Madrid Squad

Up and Away

A gloomy atmosphere heaved on the car as Ruru placed it on stop and opened the doors. Nobody touched the openings, not wanting to leave this cradle of a car. Kylie held Ruru's hand seeking for the strength she didn't currently have.

"Guys, Kuya's gonna be late if we don't get out of the car," Ruru stated, trying to sound as casual as possible, trying to hide the fact that his heart was breaking.

"Come on, Lovies. The airplane isn't gonna wait for Kuya," Kylie rode along as she got out of the car.

The three offspring of the Madrid family quietly got out of the mini van, far from the rowdy mess of laughs that they usually were. Amir jogged to the trunk to help his father with the luggage.

9:30 am came very soon and the check-in gates were now open. The sun shone bright but nothing could warm the cold feeling in Amir's stomach. Something that felt like butterflies and constipation.

"K-kuya," Silas spoke, his voice cracking.

"Yeah, bro?" he answered, struggling to fight back the hot tears prickling the corner of his eyes.

To everybody's surprise, Silas ran into his brother's arms, "Kuya, please stay."

"Silas, you know I can't, bro," he whispered. Amir ran his hands heavily up and down his brother's back.

"There are schools here that are good too, Kuya. You don't have to. Please, Kuya, please," the boy begged, his voice a muffled whisper. "Kuya, I don't want you to go. Please. Please."

"I know, 'Las, I know. I wanna take you with me, but I can't," he gulped, "But you know what? On Summer break, I'll come back and I can bring you that new Play Station accessory you really want. I can buy all the different colors for you! You can send me your works on Instagram and I can proofread them there. It'll be like nothing ever changed."

Amir knew he was fooling himself.

Silas slowly loosened his grip on his brother and stuffed his hand in his pocket, "I'd give up my gadgets if I had to just to make you stay, but you need to go."

"When did you get so mature, bro?" he laughed. He then turned to his parents to give them the biggest hug he ever had to give to anyone.

"Hey, no getting girls pregnant there, okay?" Kylie half laughed. "You don't wanna be changing diapers at 19, Anak."

"Yes, Ma."

"Kid, stop making your old man feel so old. Be good there, no fighting with the other kids," Ruru joked.

"Yes, Ba," Amir smiled.

His smile faded away the moment he realized he was gonna have to bid his good bye to Noelle.

"Kikay," he called.

"What?" Noelle responded, her voice shaky, her eyes pinned on the ground. She had her bottom lip in between her teeth. "Leave na. That's what you're good at anyways."

"Noelle, don't make it sound like that."

"Like what? Like, you're just gonna leave me like that? Like you'll just fly away to America and leave me here for a damn university?" Noelle dropped every word with such emotion. She knew that this was for the good of her brother and that she should be happy for him, but how do you let a caged bird fly when you have gone attached to it?

"Kikay, you're making this so hard for me," Amir whimpered as he choked out the words. "Do you think I wanna leave you here just because I do? Hell no! I need to study, 'Kay. I need to be a good Kuya and study abroad to get a good job so I can provide good money for you and Silas."