Silence and suspense were floating through the room. Waiting for the hammer to slam and the positive flow of words to leave the judge's mouth. The world stood still at this point- I was grateful to have something else on my mind.
I glanced at Gloria, seated upon a chair which was too tall for her, her small legs hanging completely still by her own suspense, though a bit of confusion as those English words were hard to understand for her. My heart ached, I wanted to hold her in my embrace.
Separated from her father, who sat near the judges, head low.
I glanced at Benjamin and pupils from his school. I glanced at my own pupils, who had yet to find out I was back. I glanced at Salomé, who fiddled with the papers in her hands, her golden hair falling over her face, whereafter her shaky hands would tuck it back behind her ear.
We'd not have the chance to speak after we had made eye contact, Daniel gave further instructions and took me to the courtroom. But sooner or later, conversations would come.
And then, an explosion of emotions. Hustle and bustle of joy. I blinked my eyes faster, getting out of my trance, finding out that we had won the case. I stood up, felt the core of my heart warming up more and more as I saw the tears streaming down Davu's face, his arms wrapped around his young daughter, who couldn't stop screaming daddy.
Long story short; the papers had, in fact, been deprecated. All thanks to Salomé's father, who had been in Nigeria around that time, searching for contact with his family and finding the papers. The fact that Davu had left them behind purposefully required a 150 hours community service, which he practically embraced- but as the papers had no meaning anymore, no jail sentence could and would be given.
Even a legal integration process could start from now on, giving Davu and Gloria an official citizenship in England.
"Gloria! Gloria!" I heard the pupils of my class chanting her name. An overwhelmed feeling came over me- I had missed those children. I had missed my job. I had missed Salomé.
We went outside- got some fresh air. I felt bigger arms wrapped around me, and when I turned around, my eyes met Davu's. Once so desperate, full of misery and guilt, they were now full of joy, hope, warmth. "Thank you. Merci beaucoup!" He kissed my cheeks, turned around, not giving me the chance to say something to him.
"Mr. Malin?" A soft voice, a little girl's hand reaching for mine. I swallowed, Eden flashing through my mind. "Thank you.. save daddy, and I."
Looking down into Gloria's eyes, I saw how they watered, forming into drops that slid their way down softly. I picked her up, embraced her tightly, feeling stupid for leaving her behind like this, too. "I'm sorry for not being there, Gloria."
"You here.. now." Gloria buried her face in my shoulder, squeezing me tightly. I felt content.
"I'm so happy for you, sweet girl."
"Merci." She kissed my cheek, pointing at my class. "School now."
I put her back down, saw how she ran over to my pupils, who started walking off with someone else. I observed, my eyes falling on her floral dress, wondering if she had taken it over ever since the day I left. It pained me- I knew I was the one who left so suddenly, but the thought of someone else taking over the class I'd had loved to teach stung. And it being Salomé didn't necessarily make it easier.
"You alright, son?"
"Isn't it tiring for Gloria to go back to school right after?" I swallowed, avoiding eye contact with Teddy.
"They need to finish business with Davu- she has no other place to go to, other than the house she has lived in for the past few weeks- yet Gloria chose to be at school. She wants to celebrate." Teddy explained, observing my face. "She will be gone the moment you put your foot in that classroom. She knows that. She wants that. Covered the place so the moment you would come back, she could leave."
"Huh?"
"I've seen it in your eyes, Zev. Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about." He pulled my earlobe. I gave him a soft smile. "Why don't you come with us? We're holding a party for Gloria."
I glanced at Benjamin, saw how he was, although a bit hesitantly still, trying to crack his usual jokes with Nolan, Italian words flying through the air, the mentality audible in the loudness of his voice. I figured he would be alright, especially when Daniel motioned for the boys to get in the car.
Turning my attention back to Teddy, I gave him a small nod and returned to my car, driving my way over to the school.
The classroom was fully decorated with loads of colours, flags, balloons, I smelled food from all over the world, loud, African music was playing. A small smile tugged at my lips. Aurora would have loved it. The children had arrived, too, all cheering and dancing and singing in pure joy. I heard French, I heard English, I heard Afrikaans, I heard Arabic.
I watched them silently, they had not noticed me, for it was extremely full in the classroom. All teachers from Teddy's school had joined, as well as parents and other friends, not necessarily from this school.
It was proper chaotic. And seeing I had slept in a car and drove for hours, I felt the need to breathe before I'd put myself fully present in the celebration. I left the classroom, walked over to the staff area, the stairs, up to the rooftop. I hadn't heard her calling my name.
Walking over to the railing, I leaned my arms upon them, staring down at the village, feeling the wind through my, already, disheveled hair. I breathed in and out slowly, shivered by the chilly feeling of the weather, though it felt refreshing.
"Zev?"
I turned around, I was met by a million emotions portrayed upon her face. I gave her a light, somewhat timid, smile as response.
Salomé tucked her hair behind her ear and sauntered her way over to me, giving me a smile back, but her lips quivered by emotions. When she stood near me, she stopped walking, her eyes raking over my face for a silent moment. "The sun brought some color to your cheeks."
"It did me well."
"I can imagine." She answered, her voice soft. "I'm sorry about us leaving on bad terms."
"Please." I could only look at the ground. "I should be the one apologizing. What I did to you was wrong."
Her hand softly touched the back of mine. I swallowed by the feeling of it. "Forgiven. It's not important anymore. What do you think of Gloria's situation?"
"What a relief, isn't it?" I looked back up, realising many tears were rolling down her smooth cheeks. It pained me. "Are you alright?"
Salomé squeezed her eyes, then wiped off the tears. She nodded, took a step closer. Looking at her standing there, she seemed helpless. Somewhat lonely. It drew me closer to her. Physically. Mentally. I reached for her hands, Aurora's words trying to push their way through all of my thoughts.
"Salomé?"
"It gives me so much relief. I was so caught up in it all." She gripped onto my hands as if I was the last person in her life whom she had cared for, but was leaving, too. "I haven't slept for days, Zev. I could imagine her there, all alone in Nigeria. So dangerous.."
I felt how she shook under my grip, her eyes flickering everywhere, as if a film of her youth replayed in her mind.
"Thank you so much for coming back just in time." She whispered, her watery eyes finally meeting mine. "I don't know if I could have done it alone. It really meant a lot to me."
"I'm sure you could have-"
"No, Zev. No." She shook her head, stared down at the village. Our hands still entangled.
"Is the situation making things loose in your mind?" I could sense it. I saw the melancholy in her eyes. The melancholy I had seen in the eyes of a child on a film she had shown me, back when she lived in Nigeria with her father. Melancholy I had seen in the eyes of my own son. The odd, uncomfortable feeling gripped onto my stomach. Trying to prepare me.
"It's just all coming back.." She waved her hand before her face, let out a deep breath and chuckled. "Oh, what must you think of me now. We haven't even spoken about everything that happened and here I am, crying about something else. I just feel that it's fair for you to know."
"That's alright.." I briefly brushed my thumb over her cheek, a strong caring urge to be there for her. "You can tell me what's going on, if you feel comfortable."
Oh, how I would have embraced and kissed her. But then the ghastly disease of guilt told me I wasn't worth her affection and attention.
"It just feels so good to have helped Davu, he just proved so much." Salomé wiped her face on a handkerchief, her skin reddening by the light fraction. "Proved to be a good, loving man to his child. It just.. helped me in so many ways."
"How?"
"I don't want to shove more upon your shoulders, Zev. I know you've had a tough time the past few days. Or well.. I'm assuming, which is not something you like if I remember well." Another calm smile.
"You seem to have had a tough time for much longer than that. You can tell me, I can assure you that."
"I just needed proof. Needed proof of people being good. I needed to help Davu. It helped me in the last part of my healing process. The part where I let things go completely." Salomé stuffed her hands in the pockets of her floral dress, her eyes slowly raking over the ground. "Zev, when I was nine.."
A light shade of pink fell over her face. She couldn't look at me.
"We lived in Nigeria. My father often had to work, so he hired a nanny." She smiled faintly. "She was good to me. I loved having her around. She was a really good woman, but poor. Watching me was her way of earning, but I guess it wasn't enough for her. We didn't have much money either, so I remember my father and my nanny simply coming to an agreement of what had to be paid."
I rummaged through my backpack, gave her my water bottle. She gave me a thankful smile. Took a few sips. "One day, I was playing in my room and she came up to me, kissing my cheek and telling me someone else she knew was going to watch me for a while because she had to run some errands for our house. I thought it was odd, because me and my father usually did that on Saturday evenings, it was our little trip."
She let out a deep breath, her face showed nothing but pain. My heart couldn't stop beating faster. "Not much later, he came into my room. I think he was around forty years old. I remember feeling afraid, intimidated without a proper reason. I had met many people before, because of my father's job, but this felt different."
Salomé let out a sorrowful chuckle, shook her head. "He had asked if I wanted to be like my mother, so of course I had nodded my head. I could only wish to become like what she had been like. He whispered that he'd have to make me a woman, then, and he would show me how. At the end, I saw how much he paid my nanny, who never left for errands and had been standing behind the door, letting it all happen. After the both of them had left, I couldn't move. I was in so much pain, physically as well as mentally."
"When my father came home, I was still lying on the bed, without.. without any clothes. He found me." Salomé couldn't look at me, she seemed full of shame. I screamed internally for the injustice done to her. To a child. There was nothing that made me angrier than that, yet I kept still, for her to continue her story, but sweat trickled down my back as I worked myself up.
"I remember how he screamed, heart torn, mourned, cried. He wrapped me up in blankets, fell on his knees to the ground while holding me close to his body. Kissing my face. The 'no's' and 'sorry's' leaving his mouth only." Tears trickled down her face, I wiped them off with my fingers. "I think that's why he's had a hard time leaving me on my own, ever since that had happened. He feels so guilty, still. But it wasn't his fault."
"I'm so sorry, Salomé. I'm so.." I clenched my jaws, she felt the sweat on my hands. I was so upset. "Did you ever see her again?"
"No.." Salomé finally looked up at me, even if it was briefly. "I got very sick, infections and all. My father took me back to England to get better care. We stayed there for a couple of years, my father was healed from the missionary work. Eventually, he picked it up again."
She could read the misunderstanding, anger off my face.
Salomé smiled softly, it seemed so genuine. "Zev, it's not okay what happened to me that day, but it made me stronger. And getting so invested in Davu.."
"You needed to prove for yourself that not all men were like that."
"I think so, yeah."
Her bravery pulled at my heartstrings. It must have been confronting in so many ways. And yet, she put herself fully in the whole process to prove this man's innocence, even when another man had hurt her awfully much.
I admired her deeply, I couldn't tear my eyes away from her. She truly had her golden heart in the right place.
"My father became very protective over me, which is understandable, but as a teenager slowly growing into an adult, quite difficult. When I had made the choice to live for myself and came here, I didn't understand where on earth I had put myself. I didn't know anyone, I was afraid I wouldn't meet anyone, but then I met Teddy, Daniel and Amanda, I met you.. and apparently your son."
"My experience.. It gave me the passion, the strongest urge to help other children. Children who experienced things that simply cannot be solved on their own." Salomé played with the bracelets around her wrist. "When I first saw Camp- I'm sorry- Benjamin.. his eyes spoke volumes. His gaze was so penetrating. It said so much more than words ever could, but I did not know what words. But I recognized the despair.."
I thought of the day where Aurora had passed away. Benjamin had never uttered a word about it, but I wondered if the wetting, the pinching, weren't part of that, too. I swallowed, looked down, the guilt seeping in, but I wanted it to leave me alone.
"I'm sorry about how it happened. I truly didn't know he was your son. You had mentioned him once or twice, but-"
"Don't apologise for that." I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my trousers, looked up at the sky as the chilly breeze continued to hit us. "The context of it all was just so odd to me, I didn't understand anything. I exploded, which could not have happened. And I got to learn he lied about certain things."
"He said his name was Campione, your name Mr. Moretti."
"It's my wife's last name." I said quietly, leaning against the railing. "Campione means champion in Italian, it's his nickname, which Aurora usually used for him."
"I'm really sorry about your wife."
I nodded, pushing the thoughts away. "He showed me your letters. It made me realise that your intentions were only for the good."
"I thought I had contact with his father. I guess I was rather naive. He must have typed those answers on the computer for a reason.."
"Did anyone show up that day in the Beany Business cafe?"
"Teddy." Salomé chuckled. "Exactly around ten in the morning. I couldn't believe my eyes, but when he simply greeted me and left after he had fetched his coffee, I sighed in relief."
I laughed a that. "Well, here he is. Campione's papà."
Salomé smiled softly, looked down, then back up at me. "Zev.. I have worked with him a couple of times, at one point he gave me something, but I feel the need you need to know about it too.. he allows me to give it to you."
"What do you mean?"
"He said you had given him a notebook, he wrote something in it."
"Oh.." The tension changed, I swallowed, felt nervous.
"It's her death." Salomé's eyes turned, somewhat, guilty. "I'm not sure if I was supposed to know about it all, but he had given it to me. And I feel you're holding something back, for an extremely long time, which eats you up alive, does not allow you to function properly anymore.. I recognize it because of my father."
"But, Zev.. please, let it out." She whispered, almost begged. "I don't know what happened to you around that time, but let it go. It is forgiven. Life offers you so many good things, even after the worst of experiences. But only, if you chose to open your eyes, and let the morning come."
It caught me off guard, it wasn't the first time she had rephrased Aurora's words. I wanted to flee again, but before I could, she pressed Benjamin's notebook in my hands.
•
What a chapter...
What do you think of Salomé's story? Trusting Zev enough to tell him?
What happened with Aurora's death? Why does he feel guilty?
What will Benjamin's letter hold?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for your support <3