Prologue
I'm getting ready to pack my things in my suitcase. The driver should be here in an hour, and I need to hurry to meet my grandmother.
My throat feels completely dry, so I head to the kitchen, grab my mug, and sip on some hot herbal tea.
Glancing out the window, the morning mist brushes my face, and everything feels ethereal... A tear rolls down my face, and I touch it with my fingertips. I can't believe I'll see grandma again since we lost contact with her after the incident...
My little Mimi comes to say hello. I run my hand over her orange fur and regret so much having to leave her alone with my brother.
"Don't worry, Mimi, I told Elian to take good care of you," I give her my warmest smile, and she starts to purr when I stroke her head. Oh, she's so cute!
The mass of my curly hair feels warm, so I grab a hair tie from the desk and put it up in a messy bun. Forty-degree weather certainly isn't helping the situation... at least it won't be in a few hours.
The waves, the sand, and relaxation await me. I really need a break. Readers kept begging me to continue writing chapters for my story, but I can't do it anymore... at least not during this period. I need to rest, to disconnect a bit... but I'm taking my notebook with me anyway, just in case I want to write a story or a poem. The beach might give me inspiration.
BEEP! BEEP! The driver honks outside, signaling his arrival, and I feel a slight punch in my heart.
"Everything will be fine, Luca. She'll accept you in her home; she even invited you. That means she must have softened her heart of iron, and I understand her reason for being that way now."
I grab my keys, hide some money in a box above my bed, and close the wooden door. I look around me; the streets are deserted, lifeless, just like me...
I try my best to forget everything, to move on, but I can't forget what I've endured and am still enduring in this house... Images of suffering keep replaying in my head. Yet, I love him, and I thought he could too, one day; I believe I'm completely wrong...
"So Luca, excited to see your grandmother? She must be happy to see you for the first time," the driver asks me with a calming look. Robert has never failed to soothe my anxious thoughts.
"I can't say otherwise, Robert, but I'm afraid she won't love me. I am still his son, she hates him more than anything," I reply with a long sigh, unable to look him in the face.
"Luca, you are not your father, and you never will be. How many times have I told you already? Stop overthinking it, and relax. This leave is supposed to be a relaxing break, not for stressing and analyzing the situation on loop," he says, patting my shoulder. "And now, get in the car, let the journey begin!"
He's more cheerful than I am. His smile is stretched up to his ears, leaving lines traced around his mouth. Sometimes I wonder how he manages to be happy all the time.
I believe that some people can get away from suffering, while others are eaten by it, and that is my case but won't be anymore this summer; I feel it.
