We Come Alive 4

Searching For Family

That Monday morning was dark and quiet as the sun hadn't even come up yet. Manny was sleeping peacefully in her bed before being woken up by the cries of Esmerelda.

Manny quickly sat up and looked at her daughter screaming in her bassinet. She reached in and picked up the little girl to cradle her in her arms.

"Want some help?"

Manny looked down next to her and saw Bryce laying on his back as he rubbed his eyes. "I'll change her diaper." He yawned.

Manny shook her head as she stood up. "It's okay. She's just hungry."

Bryce was about to say something else, but Manny had already left and started breastfeeding. She went into the living room to sit down and feed Esmerelda, but she smiled seeing Clover sleeping on the couch with her homework spread out on the coffee table and her football gear laying around on the floor after her long football practice last night.

Manny sat down in the single chair and yawned as she looked down at her daughter. She was about to start talking to the little girl, but she heard a groggy voice from the dark.

"You on night duty?"

Manny looked up to see her mom walking out of the back hallway. She sat on the arm of the couch and pushed Clover's hair out of her sleeping face.

"Yeah." Manny answered. "I'm exhausted. But I know it comes with the territory."

Kiara nodded as she looked from her daughter back down to Clover. "What's her story?"

"What you mean?" Manny wondered, burping Esmerelda on her shoulder.

"I've never known why she lived here." She said, putting Clover's messy hair into a bun for her. "One of the rare things your dad doesn't tell me about y'all. I know about Ethan's situation and Ricky's...entire life. What about her?"

Manny leaned back as she looked at her best friend and cradled her baby in her arms. "Her family didn't have room for her. She lived in a two bedroom apartment with her mom and sister than, her sister had a baby. Clover was the thing that had to go. Didn't have room for her anymore."

"They just kicked her out?" Kiara whispered, shocked. "Just like that?"

Manny shook her head as she watched Esmerelda drift to sleep in her arms. She put her pacifier in her mouth so she wouldn't fuss awake. "No. But they didn't stop her from leaving. Her dad's main concern was that she would get distracted when she moved in with Dante before his first deployment. Once they moved in together, she knew it was on borrowed time before he was deployed. Than she moved in here."

"Do they check up on her?" Kiara wondered, fascinated and shocked by this concept.

Manny let out a deep breath than yawned. "I'll put it this way. Clover says that her family are the ones who she runs to when she's in tears. Last time I checked, only person who she shares blood with who was there for her when Dante became paralyzed was her sister. Her dad never said a thing about it, but shows up to her football games and her mom... as long as she doesn't end up dead, in a hospital, or in jail her mom doesn't care what Clover does."

Kiara shook her head as she got up and walked off to the back hallway. She stopped before she disappeared in the dark and faced her daughter. "You're a parent now, Maria. Good parents never abandon their kids when they need them the most. No matter what Esmerelda is going through, you have her back. You stand by her side. You support her. Know this, until my dying breath, my daughters will never be alone."

"Daughters?" Manny whispered.

Kiara pointed at the couch where Clover was sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the conversation they were having.

"She's mine now. She's more than a football player and she's more than some space in a house." Kiara announced. "Now, get some sleep. I'll make y'all breakfast in the morning."

Manny smiled to herself than to her daughter as she stood up and went off back to her room to set Esmerelda in her bassinet and to get some sleep herself.

~**~

Later that morning, like every morning he had, Ethan was getting ready for school while everyone else in the facility was asleep. Once he finished getting dressed, got his book bag and football bags from one of the guards, and made sure he had everything he needed, he went outside to get in one of the unmarked police cars.

Ethan stopped abruptly in his tracks seeing a familiar face standing in front of him. His breath hitched in his throat seeing his uncle Sebastian standing there waiting for him.

"Wh-What're you doing?" Ethan asked shocked.

Sebastian chuckled as he stopped leaning on his car and scratched his thick beard. "I'm driving you to school. You've been on good behavior long enough for me to. Unless you don't want to."

Ethan scoffed and nodded eagerly. "Yeah. Yeah! Of course. Here, take this for me."

He handed his uncle his string football bag with one of his pair of cleats and some spare essentials like a charger, headphones, and his school ID.

Sebastian threw Ethan's stuff in the backseat and got in the driver's seat to drive him to school. Once Ethan was ready and seated in the car, they left to the high school.

Ethan smiled eagerly the entire time as they road in the car. "Are y'all coming to my game Friday? It's the third playoffs. We win this we're going to state. We're undefeated, too."

Sebastian chuckled as he kept his eyes on the road. "Yeah. We are. Your aunt Nina's even been studying up on football so she can understand what's happening the entire time."

Ethan laughed knowing he wasn't joking. His laughter died down a bit as he thought about another person. "What about Ariana? She coming?"

Sebastian let out a deep sigh as he pulled up to the high school. "Yeah. She's coming. But you still can't have any contact with her. It's against your agreement for living in the facility. No contact with—"

"It's a load of bullshit!" Ethan yelled, hitting the side of his fist on the inside of the door. "She's my sister! Why can't I see her?! Cause I popped some pills?! That's still my little sister! I raised her when our parents didn't give two shits if we lived or died in that house!"

His uncle Sebastian pulled out the high school parking lot and drove across the street to an empty parking lot so they could talk.

"Listen," Sebastian sighed, "I'll have another meeting with the warden. See if they'll allow it. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Ariana's still underage and they don't want you being a bad influence on her."

Ethan shook his head as he looked out the window. "I'm not gonna give her drugs. I'd never, ever put her in a bad situation. When I was around her, I never touched those pills. The whole thing was a huge mistake. Only reason I even started was because I was under so much stress. No one ever cares about the kid who had to keep himself and his sister alive by himself and try and keep his life on the straight and narrow."

Sebastian reached over and messed up Ethan's hair. "Listen kid, we'll work this out. Lo prometo."
(I promise.)

Ethan just sighed and nodded knowing this was far from over. He was determined to see his little sister again.