Learning the Cabrera Culture #wattys2018

Or maybe not?

"Joel!" I yell when I see the familiar greying curls I squeeze him until I am pulled off of him.

"Laila," I hug her back.

"We heard about the accident. What's happened?" Joel asks softly. We take our places on the cold chairs outside January's room. Joel standing up as all other chairs are taken.

The sound of a newborn baby shrieking can be heard making my heart churn as I think about my dead son, whom I hadn't even seen yet.

"Get a grip, why are you crying?" Joel yells at me.

To his annoyance I shake my head not answering him. He swings the door open yelling at the nurses.

"Why is my son-in-law crying?" He yells. I follow in tentatively.

"Papa," January's voice was cracked as she stood near the window with a tiny pink faced baby in her arms.

January walks up to her dad carefully, but with a proud smile.

"This is Luna. I can only have her for 5 mins before she's taken away, as she was born early." She raises her eyebrow at me as if asking if I approve.

Luna? Maybe that's what León was talking about. Maybe I really did have twins!

I nod subtly hinting it was perfect.

"It means the moon, she lit up our world being born." She babbles as she looks down at our baby who was sleeping.

"What do you think of the name León for our son?" January asks not taking her eyes off the baby.

Isn't that the angel's name?

"Perfect." My heartbreaks when she mentioned our son. The son that died. How can she be so unbothered by it? As if he was still alive.

"I'm going to go back outside for a bit."
I excuse myself, watching back into the hallway grabbing on to the chair before I lost my balance.

I feel the sickness rising up my throat.

A few minutes later Laila comes out to join me.

"What's up fantasma?" Laila pinches my cheek like she always did when I was a child.

"How can she be so unbothered?" I huff, dropping my head into my hands.

"About what?" She asked duped.

"Our child is dead." I say bluntly. Laila drops her phone then quickly picks it up examining it for cracks or dents.

"Fuck!" She shouts returning her gaze on me She says.

"She's been talking about him non-stop as if he's alive, has no one told her?" She says rubbing her screen against her t-shirt.

"Ofcourse they told her first!" I yell.

"You need rest, babe. You look tired."

"I'm fine." I respond.

I didn't know how long I'd been asleep for, I didn't know I even knocked out until I heard the sudden cry of a baby.

"Shh, León. It's fine Mama is here." I hear.

"Look, now you've waken up papa." She scolds the child she was holding.

I didn't know what to tell her, rather how I should tell her. That wasn't our baby. She'd just walked out of another room with someone else's baby and the thought she was still in denial broke my heart.