Tied to a Castillo I 18+

thirty

Memories of Giuseppe...

Giulia crouched down in front of the TV on her knees, pushing the DVD into the player in hopes it would play on the screen. It was officially a year later when the Castillo's were given the news that would alter their lives forever.

They got non-stop texts and calls from others who sent their condolences, appreciating that people still remembered him. The Castillos wanted to spend this day honoring him in any way they could, clearing their schedule to dedicate a whole twenty-four hours to Giuseppe Marcelo Castillo.

Spending time with a bunch of their family members would have been nice, but Giulia just wanted something for her small family. So, Elena, Sam, Mattia, Richie, and herself were present at the family beach house.

Everyone arrived the night before to bring in this day, their morning pretty quiet as everyone ate at the table. Giulia kept an extra chair out for Giuseppe; no one questioning it this time.

In order to not sit in complete silence, Elena put on a few of Giuseppe's favorite songs, allowing the music to play at a low volume. If Giuseppe was there, he would've been stopping mid-conversation just to sing the lyrics. He was never good at singing, and his siblings would roll their eyes when he did so. But right now, they would kill to hear that pitchy, off-key voice of his.

After getting up from the table one by one to clean their dishes, Giulia had them crack open this large photo album that she kept there on the coffee table. It was a bunch of camera shots of her kids when they were little, all eyes mainly falling onto the images of Giuseppe.

There were photos of him in his favorite pajama set that the family laughed at, seeing that he would not retire it until he was growing out of it. That was the only thing that got him to toss it out, making everyone go out into the backyard to bury it.

Richie didn't think he was serious until Giulia called him and said that everyone was waiting for him. They buried it in a box with a few more things he had to get rid of but cherished.

They were able to see Giuseppe when he was a few months old, Mattia laughing at how big his head was. What got him to silence his laughter was when Sam pointed to a picture of Mattia when he tried giving himself a haircut.

Patchy and fucked up.

They spent some time on that before they moved onto the next thing, preparing the food for tonight. It was a little chilly, but it was manageable, so they planned to head outside in the backyard afterwards.

Elena made sure they had everything so they could enjoy a campfire, something they used to do with Giuseppe. Giuseppe loved s'mores and would always ask his parents if he could roast marshmallows in their backyard.

Since he wasn't old enough to do it alone, Richie or Sam would be out there just so he could get what he wanted. Many times Sam made Giuseppe pay him, but that was besides the point. They had some fun times, and it was hard to forget them.

Giuseppe may have been younger than Sam, but he always looked out for his older brother. One time Sam was planning to throw a party at the family's beach house because their home was guarded, and Giuseppe overheard it. Sam would've gotten in trouble that weekend if Giuseppe hadn't told Sam that their mother had just installed cameras.

Knowing this, Sam was able to have one of the guys from computer class make it look like the home was empty on camera, when in reality, it was packed with students from school.

"How do I look?" Giuseppe asked as he finally entered the kitchen, doing a slow turn to show off his costume. It was Halloween, his favorite time of the year.