A.N.: Thank you to all the people still reading this story! It will improve, I promise! I'm just having a bit of trouble getting into it. A special thank you to aserene, RevSue, JoolsIsGreat, Prettycrazy, and The Marauders3 for reviewing the last chapters. Reviews really help me keep going! So I'm sorry if I've missed anyone out.
A.N2: I've edited both chapters 3 and 4 due to my terrible error of having Isabel call Joseph 'novio'. I was in a rush when writing them so used the first internet translationI got for 'sweetheart' (novio doesn't mean 'sweetheart' it means 'boyfriend'! Oops!). BIG MISTAKE! (thanks to The Marauders3 for pointing it out!). So I've only changed those mistakes.
On with the story…
Chapter 3:
"Joseph…" Isabel's voice is ragged and harsh sounding as she calls for her son.
"I'm here Mamá" Joseph whispers, tears running down his face.
Isabel puts her pen and paper aside as Joseph reaches for her hands. They hold tight to each other as Joseph leans in close to his mother, resting his cheek against hers.
Isabel coughs violently, tremors passing through her body as she heaves in ragged breaths. She can feel herself going numb as her sight begins to blur.
"Mi chico" Isabel whispers, ignoring the small trickle of blood falling from her mouth.
"Listen to me… Everything has it's time…" Isabel forces out her voice fading along with all her other senses.
"Remember that…"
"Yes Mamá" Joseph whimpers.
Isabel smiles, patting his hand. Her face is a sickly grey and blood continues to slowly trickle from the corner of her mouth. She is not in much pain as the medics have injected her with Morphine. There is nothing else that can be done. The bullet wound is fatal…
Joseph knew her time was running out. He could sense her life slowly fading from him, slipping away with the passing seconds.
Isabel tries to speak again, but she chokes, coughing up more blood and beginning to shiver uncontrollably.
Joseph clings to her tightly, stroking her hair as she had done for him so many times before.
"Hush, Mamá. It'll be all right" he whispers, ignoring his tormented heart.
The tears continue to pour down his face, his mothers efforts to wipe them away…futile.
They hold each other for what feels like an eternity, but only seconds have passed.
Isabel takes in her final breath and touches Joseph's face. Her fingers are ice cold.
Joseph leans forward and kisses his mother upon her head, just as she releases her final breath. He looks into her far away eyes and is sure he sees them flash with recognition, just as she whispers a name long forgotten.
"Luca…"
And she was gone.
OoOoOoOo
"Joseph…" he hears a voice call.
He opens his eyes and looks around him.
Everything is in chaos. The place is a mess; chairs, tables, shelves all knocked over. There is a pool of blood on the floor where his mother was found after the attack but he refuses to look at it. Everything was just so unreal.
His mother was dead. The one person he had always counted on being there for him was gone. He couldn't believe it.
He watched them wheel her body out to the waiting ambulance, a sheet covering her once lively and beautiful face. Gone…
"Joseph" the voice calls again, this time closer.
Joseph looks up into the eyes of Lola, Carlo's mother. They are full of compassion.
"Come Joseph. Let us leave here" Lola speaks warmly, urging Joseph to his feet and out the door.
Lola holds him tightly to her side as they slowly make their way down the street and away from the one safe place Joseph had known in his life.
Things would never be the same. But Joseph had drawn strength from the last embrace his mother had given him. Somehow, he knew he would go on.
OoOoOoOo
The room was deathly silent. If a pin had dropped, Joseph would have thought someone had screamed in his ear. But not a sound was heard.
He stood up, no longer capable of bearing the silence. He had to do something. He had to do what he came here to do. It needed to end. He needed closure.
He walked back up the sunlight stairs into his old bedroom. It was now bare. He had moved all his things into his new room at Carlo's. He would live there now. Lola would be his mother from now on.
Joseph walked out of his room, along the hall, and into his mothers' room. His mothers' old room.
It still smelt of her. Even though it no longer housed her things, Joseph could still smell her sweet, soothing scent.
He took a deep breath. It filled him with life, love, and most importantly, hope. Hope for the future.
A future his mother would be proud of.
He walked back down the stairs and into the almost bare lounge.
Bare, except for some paper and a pen.
He looked around, taking in every detail. He would remember this room more than all the others. This was the room where his mother had taken her last breath. This was the room where his mother had died.
A single tear formed at the corner of his eye. He thought he had cried all the tears he had in him before the funeral. He was wrong. The single tear escaped, trailing a silver line down his young, smooth face. He didn't wipe it away; he let it fall all the way to the floor.
He was ready.
Stooping down, Joseph picked up the paper from the coffee table, allowing the pen to slide off.
Sitting down on the floor, Joseph smoothed out the rumpled paper, took a deep breath then began to read.
My dear Joseph,
I want you to know that no matter what happens in your life, I will always love you. I may no longer be there by your side but I will always be in your heart.
As I write this, I realise I do not have much time left. This attack was unexpected, but I know you are prepared to go on without me. Everything has its time, Joseph. You should do well to remember that. Everything that happens in our lives happens for a reason. I know our lives have both been hard, especially considering how much you have suffered at such a young age. But don't just dwell on those negatives!
Think of the times we have had together. Think of the people we have met, the friends we have made, the joy we had together. I stopped being afraid last year because I realised I had you. You were my joy; my life and nothing can, or ever will, take that away from me. We had so much together, Joseph, so please don't forget that.
Yes, I am dying. But I am not afraid for I am going to a better place. A place where I will finally be at complete peace and rest. I will miss you, dear heart, but I know that you deserve to live a little, to experience your own joys and, God willing, loves. I am going to be with your father again. A thought that fills my heart with joy.
Take care of yourself, my son, my light, and do not be afraid to let me go.
It is time for you to walk on your own two feet.
I can hear you coming so I will put aside my pen. I will finish this and let go. I pray you will do the same.
I will love you forever, Joseph, please remember that.
I love you very much, my light, my dear heart.
Love Mamá.
The tears were pouring down Joseph's face in earnest again. Just when he thought he had no tears left to shed, more would come and overwhelm him.
He wasn't weeping for his mothers' death any longer. He was weeping from the overwhelming sense of love that filled his heart. He loved his mother so much and she him, that he could no longer contain his emotions.
He knew this was a new day. He could feel a change in his soul and knew that he would go and do great things in his life. Not for himself, nor the rest of the world, but for his mother and all she believed. He would be the person she had taught and shown him to be. He would be Joseph Luca Romero, and no one else.
This was the day Joseph became a man.
OoOoOoOo
To any person whom looked upon Joseph as he left his home for the last time, wouldn't have seen anything different. They would have still seen the handsome young man who had recently lost his mother.
But if you were to look closely, into the warm brown eyes of Joseph, you would see a new light. It was a light of love, a light of life, but most importantly, a light of hope.
Joseph was now firmly placed upon the true path.
A.N.: Well how was that chapter? Please review and tell me your favourite part as well as the emotions you felt. Please! I need to know if my writing is effective or not! Thank you for reading. The next chapter should be up in a couple of days.