six months since Silvia had last seen Mika, and one look was enough to tell her all her little sister had been keeping from her.Rob and Juan had planned a Saturday night out after dinner, but Silvia resorted to the such-a-long-flight excuse to stay behind.“Would you lend me a hand with the dishes?” she asked Mika.The others understood and took off, leaving the sisters alone.“I thought Lorena was coming too,” Silvia said as they picked up everything from the table.Mika hesitated, found her sister’s eyes and shrugged. “We broke up.”“Oh. You never mentioned it.”“It happened three days ago. I didn’t wanna write to you about it. It was your last days with Jim, and I knew we were meeting today.”They took everything to the kitchen and Silvia asked Mika to make mate while she did the dishes. The girl knew better than trying to beat

Silvia left before her friends and siblings even registered what she was doing. One minute they were all toasting to her for the hundredth time in the bar, and the next minute she was hugging every one of them, telling them how much she loved them. And then she was gone, all alone.She walked down the street, gazing up at the sky, admiring the colors in those minutes before the early sunrise. Her feet didn’t need to consult with her brain to head straight to the downtown beach, walk down the stone steps and take her right up to the lake shore.She sat down on the cold pebbles and lit a cigarette, face to the east. It was her last sunrise of the only life she’d ever known. The last sunrise with her lake and her mountains. Like so many times before, she wished she could capture every little detail as far as her eyes could see, carve it all in her memory and keep it inside of her, true and unchanged, forever unfading.She watched the sun come up behind