twenty-eight (2nd draft)

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Xavier

I couldn't believe that I was going to leave this Earth without ever meeting my mother.

I only knew her name; Xiomara Sanchez.

My dad told me the story of how they met when I was around fourteen. I got super curious about my mom and asked him.

"How did you and my mom meet?" I asked. My father grew tense and I noticed. I didn't mean to make him uncomfortable.

"What?" He asked as he turned around.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, it's just that... I don't know anything about her. I know you don't like talking about her, but can you tell me how you guys met?" I nervously asked.

"Sit down," he commanded and so, I listened. I sat on the sofa behind me and he sat across from me.

"I met your mother, Xiomara, when I was..." he clicked his tongue, "around twenty-five, she was twenty-three. Her father was my father's colleague. As you know, this business... isn't easy. It's illegal, first and for most, but it's the family business. Hector, your mother's father, was an ally of ours. He was one of our most important alliances," he explained. "When I was twenty-five, I was a teniente. Your grandfather was a capo. Basically, I was his right-hand man. He was going to retire soon and wanted to appoint me to the next highest position. One day, Hector came to check out the merchandise. Your mother was with him."
[teniente: lieutenant
capo: drug lord]

"That's when you met her?" I interrupted. I didn't mean to, but damn. This was just way too fascinating.

"Yes. I remember the day like it was yesterday. Your mother is Italian, by the way. Dark brown hair, beautiful hazel eyes and the tannest complexion. I remember thinking she was absolutely gorgeous. We fell in love with each other. We kept it hidden, we had to. We knew our relationship was forbidden. We couldn't have anything messing up the alliance. But alas, your grandfather found out. So, he made me choose: her or the business. Well, you know what I chose."

"Why didn't you choose her? You didn't love her anymore?" I asked.

"Believe me, that was not at all the reason. I chose the business, because I didn't want to disappoint my family. I still wonder if I made the right choice, there are times where I even regret it. After that, I had to end it with her. That's when she told me she was pregnant... with you. Hector obviously found out and almost broke the alliance. So, I lied. I told him I didn't love her anymore, that it was fling, that it was completely over. She was heartbroken and gave you to me and left. I don't know where she went. No one did."

"... She didn't want me?" I choked out. My own mother didn't want me?

"The pain was too much for her. Knowing her, that was probably the hardest decision she ever had to make." He consoled me.

"Do you still love her?"

"Of course. She's the love of my life. Why do you think I haven't dated anyone? It's certainly not because of this," He gestured towards his face and his body. I laughed. "There's no one like her. I'll always love Xo." He said with sad eyes. "Anyways, that's how I met her."

"Wow, hopefully I'll meet someone like that," I teased as we both stood up.

"Just don't do what I did, X," he said.

"Fall in love with someone who you couldn't have?" I questioned.

"Yeah," he murmured. "Don't do that. It fucking sucks."

That's really what I was thinking about as I shivered from the cold. Oh, and the fact that my father called this.

When I first started surfing, boy, did my father hate it. He thought it was stupid. He thought that one day I would drown and die. Well, jokes on him, I didn't necessarily drown.

All was serene and fine. I was slowly but surely accepting my death when I heard this fucking loud noise. The wind was blowing like crazy and I squinted my eyes opened. I saw this bright white light- is that a helicopter?

I opened my eyes a little more to see clearer.

"We found him!" I heard a person yell. I slightly turned my head and saw a man wearing a fluorescent orange jumpsuit.

He turned towards me and said, "Don't worry, sir. We got you, you'll be fine."

Holy fucking shit.

Guess I'm not dying today.

*

I woke up in a hospital bed. My father was by my side and Jesus Christ, I felt just... peachy. I tried to lift my arm, but he was lying on top of it. I guess he fell asleep. I groaned and that's when he woke up.

"Finally, you're awake," was the first thing he said. How kind.

"Water," I strained out. My throat was as dry as the Sahara desert. He poured me a cup of water and put a straw in it. I muttered a small thank you and drank almost the whole thing.

"What the hell happened, X?"

"A huge wave came out of nowhere. I tried riding it out, but the current was too strong. It just kept pushing me further and further away from shore," I explained.

"I told you surfing was no good," he joked. "You're gonna go back out there, aren't you?"

"Hell yeah. I didn't die, did I?" I said. There was no way this was going to make me give up surfing.

"Eres estúpido. One day, you really are going to die out there," he rolled his eyes. I chuckled.

"I'll be fine. No matter what happens, I'm always fine," I defended.

"Yeah, you're lucky like that. One day your luck is going to run out." I looked at him and realized how tired he was. His hair was disheveled. He had bags under his eyes and his eyes were red.

"No offense, but you look like hell," I said. He laughed and rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't too concerned about my appearance, X. I tried getting here as fast as I could," he stated with a scowl.

I put my hands up defensively, "Sorry, sorry." I looked to my right and saw that it was still dark outside. "What time is it?" I yawned.

"Uh," he checked his watch. "Five AM. You should go back to sleep. We both look like hell." He stated.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," I yawned through the words. I shut my eyes and dozed off.

*

I woke up again when I felt someone resting on my arm. I thought it was my father and was going to swat him off of me. Then, I felt someone holding my hand and I squeezed on instinct.

Okay, those are definitely tears and this hand is way too small to belong to my father.

I fully opened my eyes and turned to my left. My heart throbbed when I was met with her tear stained face.

"Adriana? Why are you here?"

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