Paradiso

Chapter 1: Key

From every ending comes a new beginning.

...

I turned my head out of the car's window and an endless amount of lush trees welcomed my eyes.

Memories of this past month replayed in my mind, making my nose feel sour and my mouth dry.

Months of roller coaster of emotions sadness, anger, disbelief, and hopelessness. Never would I think that our happy family would break apart.

I discovered that, dad had accidentally impregnated a woman. Fearing that a single soul will know, I kept a tight-lipped. Fearing that once, Mother and Timmy will know, our happy days will end.

For there are no secrets that time does not reveal. It forced me and Timmy to choose between our Mom and Dad. Maybe because it was because of guilt, or I don't want Mom to be alone, I chose her, so was Timmy. Timmy was a mama's boy, and I was thankful for that.

*Sigh*, I sighed deeply to prevent myself from crying.

After long hours of travel, we have arrived.

I opened the car's door and got off. In front of us was a two-story classical mansion, which was first owned by our great-grandmother. You can tell the mansion is old by looking at its walls, the paint is peeling off.

"This is it kids! This will be our new home." My mom said.

"Wow! It's huge." Timmy said while gaping. He then ran around acting like a dog having zoomies.

"Hey, Timmy! Be careful, you might fall." Mom said worriedly.

Timmy just continued running with arms on both sides, pretending to be an airplane. I couldn't help chuckling at his silly antics.

Mother suddenly patted my shoulders.

"Hey! Forget what happened during the past month. I don't blame you. I know you did it for the sake of our family." Mother said reassuringly, she then hugged me in her warm embrace.

"Now, gather up. We're going to take a picture to commemorate our fresh start." Mother said, which liven up the mood.

We gathered up, and in our back was the mansion. I forced a smile, and mother snapped a photo.

We went inside the mansion, and what welcomed us inside was a clean living room. A cleaning service had already cleaned it before we arrived.

"Hey!" Mom called to the attention of both me and Timmy.

"Why don't you two go upstairs and check your rooms?" Mom said, trying to divert our minds from any sad memories.

"Yeah, sure Mom!" I said to Mom while smiling.

I called Timmy, "Hey! Raise you to the top. The last person is a twerp." I then immediately ran towards the stairs while laughing at him. As a sister, it is my duty to help take care of my sibling.The least I could do is to not let him feel the sadness of a broken family.

"Not fair!" He exclaimed, he then immediately caught up to me.

"Be careful you two!" Mom shouted, fearing that we might fall from the stairs. I looked at mom and saw that the corners of her mouth was lifting. Her smile was like the sunlight beaming at me early in the morning through the windowpane, bringing me warmth from the cold morning.

...

I head my way upstairs. Mother already told us where our rooms were while we were going on our way here. My room is on the left side of the mansion, where my favorite place, the library is at. Mother will always be a mother, although she is also experiencing a hard time. She still puts our welfare on her mind first.