Ashes to Ashes

Snipit#2

Aritza Chavez sighed as she got up from the table. Her homework and studying was finished... She was definitely ready for tomorrow's spelling test. But what she was not ready for, was an evening alone.

Her big brother had no academic obligations this month, so he wouldn't be at the school tutoring some bratty kid. And she knew he didn't have a novia, or girlfriend, right now.

So the young blonde didn't understand why he couldn't be home with her. Why tonight couldn't be normal.

A normal night was just what she needed, too. In the other room, little brother Dante was screaming and crying in his crib. Their beloved mother's attempts to sooth Aritza's four month old brother could only be heard when Dante' s cries tapered off into pathetic whines at the end of each squall. Of course, Aritza would have to help...

But she wasn't nearly as good with Dante as Angel. Pursing her lips as she pus he in her chair, she turned and swept into the other room, concern in her blue eyes.

"Mamá. Gimme the baby..."

The woman looked up from the neck of her son, holding him close. Dante squirmed in her grasp, while his mother herself seemed about to cry. As Aritza came in, she flashed her a grateful look, and nodded, carefully putting the baby in her daughter's arms.

"Pobrecito... ah... Oye -- Mija, muchas gracias." Her mother's words where almost unnoticed as Aritza managed to calm her baby brother. But she gave a little nod, and with flushed cheeks Aritza coddled Dante and sat on the couch.

Their mother joined, a sort of vacant and tiered look on her face. But Aritza knew she meant well, so she smiled at her, and leaned into the woman. A few moments passed as Dante finally settled, and Aritza felt her mother's fingers combing through the lengthy blond hair she'd gotten from her.

Yet still she wasn't happy. While their mother's affection was fine, and she liked to help with Dante at times, she still wanted Angel home...

Which he still was not.

The young blond plucked her little flip-phone from her breast pocket, careful not to disturb her fussy little brother. She found herself looking at her elder brother's last text to her.

TO: Aritza C.
FROM: Angel C.

Mija, will be out late tonight. Take care of Mamá and Dante, porfavor. «Angel»

Her cheeks flushed in a fit of anger, but she remembered where she was. While her mother was somewhat off, she was keen to her children's emotions. Taking a deep breath, she cooled herself some. Why can't he be home tonight...?

---

While she expected him to be home around nine o'clock, she hadn't known he would be home at nearly the time their mother would go to bed.

In other words, at ten sharp.

Just as the woman had been getting up and telling Aritza to go to bed, the door had eased open, and both mother and daughter had paused to look.

Now, Maria Chavez, single mother to Angel Aritza, and Dante, never seemed to get too upset by anything. Not upset my means of anger, anyways, and Aritza herself in her twelve years of living had never seen or heard her mother become angry.

Especially at her eldest son, Angel.

So when a shadow crossed their mother's eyes, Aritza couldn't help but look between her beloved family members and question with pleading eyes. Their mother rarely showed emotion beyond an innocent seeming mother's care and the spells of quiet she'd go through.

But she looked furious... anguished, even as she looked at her eldest child.

"Charles!!??-- Dónde estás??" Her shriek filled the air as she burst across the room, taking Angel's shoulders and staring up at him, blue eyes hard and wet with by tears. Angel stumbled a bit. His face was a mask of confusion, but only for a moment.

With the same patience he treated their youngest sibling by, Angel pried their mother's grip off and instead pulled her into a tight hug.

"Mamá... No me llama Charles... me llama Angel." He paused for a moment, and Aritza found she had to strain to hear his brother as he pet their mother's ruffled blond hair smooth. "Charles no se aquí, Mamá... Solo es Angel, tu hijo... Ir a tu cama... es muy tarde para tí..."

With that, Angel lead their mother away to her bedroom. He was gone with her for the better part of the hour and when he came out, he seemed tired and a little ragged. But he made the time to come and put Dante properly to bed, and carried Aritza up to her bed, tucking her in. Per usual, he sang Aritza to sleep from the bed across the nightstand from her's. When she wasn't calmed by that. He explained their mother's fit to her as being something that happened because he looked so much like their father had.

She fell asleep in her brother's arms that night.