Midday dream

I was waking up at home. My head and the rest of my body were aching; I listened to a voice talking to me while at the same time I felt some soft hands touching my face. However, the light shining through the bay window didn’t allow my eyes to see the face of whom was holding me.

“Gabriel, please answer,” I could only understand that sentence fragment from that person, so I just smiled like an idiot.

My eyes were recognizing little by little the face feature of that person beside me.

“Morning, you ball, how are you?” I greeted Carmen making an effort to say that piece of sentence.

“How am I? Seriously, how am I?” Carmen repeated full of rage. “You’re wrong Ariel. It hurts me to see you looking like that. I’m living here since two weeks ago and it’s always the same shit for you. You come after midnight just to drown you in alcohol until falling asleep,” she took my chin making me look her into her eyes. “Look at me! Look at me, fuck! Ariel, you’re hurting yourself.”

“Who cares that if I’m at my own home?” I said as I rested on the wall.

“I do care about you,” She said sadly, as she was sitting down next to me. “Listen, I know odds have never been in our favor and destiny had hit us so hard, but please don’t hurt yourself, can you? Otherwise, you’ll have to go in rehab,” she warned me.

“I brought you here to take care of you, not for you to take care of me,” I mentioned sounding like a defeated person.

The accident with Carmen’s ex-boyfriend had happened two weeks ago. After that, I felt I shouldn’t leave Carmen alone in that place for the sake of her safety, so I forced her to live with me to keep her safe. Besides, she was already too swollen and needed help to complete some of her daily tasks, but I still didn’t get used to the fact to having someone waiting for me at home.

“Tell me young lady, is there a special girl that attracts you?” she asked me.

For a brief moment, I looked at her confused before going to have breakfast, but somehow I ended up throwing up in the bathroom as she was scolding me.

“That doesn’t mean you’re right,” I babbled as my stomach was getting empty out.

Finally, I plunked down on the couch because she was the new owner of the bed.

“Could you come today? I need you to come with me to the doctor.”

I said yes with a gesture, so she shut her mouth and let me sleep. Finally, she woke up an hour before I was heading to work.

The money was starting to be a problem, so I kept refusing to work with cholesterol after all what happened, but as things didn’t go well sooner or later I was gonna need the money because after all, the doctor and the food couldn’t be afforded by themselves. I ended up accepting cholesterol’s offer.

He promised me i’d be a small work. I had to watch out some boxes until a guy came to pick them up. Something simpe, but the only thing he warned me about was not to peer inside them regardless of what’d happen. That was exactly what I did.

I waited in the dock alongside Benito, who would drive the car. He smoke as we were waiting for a speedboat to come, but a small boat arrived instead with the same two men from before. They had two wood trunks that had their prices painted. Those were outrageous amounts of money for an average man. Benito and I carried the trunks one by one in what it seemed a small bus or a big passenger van. From time to time, you heard things bumping or twisting inside. I’m sure I heard a moan but honestly, I didn’t want to know what those things were. Maybe, they

were animals, whatever they were I was scared to find it out, so I just pretended to be deaf.

Finally, at the end, Benito started the engine and I followed him closer with my motorcycle in case something happens. We took the trunks to an empty storehouse and ran away to then, hide the key.

“What do you think it’s in there?” Beni asked.

“Whatever it is, if that giant swine asked us to do it, it musn’t be something good,” I replied.

“Aren’t you curious? I mean…”-

“No,” I cut him off before he kept talking about it. “Let’s get outta here, buddy.”

Finally, we came back to the bar and cholesterol paid us.

“I listened you’re gonna become father, aren’t you boy?” he mentioned. “Ha, ha, ha, I think I’ll get used to seeing you around.”

I looked at him for a moment confused and surprised. I’d never thought about him or the baby. No doubt it was gonna be a torture to support three people. I barely could take care of Carmen and me and I hadn’t done such a good job. I didn’t say anything and returned to the bar.

I decided to go a few hours earlier to come with Carmen to the OB. We took a taxi because I didn’t want to hurt my beloved motorcycle anymore and besides, she wouldn’t be comfortable on the back like before. I’d never come with her to this place but the recepcionist seemed to be happy to meet me at last. We stayed in the waiting room alongside other couples that were gazing at me with a dissaproving face due to her, or was it pity?

“Don’t take them seriously. It’s good to see you’re at least responsible,” a guy, probably in his twenties, told me. He came with his couple. “To be quiet honest, most people are here for an obligation,” he assured in whispers.

I smiled at him and shook his hand because he seemed nice.

“Ariel” In introduced myself.

“Kevin, my girl’s eight-month pregnant, how far along is yours?”

“Almost eight months as well,” I replied.

Finally, we were called in to the doctor’s office where we were given instructions and after exchanging numbers with Kevin, we left the place.

Carmen and I made a stop to go our weekly grocery shopping in a supermarket located in the corner block and came in to the building. There, I caught sight of the worst vision ever; it seemed come out straight from the hell. There was an old man standing in front of the door.

I grabbed Carmen’s arm firmly and approached him in fear. I stood up in front of him and opned the door without taking my eyes off those jerks and his damned eyes. I left Carmen behind me and pushed her to get inside the house.

“I never wanna see you around here, did you hear me?” I said upset and almost yelling. “Did you hear that father?”