Chapter 30: Unexpected Family Visit II

"I'm so glad I get the chance to talk to you like this, anyway, go order anything you want, I'm sure it's not everyday you get to eat at such a fancy café."

            I forced out an awkward smile at Aunt Frey who was smiling happily at me. We were both sitting across each other, classical music resound at the background, while she was sipping a cup of espresso and me drinking an ice cocoa. We sat by the balcony, overlooking a great view one of streets of Ohio. 

            The traffic today might be the worst I've ever seen perhaps. The street was jammed pack with cars and motorcycle, the horns would have annoyed me if we hadn't sat at a 10 story balcony.

              Why I am with Aunt Frey? It started when I was waiting at the front gate, waiting for father as usual when an unfamiliar car stops in front if me. When she took down the window, I was surprised seeing her and told me to get in. I then heard from her that father got stuck on traffic so he had Aunt Frey who was working near here to accompany me until he picked me up. Right now, Aunt Frey is having me drink in a café at a famous hotel. 

            Honestly, I feel extremely awkward. Even though I know It's not good to have baseless prejudice against step-mother, it's hard to change the point of view I've had for so long. 

             While we keep staring at each other, rolling our eyes from time to time. The cake I ordered came, I ate it silently but I could see Aunt Frey's mood lifted when she saw me eating it happily. 

              When she did, a memory from the past was triggered. I remembered  she came by a couple of times before I was 5, she had a longer hair and didn't wear glasses then but her smile resembles her a lot, I always thought she was a rental maid though I didn't pay attention much. "I remember you" I uttered without thinking. Her face turned a lot happier when she knew I remembered her. 

            "I see you cut your hair"

            "Well, I've been wanting to have a new style, does it look weird"

            "I think your new style is better" 

             Before long, we both began to talk more naturally with each other, my chest relaxed from releasing the tension. 

              I'm also glad she's just as friendly as she was described. Well, she's one of the few people who could make Karen smile so I should have expected it. 

            As we began to talk a lot more, one question I thought at spur. I wanted to swallowed it up before I might regretted it, but my mouth just couldn't shut when needed.

             "What kind of person was your son?"

            The cup she was sipping was put with a clatter, some of her espresso ended up spitting off the cup. She looked taken aback then and conflicted the next. I immediately told her I was sorry on how rude I was and to forget what I said. 

            An awkward silent again fell on us. Even though I was never the type to blab……except for some cases, and now I regret what I said.  

            "His name was Elbert. He was, if I have to describe, he's a cheery kid. Too cheery actually. I could never see him stay at one place too long and he would often play outside and get new bandages everyday. I should be glad with that one aspect of his rather than having him glued to the screen inside just like kids nowadays, you know there's this one time…"

            She began to talk about Elbert with enthusiasm, about how he had jump off the second floor to the pool, how he had ridden the neighbor's bull dog for fun, there were funny and absurd stories of his that I couldn't help but laugh at every one of them. 

            What I couldn't understand how she is able to tell it so easily with a glee on her face. As if she was telling an old friend who she hasn't met for so long, but to her, it must've felt more precious. 

             I was late too noticed she had stopped talking and was looking at me with her glistened eyes. "If I think about it now, I might have been too focused on work that he would usually do such a stunt. If I had paid him more attention, maybe there was still a chance to save him. To think, as a doctor, I couldn't see my own son's illness." Her eyes started to dart down at her cup. Her fingers started caressing the cup as if to calmed her down. 

            There wasn't much I could say to her because I don't know what an appropriate comfort an 8 year old should say. In fact, the only feeling I had for her was not pity but admiration. Because I know, more than I could have ask, how it feels to lose someone important to you, I had then decided not to recall about them, erasing the sadness I had whenever I was alone. The only reason I could recall them now, was because I was able to meet them again in this life. 

            Yet she, without forgetting the guilt and the pain, she willingly tells me about the days she had with her son with a smile. I kept wondering in my mind what kind of strength she had in her, a strength I would never be able to achieve. 

            So instead of mere words, I decided to give her something that I'm sure will give her a peace of mind. I took a perfectly round green stone, I knew Aunt Frey's eyes glimmer even without me seeing it since she likes jades and anything of the like. 

            "Aunt Frey, do you want me to teach you a spell?"

#

 After Michael pick up Claudia, Frey finished her cup before she could ask the bill and went home. She immediately took a hot bath, letting the steam eased her fatigue. Water was dripping from her wet hair, she stood by the mirror to let her body cool down and wiped the blurry mirror.

             She covered herself with a towel and went to turn on the TV, she sat by the sofa with a bottle of wine she prepared before hand. The wide window that over looked the city gave an awed night view. 

            She looked at the city, knowing there was one house she would sometimes look out from here. An old memorable house that she couldn't stand to live in it, yet living in this apartment had proved she still had attachment. 

           Without any shows that give interest to her, she turned off the TV an turn her focus at the green stone glittering on her table. No matter how one looks at it, you would think it's just an ordinary stone.

            "This isn't just a stone," Frey recalled Claudia's words, "this is a.... Dream Stone, yes let's called it Dream Stone, anyway this is something I've heard but if you put this under your pillow while you chant a spell, it's possible to contact with the soul of the dead in your dreams."

             Frey laughed at her remark, but Claudia wasn't upset after foreseeing her reaction. "It's fine if you don't believe it, but I think your son has as much to say to you as you have to him." Her father then came for her so she left leaving the stone with Frey. 

            She couldn't really leave the stone as it's, one way or another, the first gift she gave to her. Now, because of her ridiculous description of the stone, she was hesitating for a bit. She wondered if it's human nature to rely on anything that could fulfil their wish. 

            Since she didn't felt anything wrong with trying, so without much expectation, when she got ready to bed she put the stone under her pillow per instruction.  She closed her eyes and said, [Lord of the Underworld, grant me your blessing and guide my soul to seek the truth]

            After saying it like a prayer, she went to sleep and experienced what she could never imagined. 

             Frey never went so sleep, to be more accurate, she never felt she had fallen to sleep. Her surrounding was dark and confirm her eyes weren't close. Exactly where was she, she kept on wondering.  

             A warm light blinded her and the next thing she knew, she was at the hospital where her son was admitted. She was startled and confuse, but all that was washed away when she saw her son, Elbert dozing on the bed with a pale face and many monitors surrounding the two. 

            There wasn't much time for him, yet nothing she could do other than staying by his side with both her hands covered his. She remembered this scene as if it was yesterday, the moment his condition was at its worst, Elbert began to turn blind and kept uttering how the lightning was scary even though he was in the room with the sun striking hot outside. 

            She kept holding back her tears while she kept herself by his side to make sure he knows she was here. Yet, when he asked to see her face, there was nothing to do but for the both of them to cry with that last wish left unfulfilled. 

            She had nightmares for a few weeks after his death, things have calmed down for her but now she didn't think she'd be dreaming about his last moment anymore. 

            She thought that the dream would not change ever since. However, there was a slight difference in it. With his supposed to be blind eyes, he looked straight at her with him holding her hand as tight as she hold his. There was a desperate clutch, trying the best she could hope to hold him down along with his life. 

            She knew it was pointless, but still while there was time, she wanted to spend his last moment while pouring out her love. She tried speaking but no voice, she even tried screaming but wasn't even able to feel the strain muscle of her throat. That is to be expected, because she is now only the image of her soul and a mere soul cannot do such a simple thing as conversing. 

            She was about to cry when she knew she couldn't tell her son anything. However, when she looked up, Elbert was standing and then came up to her while putting his arms around her.   

            She suddenly felt a burst of emotion flowing inside of her. It was full of love and gratefulness along with the memories they had together. She was hugging him back, hoping the same feeling would transmit to him as well.

            Her surrounding turns white and the two look up at the warm light above, Elbert smile one last time before he floated up in the sky. She wanted to hold him back, but she knew instinctively he was happier up there. So she let go and her sight went back to her room as she woke up at the sound of her alarm blaring across her ear. 

            She felt her face wet from tears and wondered about the dream she had, she then looked behind her pillow and found out that the green stone disappeared. She wasn't able to comprehend if that dream was real or not, but she felt part of the weight she had in her heart was loose and form into tears she had shed. 

              It's okay to assume you love me right?

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Chapter Unexpected Family Visit is dedicated to my brother who I never met, died at 5 years old because of a blood cancer and Also to my family, including my step mother. Unlike in the story the one who divorced was my parents and dad then remarried. Because he had 3 daughters, he never neglected us and support us along with my step-mother so my mom could live as a housewife. My step-mom doesn't have a child by the way so she treated the 3 of us as one. 

I want to show from this story that even when a family is not perfect or even wreck doesn't mean we can't stay happily as one. I would visit my step mom every week and love her as much as my own mom. 

Hope you enjoyed it, I have to say this chapter is the hardest chapter, especially when I tried to get the feels right.

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