The Lucky Ones (Camren)

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CAMILA

The universe doesn't give you many favors. It gives you your soulmate's name, which I suppose is nice, but good luck ever finding them. It isn't impossible, though a lot of times people don't. Instead they find someone to fall in love with on their own and they walk with an air of arrogance claiming they chose their own love and the universe doesn't dictate their life (and maybe it doesn't). Sometimes they just settle, and there's a bitterness and longing that lingers in knowing that you're not someone's everything - that there will always be something missing. And there are a few who choose the solitude, determined to only ever be with their soulmate, whether they find each other or not - usually not.

Then there are the ones who do find each other, who meet and everything suddenly makes sense. It's like everything you read about and see in movies. And then they get to start their happily ever after, getting through every fight and every challenge together because there's no more doubt. They've found 'the one.'

My parents were the lucky ones and for a while I really believed that.

--

When I was seven I asked my parents for a baby sister and all they did was smile and kiss my cheek.

"One day soon, mija," my mom had always said.

'Soon' turned out to be three years later when I'm in sixth grade and the leaves are turning colors. Mami was already three months along when they told me and the next six couldn't happen fast enough. That Halloween we picked out pumpkins to carve and paint colors for the nursery. That Christmas all the presents my mother got were baby clothes and diapers.

I was impatient, asking my mom at least once every few weeks if the baby was ready to come out yet. Mami just smiled and said "Soon, mija."

I fussed at her every time she would come home from the doctor's, ecstatic over the ultrasound pictures she'd bring back. I would nod my head every time she pointed out where the baby was, when in reality all I saw were grey blobs. But she was convinced there was a baby in the picture and who was I to tell my mother she was wrong.

My eleventh birthday passed and my parents joked that they didn't have to get my anything that year because they're already giving me a sister. I didn't join in, instead I had stomped my foot and fussed that they were three years late. They laughed a little harder before bringing out a new bike for me and I squealed. I hugged and kissed them, reassuring that I didn't mean it when I said they were a couple of scrubs. I hugged my mom's swollen tummy gently, quietly promising my future sister that I'd teach her how to ride a bike when she's big enough and we'd own the streets together.

It's Valentine's day that I notice my father's tattoo doesn't look the same. I was hugging him goodbye as they left me with the babysitter so him and mami could go on a date. Gross. His sleeves were cuffed and I could plainly see his wrist when he put me down. The letters spelling 'Sinuhe' looked as if they were blurred around the edges and when his eyes followed my gaze all he did was give me a reassuring smile.

"We'll be back soon, mija." I don't think anything of it, instead spending the whole night telling my babysitter what games I'd play with my sister when she's finally here. 

April 1st rolls around and my parents were never ones for practical jokes but my dad doesn't take it all too seriously when mami yells during dinner that her water just broke.

"Ha ha very funny," he had said with slight amusement. "April Fools to you too, baby."

"Tonto, I'm nine months along and you think I'm joking? Take me to the hospital now," she demanded, no laughter in her tone. It was 9:34 PM and we were rushing to the hospital while my dad reminds mami to breathe.