Chapter 1.5.: The day We get to know ourselves

It's been almost 6 years since we started living with Uncle Sebas. Uncle Sebas's full name was Sebastian but we used to call him Sebas cause of two reason. First, Sebastian was a long name for us two kids to pronounce and second, he told us to call him that.

Uncle Sebas used to live in a big house. There were many rooms in it, one where there was a Television and couches, another one where we used to eat, the third one where he put all the old stuffs, the other one where he used to sleep and there were even one room for both of us. Our rooms were quite big unlike the one in orphanage, I even had a bed for myself, it was so soft and good that when I used to sleep on it, I felt I'm sleeping in air. Sammy's room was same as mine. The only room in the house which was bigger than ours is, in which Uncle Sebas used to sleep. His room was huge, not double the size of our room but atleast a little bigger than our rooms. It has some hand size trees in pots, few pictures and even a big mirror as well as a drawer and a television in front of bed.

Sometimes at night I used to cry silently cause everything felt like a dream, the room, the bed, my own place and I don't have to work all the day, all of these were afterall my dreams and now I was living it. Whenever I saw all this and think about it, it just felt so close to my dream that it scares me. What if all of this is just a dream, what if I'm just sleeping and when I woke up everything will be lost. But it was not just me who used to cry silently at night, there was another person in the house who used to cry in his room. Even I wouldn't have known this if I wouldn't have come that day for bathroom. I heard someone's whispering and crying sound coming from the Uncle Sebas's room. On opening the door I found out Uncle Sebas was sitting on his bed with a phone in his hand whispering something again and again looking at phone.

"Ple...come…bac…"

"Un..Uncle Sebas?" I said in a low voice.

He didn't turned around so I increased my volume.

"Uncle Sebas?"

"Jimmy? what're you doing here? You need something?" he said while suppressing his surprise and emotion but without turning to me.

"Why were you crying just now?"

"Ohh.. you heard it, it's nothing adults have their own problems. You don't have to worry about that. Now you should go back to sleep."

"Uncle Sebas, can I ask something before going back?" Suddenly something came into my mind.

"Yes, why not? Go on ask away."

"Who's that woman in the picture on the wall behind the bed? And why you have the pictures of you two together all over the house?" Since the day we came here, we have seen these pictures in almost every room. In those pictures both, Uncle Sebas and that woman look very happy and especially that picture on the wall, in that one the woman look nothing less than a fairy, she was wearing a big white dress from her neck to toe covered in that huge dress with some red flowers attached on it. Her face look exceptional brilliant with a smile and standing hand in hand with Uncle Sebas. Even he look a ton times better in that picture from now, he was full of smiles.

Hearing what I said he shooked a little, staring at me for some moments he sighed loudly and said "come and sit here Jimmy" came out from that almost emotionless pale face while indicating the place next to him on bed with his eyes.

I went and sat there and a silence prevailed for a while after then.

"She is my wife. You know we have been married for 9 years now but...…. It's been 6 years since I last saw her" he said with the eyes filled with pain and regret.

6 years...… something suddenly stuck my mind like a thunderbolt. It was a question that was buried deep with in.

"Uncle, why did you adopted us? No… why did you tried to adopt Sammy? I always thought you felt pity on him on him misfortune. But it's was not just him like that in orphanage but almost everyone was like that. So why did you adopted him then on his request me" I blurted everything out my mind.

He stared at me for a long while this time and then with a smile, that looked more like a self pity and then…..

"No, it was pity it's just it was a not only part. There were also regret, guilt and remorse as well as redemption."

"You see Jimmy once Sarah and her partner sold a child to a rich corporate family. The child was very weak built so he died a few years later while working. Apparently there were many burnt marks and wipe marks all over his body as well as he was malnourished when he died. I knew all of this but I only felt pity on him and thought he should blame to whoever borne him and left. After few weeks I found that they have even sold all of organs and body parts of that child instead of burying him peacefully. I was infuriated this time but I didn't do anything or more like I couldn't do anything."

"Jimmy you must be thinking I'm even lower than scums, isn't it?"

I didn't say anything just kept staring at his self pity smile on his face.

"You see I was worried about my reputation or more likely my peaceful life, I love my wife Jimmy even now even if she had left me for 6 years now I'm still waiting for her. That time Sarah has 'something' which if she released in public could destroyed everything I loved, my reputation my marriage, the wife I love. I know that 'something' was just a mistake but still I was scared and did everything to be at good side of Sarah."

He stopped and suddenly laughed a mocking laugh.

"Heh.. but karma really came back fast. It was the day my wife told me that she is pregnant, I received an order from Central Office. Apparently, someone in my team had leaked the information I was suppressing to the Central office and they had sent an investigation team of the same without even telling me. They had already finalized their assessment and investigation now they just needed to do an covert operation to expose Sarah and others. The order I got was to help them in that and listen to the teams order. I was even put in 24 hours surveillance, not even letting me go home till the operation is finished."

"And you can guess the rest. We were the ones to whom Sarah sold Sammy. But when we received Sammy, we were horrified, Sammy had huge dark patches of blood all over his body. His eyes lifeless, mouth open filled with blood, face distorted almost unrecognizable filled with black and red marks. It was the first time I felt what I was ignoring. Seeing a child like that I covered my mouth closed my eyes so to disperse the strong emotional feelings I was getting. We took him to the hospital and doctor told us that he was severely internally injured and this will leave deep mental scar on him."

"After few days when we were planning to go arrest Sarah and her partner. A bombshell dropped on me. The thing I feared most happened, somehow Sarah found out about our operation and she become infuriated and released that thing that video."

"After that my life got ruined, I tried to clarify my wife but one day at night she left me. My reputation ruined, I barely survived suspension but I was demoted."

"I tried to rectify my first mistake so I asked Sammy to if he wanted to live with me as well as lead a group of team myself to catch everyone selling and buying children."

I kept staring at him for a unknown time and he kept seeing at me. We were both trying to understand what other one is thinking. But that time I believed him, I felt it logical that his pity on us and regret on himself driven by a thought of redemption made him to adopt us. I never felt that time that I can mistake something. I never felt that time that he had something else as a reason.

Suddenly curiosity took over me...

"So you got Sarah and that man?"

The person besides me shook his head while saying "We got the man but Sarah ran away".