HIDDEN ─ marvel

XXI. The Graves

Chapter Twenty-One:
Alex

We both help Okoye load the boxes onto the jet. Of course, any of our old furniture has been sold along with most of our clothes. Our family pictures, Soroya and my old toys, Mama's jewelry, Papa's watch collection, their entire collection of old movies, vintage records, Soroya's dancing shoes and uniforms, Mama's wedding dress, and an entire box of old video cameras. That is all that remains of our old life.

There's also a box with documents in it; our birth certificates, Mama and Papa's drivers licenses and birth certificates, their will, and a pamphlet for our funeral. Apparently in Hamburg there are tomb stones for all four of us. I stare at the pamphlet, reading the names of our parents over and over again. I walk over towards Soroya, whose talking to Mira next to the jet.

"There's something I want to do before we go back," I tell her. She nods her head, bringing us over a few feet to talk in private. "I want to go to our graves."

She creases her eyebrows in confusion. I hand her the pamphlet for our funeral. Her shoulders slightly slump, and when she looks back up at me, she nods her head. We never got to properly say goodbye to our parents; we never got to bury them or give them a funeral. Mira said she needed closure for what happened to our parents. This just might be the closure both of us surely need.

We walk back up to Aunt Mira, who smiles softly at us, handing us a check. "While you guys were loading that...that thing...I went to the bank a few blocks from here and cashed the check. That money belongs to you."

Soroya and I glance down at the check. It's 569,000 euros.

"Holy shit," I exclaim. I can't help but smile at our aunt. "Thank you."

She nods, glancing between us and Okoye. "Be safe...I hope you find the life you both are looking for."

I nod to her and make my way towards the ship, but Soroya leans in and hugs our aunt. She looks a little taken back, before wrapping her arms around her and patting her back thoughtfully. Soroya pulls back and smiles at Mira. "Thank you for keeping our childhood safe."

She nods. "Of course."

Soroya makes her way back to the jet and the two of us climb in. As Okoye walks past us, Soroya stops her. "We want to make one more stop. We want to visit our parents graves."

Okoye nods sadly, squeezing her friend's hand before getting back into the pilot's seat, lifting us off the ground. Soroya and I watch through the window as we fly away from Mira. We see her shyly wave at us. We can't help but wave back.

-

It's a weird feeling being back in Hamburg. In many ways it feels exactly the way it did eighteen years ago, but in many ways it's different. I can still smell the Elbe River that runs through the city, hear the horns blowing from the boats as they sail by. The buildings look the same, though slightly less extravagant since I'm not as small.

We lived in Wilhelmsberg, which is just outside the main city of Hamburg. Okoye lands a few blocks from where we used to live. Soroya and I insisted on going to see it, even though it may not be our house anymore.

We stand on the sidewalk outside of our childhood home, where instead of Papa's black Sedan, there is a bright red Volvo sitting in the driveway. The windowsills are no longer painted white, but now are an olive green, which looks odd against the cream painted walls. We glance through one of the open windows and see that the flower wallpaper is still there. Whoever lives in this house finally got rid of the ugly yellow curtains Mama always loved. Part of me feels sad about this despite the fact I always hated them.