His Obsession (Ongoing)

Chapter no.21

"We're here." Angelo said as I pulled my head away from where it rested on the window. My eyes settled on the sight before me. Pale pink petals on the cherry trees, the bright green moss growing on about the rusted gate giving it a natural look.

The cemetery. I was home.

My mom rested here. And it hadn't changed one bit since the day I had learned my mother was here. There used to be an old man sitting by the biggest cherry tree outside the graveyard but now that I looked at it, he was nowhere in sight.

"Where is he?" I wondered out loud.
"Whom are you looking for my love?" Angelo stopped next to me and looked around.
"There used to be a man.....there by that tree. He's not here this year."

"I see." I heard him say. I walked up to the gate and touched it with my fingers. It always felt like she could see what I was doing, feel what I felt even when she wasn't here with me, she had never left me. She always heard what I had to say and always somehow gave me an answer. I had never known my mother but I loved her as any child would love their's.

The gate screeched as Angelo pushed it open, raising dust in the process. This cemetery was the biggest and the oldest in the city. The large tombstones came into view as we walked further in. There were cherry trees scattered here and there with somewhat weird markings on their barks. I wondered who made them. Was it the old man?

"This way." I told him and he followed discreetly in my footsteps.
"You know this place so well." I heard him mumble.
"I come here every year so yes I know every inch of it."

I urged my feet forward with each step but my heart picked an uneven pace. And I felt it.
Something was wrong.

I didn't know what it was but I just knew I had to move fast. I had to see if she was still there. The thought was silly and terrifying at the same time. Why wouldn't she be here?
"Just around that tree." I spoke just to be sure Angelo was catching up. Though I knew he would never leave me alone.

I huddled around the tree in the centre of the cemetery and my mother's tombstone came into view but what made me stop in my tracks was another grave just a few inches from hers.
The last time I remembered there was no grave next to hers, just a small flower patch. Who was it?

Ignoring the other grave from my view, I made it up to my mother and knelt beside her grave.
"Good morning Mrs Sanchez!" I heard him say softly as he knelt beside me. I turned to watch him in amusement.
"Hey mom!" I whispered.

Our eyes met and Angelo looked at me smiling.
"Won't you introduce us love?" I blushed and averted my gaze to my mother.
"Mom! This.......is Angelo......Angelo Ean Pasquale.....my husband. Long story. I'll tell you later I guess."

I watched Angelo put a small bouquet of white roses onto the grave. He must have gotten them before we left from the mansion.
"Your daughter is beautiful. I love and will love her forever. I promise." Somehow his promise made my heart flutter. But I dared not look at him as he grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently.

My eyes flickered to her tombstone.

•■•Darlene Helen Sanchez•■•
(1967-1995)

My mother had died so young. She had never lived to grow old. My heart dropped slightly and I stood up brushing grass off of my jeans.
My gaze darted to the other new grave and I walked up to it. Suddenly Angelo's warm hand grabbed mine before I could move.

"We should go."
"But.....who is this? It wasn't there before. I want to see." I pulled my hand out of his and knelt down dusting away with my hands to read the head stone.
My eyes seemed to have deceived me. I closed them and opened them again to read again but the name was unmistakably the same. The very same. It was there to bring my world crashing down upon me.

Franco Sanchez
▪《1964-2015》▪

My eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as I stilled completely not believing my own vision. My dad was dead? According to this head stone, my father should be dead a year and a half ago. But he was alive. I had left him just so I could be closer to my mother's resting place and so I could be independent. And I was sure, the man I had left safe and sound had been my father. This couldn't be possible could it?

"Celine! Celine! dobbiamo andare il mia amore."-we have to go my love. Angelo's voice sounded so far away. I couldn't feel, I couldn't speak. All I saw was my father's name engraved in stone. I was unaware of what happened next.

But as I felt my feet swept off the soil, my senses rushed back to me alongside all the feelings that had gone numb with shock. Now I was in an overdrive with emotion. Before I could cope with the momentary onslaught of guilt and sorrow, a scream escaped my parted lips. I called to my dad.
"DAD! DAD! NO! LET GO OF ME! I HAVE TO GO SEE HIM. DADDD!" I thrashed and kicked and wailed in Angelo's arms. The two graves faded away from my already teary eyes. This was unreal. This was impossible. This was unfair. Oh so unfair. I didn't even know what my last memory with him had been.

Was it the night before I had to leave for New York or was it our last breakfast together before I left? Or was it my 20th birthday, when I had waited with my birthday cake and he hadn't returned home until late at night, only to come back in the morning with no memory that it was my birthday?

My mind teemed with small shreds of memories I had of him, just a hasty flashback trying to grasp at him somehow, to get a hold of him and bring him back. But it was no use. He was gone. Just like mom. Now I knew why he hadn't come for me after Angelo took me. Now I knew building up false hope had been a bad idea. He wasn't there anymore.

He was gone. He had left me.

•□◇♡◇□•

Hi everyone! Here's a new update. A Happy Fathers Day to all of you. To all who have celebrated it in April and for those who will celebrate in June.

The moment you read this, please stop whatever you are doing and go to your dad and tell him how much you love him. Don't miss this chance. Life might never give it back to you.
"I love you daddy. I miss you."

Stay blessed.
Ashley♡

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