Jewels of Nature

CHAPTER 12

"Dead? That can't be true. How is that possible?" Adria asked, shocked.

"Yeah, we're still alive, and so are you." Felix joined in, perplexed.

"Although... The Prewetts and Franks are... well..." Adria drew the sentence out, not wanting to say the word out loud.

Felix nodded, understanding her meaning, "Morte" (Dead.) 

"As FeFe said, the Prewetts and Franks have, let's say, left this world. The Prewetts were killed in a gas explosion in their factory, and the Franks died in a burglary gone wrong situation in their house." Carl affirmed.

Adria thought back to when she was 4. She and Lizzie Frank were close friends at school. Whenever her parents were busy at work, their parents' driver dropped them off at Lizzie's place. Felix used to just sit in the living room, playing Aaron, Lizzie's older brother's games while Adria and Liz used to roam around the nearby fields. Liz was always bright and bubbly, and always sought the good in everything. She was a glass-half-full kinda person. She was also always kind, and patient, and turned out to be a mediator-in-fights sort of person. Her quiet calm voice could soothe anyone, and the kids who were fighting would always feel sheepish afterward for overreacting. Adria used to just sit to the side, and she was always quiet. Liz, who saw that Adria was almost always alone, included her in her friend group and always accompanied Adria everywhere. Adria always felt grateful for her and loved to hang out with Liz. 

The day that Adria's parents got the news of the Franks' death, Adora and Hugo sat their kids down, and broke the news to them, slowly. Adora hugged Adria tightly, tears in her eyes. Adria was puzzled, why was Mama crying? What do they mean by dead? I'm going to see Liz tomorrow, are they saying that I can't? Why not? Is Liz sick? Yeah... She must be sick... I hope she gets better soon... Adria had accidentally said the last part aloud. Adora looked over her daughter's head at her husband. Hugo sighed, picked Adria up, and went to sit with her on the window sill. 

"Heyy princess... Did you understand what your mama and I just told you and Fe?" Hugo asked carefully to Adria. "Yeah, of course, Liz is sick and we can't play tomorrow... I don't know why you said 'dead' and not 'sick', maybe it's a new word that our teacher still has to teach us?" Adria grinned.

"I hope she gets better soon though, Dada... I miss her already..." Adria said slowly, looking at Hugo, wondering why she saw water in her Dada's eyes... Dada doesn't cry. Dada is always strong for her, Fe, and Mama...

"Princess... 'Dead' doesn't mean 'sick', sweetheart... Dead means... you'll never be able to see her laugh again... Tomorrow, you can say goodbye to her, and maybe she will be smiling... But, her eyes will be closed, and you won't be able to talk to her anymore..." Hugo said softly, hugging the little girl in his lap.

"But Dada, what do you mean, do you mean she's sleeping? Of course, I'll see her laugh, Of course, I'll be able to talk to her again..." Adria felt pain inside her chest. Isn't that where her heart is? Why is her heart hurting-?

"Princess... Liz has gone up... Like Granma and Grandpa... She'll be able to see you from up, and you won't forget her, she'll always be with you, in here" Hugo replied softly, touching her handing to her chest, where the pain was.

In the evening, Adria sat in her room, looking outside at the setting sun. Her fingers were playing with a small bracelet. Not the ones you see in shop windows, all sparkling and gold. This one has reflecting beads, and it was made with thread. Liz had given it to her on her birthday. Liz had a similar one, in blue and white beads. The bracelet in Adria's hands had violet and blue beads... Adria looked at the setting sun. She always thought Liz was a lot like the sun, always bright, and hot, always alive. She quietly stared at the sun. A tear fell to the bracelet in her arms. "Goodbye, Liz..." Adria whispered to the sun...

Adria blinked, and the memories faded away... She touched the bracelet on her arm, still the same as 12 years ago... She focussed back on what Carl was saying.

"Both of you are alive because of pure luck. As for myself and my father, well, my mother is dead so..." Carl said hesitantly, his mask slipping slightly.

"Aunt Estelle died because of a stomach disease, didn't she? It was rare- and the doctors didn't know how to treat it... No one knew where she'd gotten it from, someone guessed that it might've been from one of the orphanages that she frequented, maybe a foreign kid?" Adria asked slowly, watching Carlos intently.

The topic was always a sore subject for him. Every time Estelle Martinez was mentioned to them, Albert always stood stiffly, barely hiding his anger, and glared at the speaker while his son looked to the ground, his confident, cocky, and arrogant smile slipping a little to show the raw grief underneath.

Adria always wondered why Albert always looked so furious at the mention of his late wife.

She cleared her thoughts to hear Carl's response.

"No, she didn't die of a stomach disease. She's died of poison. It was murder."