Rhivera (Complete Novel)

~Chapter Two- Eugenio Jr~

~Chapter Two~

~Juaquin~

~ 2011~

We adjusted to a life without dad and with my new brother Eugenio. Or Junior, as Raul called him. Eugenio Jr. looked more like mom, but still had me and dad's brown hair over her black hair.

After a few months I could tell Mom was antsy to get back to work at the bakery with her brothers. I offered to take care of Eugenio whenever I could so she could return to work.

When I wasn't in school, I took care of little Eugenio with some frequent help from Melissa and Arturo. One day Eugenio wouldn't stop crying and we couldn't get him to stop. It wasn't until Eugenio got into Arturo's arms that he fell fast asleep.

Arturo spent a lot of time with us after that, which Raul wasn't particularly happy about. The black haired boy taught me how to play the Damin Strategy game. I still didn't like it that much, but it was fun to play with him. He enjoyed having a new opponent.

The game's map mirrored our country of Rhivera, matching the landmarks pretty accurately. Mount Rhive was located to the east, the Jungles to the south, and those sand dunes dad and I always wanted to visit were up North in Norino. The bridges connecting the northern regions of the country to the south were omitted though. The game was supposed to be based off a war that happened sixty years ago. Arturo tried explaining the history of it all, but I couldn't follow him with how frantic he was.

In June of 2011, I wanted to see if I could get Eugenio to stand on his own. He hadn't started crawling yet, but when I was a baby I skipped right over crawling to walking. He was my brother so I figured he could too. I held him up next to a short table and slowly stopped supporting him to see if he'd stand on his own, but his legs kept giving out.

"His legs are skinny aren't they?" Arturo stated. I didn't realize it before but they were abnormally thin.

Nothing seemed to change as months passed. He didn't crawl or stand on his own. We assured ourselves that he was just a late bloomer. But as time passed we became less sure.

"He still isn't crawling?" Raul asked during a visit to our house.

"I'm sure he will soon." Mom deflected.

Raul was determined to see Eugenio crawl, but his legs wouldn't support themselves. He picked at his beard in deep thought. All of us were silent as we looked down at Eugenio on the floor, unable to move around.

Something was wrong with Eugenio. We didn't know what, and were scared to take Eugenio to a doctor. "If it's something that can't be fixed, Population Control will take him." Raul said, his face buried in his palms. Mom had this terrified look on her face.

"I thought Population Control didn't take kids." Mom tried to rationalize.

"If they're born with some sort of ailment they will." Yolanda, Melissa's mom responded solemnly. Yolanda had worked within the Population Control Council for a few years before she started working at a secretary position in the military under Raul. She had a firm understanding of who they would take and why.

It was once her job to sift through the records of the population and move adjust their position up or down on the PCC's list, passing it along to others for further evaluation. Eventually, an individual's files would reach the Emperor, and he would make the final decision on what should be done.

The Population Control Council had simple ways of gathering information on people to add to their records. Purchases at most businesses, employment at jobs, attendance at school were all recorded. These little things accumulated to portray the condition of the person at present day. The PCC's records would show which days of school I missed, but not necessarily why I was absent or where I was instead.