Chapter 85

November, 2005.

Crying seemed like a real privilege. Tears bathed her face with the warmth of her loneliness, bringing the closest to a relief she would ever encounter.

The girl was pedaling her bike at full speed. This time, I wasn't doing that to get my parents' attention, much less to enjoy the late afternoon. She was running away from herself.

The cold wind ricocheted on his face and his hair briefly covered his vision. For a moment she could imagine how everything would be without tears and pain. He had lost his mother exactly seven months ago, and still felt the red-hot knife that crossed his chest in a recent pain. The night nightmares didn't allow her to sleep. He had lost his mother and felt as if he had lost his whole family. An absent father, grandparents who never showed up, aunts and uncles who moved away in their bubble of American selfishness. She still had her godfather and Nancy, her kind wife. They treated the girl like a daughter,