Chapter 1

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"Come on sweetie, wake up." my grandma says in a soft, loving voice.

As I open my eyes, I remember that I have to go back there.

It's only been three months since I started first grade and I hate it alredy. This new school is so big, cold and full of big boys and girls that look at us with curious eyes. I hate being the little one again. We're younger than te rest of the kids in our school and I'm younger than all the kids in my class. Thanks mom and dad for having me on December.

As I get dressed, I think of them. I haven't seen dad for days. I wonder what is he doing right now. I'm sure he is with my mom. She hasn't been to our house in weeks, and I haven't seen her since then.

My grandma has been taking care of me these days, taking me to that ugly school and picking me up at 2 in the afternoon.

As I struggle to put my hair into a ponytail, she offers to help me, and as soon as she's done with it, I follow her down the stairs to the parking lot. The sky is gray and a cold breeze makes me shiver until we get in the car.

"What a cold day we have today!" She says, rubbing her arms with her hands as she waits for the car to warm up a little. "Why are you so quiet today, Victoria?"

Hearing my full name instead of "Vicky", what everybody calls me, makes me wake up from my daydream of seeing my parents both at home when I get there from school.

"I'm a little sleepy, that's all." I say with my best smile I can fake. I'm worried, very worried and nervous for my mom.

I know she's not right. Everyone assures me she is but I know better.

Things were normal with my family until that day in our summer vacation. Mom, dad, grandma and me went to Argentina for a month, to spend two weeks in the snowy mountains of Bariloche and the rest of the time to visit Buenos Aires. Everything was going great. We all loved Bariloche and played for hours with the snow.

One day in Buenos Aires, my mom came out of the shower with a bruise in her hand. She seemed pretty worried about it, and so did my dad. How bad can a bruise be? I thought for myself, but it must have been pretty serious, because she stayed at the hotel that day while the rest of us went around a really pretty and colorful part of the city, full of small houses painted in bright colors. It almost made me forget about the stupid bruise in my mom's hand that kept her from going with us. She would have loved it.

When we came back home, things got really crazy for us. I saw my dad helping my mom to walk from a room to the other, there was a plastic chair in the middle of their shower and he even had to help her to go to the bathroom. One day, she stood up from the bed and asked me to take her to the kitchen. What is going on?

Before classes started, she quit her job. She spent all day in pajamas at home and rarely came out of her room.

Some nights I slept with them on their bed. A month ago when I climbed on their bed and layed between them, I choked and my dad covered my mom's face, telling me not to cough or sneeze near her. That was super weird.

The following weeks, they took her to a hospital I guess. She must have one of those horrible colds because of our trip.

Before I can notice, we're already at my school. I open the door to climb out of the car when my grandma stops me and says, with a warm smile and glossy eyes:

"We're visiting your mom when I pick you up this afternoon. I'll bring you some nice clothes, I want you to look beautiful when she sees you." A tear comes down her cheek and I'm more confused than I was a minute ago. "Have a nice day hun" she says and kisses me goodbye.


(Hey guys! I'm new in this, I've never written anything before but I've been thinking of this story for a long time. If there's anything you want to tell me, ask me or anything please comment!!! It would be really helpful if you made suggestions for the story, or if you find any grammar mistakes please let me know!! Thanks xoxo

Ps: my native language is not English so pleaseee let me know the mistakes)

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