“A Lesson for Life” by Javier Laveaga

Written by plumtree

Topics: Archive (2012-2019), Uncategorized

It was another bad day in school for me because of those two stupid kids, Julian and Jake. They don’t have anything else to do, but to bother people; they would always laugh at me and say, “Hey Diego, have you found your mommy yet, so that she can protect you?” I regretted the day when I told them that I was going to tell my parents that they bothered me.

Heading back home, I could feel the cool air slowly coming through the window of the bus touching the tip of my nose. As I was walking towards my house, I noticed something very unusual. Two police cars were parked in front of my house and I thought that there must be something really bad going on. I was so nervous that, without thinking, I quickly went up the stairs, reached into my left pocket to get my keys, and opened the door.

I saw two policemen talking to my parents, but I suddenly felt a horrible feeling that almost made tears come out of my eyes, because I saw my mom crying as she had never cried before. When they heard me coming, they slowly turned their heads towards me and stopped talking.

“What-what happened?” I asked in a weak voice. At first they didn’t answer but then my father, Gael, walked quickly towards me.

“He doesn’t need to know, Gael,” my mom, Charlotte, said crying. But my dad pretended like he didn’t hear.

He lowered his head and said to me, “I’m sorry you have to hear this, but your brother Carlos was killed yesterday.” I looked in my dad’s wet eyes to see if he really meant that and I just couldn’t believe it. A feeling that I had never felt before struck me right in the heart and I kneeled on the floor and started crying covering my eyes.

The next day it was Friday afternoon and I heard my mom slowly opening the door of my bedroom and she whispered, “Dieguito, are you awake?”

“Get out of here, Mom. I don’t want to talk,” I said in an angry voice.

“Dieguito it’s 2pm and you haven’t got out of bed.”

I did not answer.

“Come on, Dieguito. You can watch TV if you want?”

“You heard me mom” I said angrily. She closed the door violently and walked away. The following 2 days I did not get out of my bed and of course my mom would get angry at me and tell me that I need to eat something at least. Because I wouldn’t get off my bed, on Sunday night, my dad came to talk to me.

“Dieguito, I know you are sad about your brother but you are not the only one. Mom and I are really sad, too. And you being here in your bed all the time doesn’t help us at all. You have to understand that in this situations you have to stay positive and keep living your daily life. You can’t just give up and stay in bed all the time. You understand?”

“Mhmm,” I murmured. The next day, Monday, I had to go to school, because I knew that was the right thing to do. On Monday, I felt as if it was a normal day of school and everything was going good so far until I saw Julian and Jake.

“Oh Diego, where were you on Friday,” Julian said in an interested voice. And then Jake said, “Were you with your mommy?” They laughed. An angry feeling rose inside my body and I noticed there was no one in the hallway. I slowly formed a fist in my hand, and I suddenly punched both Julian and Jake in the face and ran away carrying my binder. After school I felt proud of myself, because I had given those kids a lesson. When I got home after school, everything turned dark in my mind as I remembered that my brother, Carlos, was dead.

We used to hang out together every day and talked about what we did in the day, what we liked, what we wanted to do when we grow up . . . pretty much everything; he was my best friend. As I was doing my homework, I saw a policeman coming towards our house and I wondered why he was here for.

“Dieguito come!” my mom said in a loud voice. I slowly walked towards the door and my mom said, “He is here to tell us about the investigation of Carlos.” I nodded to indicate that I understood.

The policeman stood straight and said clearly, “Your son’s killer has been identified and detained by the FBI. He was a terrorist. He has a life sentence which means that you won’t have to worry about him, because he is going to live the rest of his life in jail. This is the official paper from the judge.”

“Thank you so much officer,” my mom said weakly.

I was angry at my brother’s killer, but on the other hand, I felt good that he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Days passed and I was starting to live my normal life again which made me happy, but I still felt bad for the loss of my brother.

“Mom, I really miss Carlos.”

“It’s ok Dieguito, I miss him too. You know, Carlos will be always inside you, dad, and me. He will be watching over us. Don’t worry about it, he will be there for you always. You have the same blood as him. You are connected to him Diego. Don’t worry. As your dad told you, live your daily life and stay positive,” she said happily.

“I love you Mom,” I said sadly.

“I love you too Dieguito.”

We hugged each other and tried not to cry. Since my brother died I’ve learned that when a loved one dies, then you have to stay positive and live your daily life.

 

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