Tragedy

Being busy with observing people around him, time turned quickly. Elyan took out his pocket watch and checked it. Six o’clock came.

‘Why did she delay so long?’ Elyan couldn’t help but wondering in confusion. After guessing that she might be summoned by another customer, because he had been through a situation like this before, he picked himself up and didn’t wait any longer, he decided to return home.

He walked the same way and arrived half an hour later.

He knocked on the door first, there was a possibility that lady Isabella had returned before him. However, no one responded.

‘It seems she hasn’t come yet.’ He quietly took out the key and entered the house. After removing his shoes and changing to the home type, he went to one of the only two rooms in the house, he took off his school uniform and put on a black high neck shirt with loose pants.

The kitchen was opposite the entrance on the left end. He brought a glass of milk, he was not a fan of black coffee, and decided to solve some of his homework, until his mother returns and they eat dinner together.

***

There were many grain mills in the hilly areas around Elyan’s house that made many annoying noises. It was a moment of peace for nearby residents whenever it was turned off at nine o’clock. But for this lonely teenager who kept waiting for his mother, it was different.

Elyan’s patience ran out, he dropped the feather from his hand and left his room.

With a serious expression, the first thing he thought of was checking his mother’s notebook inside the old closet in her room. She had a habit of writing down the addresses and names of the customers she was scheduled to visit for the day. He quickly went out and decided first to visit these people's places. He believed that he would find her at one of them.

In fact, he didn’t even want to think about other scenarios in case he didn’t find his mother. He rejected all those ideas that allowed his imagination to run too far.

***

“Knock, knock, knock” The knocking sound was continuous and strong, as if the police wanted to break in.

‘...Who is coming at this late time?’ The woman in the other side of the door was slightly frightened, hesitated before stepping forward and looking through the door opening.

The figure of a young man with black hair mixed with sweat appeared as his eyes carried an unbearable despair. The lady felt that she had seen him before, after a few seconds she remembered and opened the door.

“Welco..me... Lady Mirai.. gasp, gasp..” Elyan replied unable to catch his breath.

A woman about the same age as Mrs. Gervano came out: “You are Christi....”

She was one of Mrs. Gervano’s friends, and she had seen Elyan accompanying her before.

“Did my mother come here today.” Before ending her speech, Elyan interrupted in a hurry.

“..Yes, but she left a long ago...” Mrs. Mirai was confused but seeing how hurried Elyan was, she answered quickly before wanting to delve into the details.

“...”

Elyan fell silent and stopped panting. He stared into the shadow of the gas lamp post and stiffened in place. His last hope was Mrs. Mirai’s place, but her response was like a rock that shattered all his expectations.

He couldn’t comprehend these words. He quickly turned around and left, with his eyes suddenly becoming moist, he walked around the outskirts of the eastern section.

“Mom!”

“Mom!”

He continued screaming and calling for his mother while checking all the possible places: the hospital, the national square, the daily market, the bank, the nearby clothing stores, etc. A child like him could not single-handedly survey the entire eastern section, let alone the entire city.

As he did not stop, beads of sweat mixed with the raindrops that began to fall and accelerate on his face.

At that moment, he couldn’t make any further effort as his expression sank. He bowed his head slightly, and his eyes that reflected the moon on the surface of the pool of water that had formed began to lose their luster.

He leaned his hand against the nearby wall as his vision became blurry. He slowly lost his concentration, and with all the exhaustion he had accumulated, he fell to his knees and then onto his face... and fainted.

***

On Monday, early in the morning, the sunlight was warm after a long night of heavy rain and the city was waking up again.

In the eastern section, on an inner alley of one of the main streets, the wet dead body of a strange teenager could be seen lying on the road, or so someone would think if they passed by it.

At this time, there were signs of the body moving. It was a young man in high school. His hair was disheveled and unruly. A slight bulge appeared on his forehead. His eyes were opening with difficulty, with traces of fatigue on his face.

He raised his head slightly, straightened his body, and sat leaning against the wall beside him. His cotton clothes were still not dry because of the late sunrise.

Remembering how he ended up in this place, Elyan quickly relived yesterday’s events. Involuntarily, tears began to fall.

He got up straight, and decided what he was going to do. He turned towards the main street and took the path to his house.

Twenty minutes later he was at the door: “Knock knock”.

“...”

“...”

“Knock knock”.

“...” Unfortunately there was no one there.

With a sad look, he wasted no time in going in and changing his wet clothes. He took another route and hurried towards the nearest police station.

In the meantime, away in the northern section and inside Cherry high school.

“Gray.” The Professor was checking the names of the students present

“Here!” Gray responded as he raised his hand.

.

.

“Julie.”

It was Julie’s turn.

“Here!”

.

.

.

“Elyan.” after he reached a certain name, the teacher called out.

“...”

“Elyan!”

No one answered.

“Elyan Gervano.” The teacher repeated the call. But there was no trace of Elyan.

.

.

Julie stared in front of the long amphitheater seat, towards Elyan’s place next to her, and she couldn’t help but hope nothing bad would happen.

***

On 19th Street, Elyan arrived at the police station. He went through the two glass gates and immediately saw one of the policemen.

“Sir, my mother is missing, please look for her.” Elyan did not stop at etiquette, he was so direct that the policeman was surprised.

“Huh.. ah yeah..” This latter took him a few seconds before he looked with a complicated expression at Elyan and felt the despair of the child in front of him.

“Come sit here, tell me what happened.” Considering that he was an experienced policeman who had been involved in many different cases, the policeman quickly rectified the situation and started asking Elyan.

After listening to the whole story, the policeman wasted no time and headed straight to the president’s office. Given Elyan’s description, it was a serious matter that invoked the authority of the president.

Five minutes later, heavy footsteps could be heard inside the center. Ten men in official police uniforms came, including the former policeman, and another policeman, who was the head of the department, was ahead of them.

The department head stood in front of Elyan and spoke: “We will go out now, but before we start, can you attach a picture or any item of your mother to us? This will help us a lot.”

Elyan shook his head, he didn’t have any pictures of his mother, then he remembered something, he took out the brass pocket watch, opened it and on the inside of the lid was a picture of him and his mother, taken 6 years ago at the primary school graduation ceremony.

“Yes, that’s good.” The president smiled. Before leaving, he stopped and patted Elyan on the shoulder: “Don’t worry, none of us will return home until your mother is found.”

Elyan nodded and felt some solace from the policeman’s words.

***

The policemen was not lazy in searching for Mrs. Gervano, and together with communication with other centers which allowed them to cover most of the city, it was not long before their efforts succeeded.

About three hours later, they returned to the center. Everyone’s expressions were darkened, especially the department head.

As soon as they entered, Elyan walked over to them and from the look on their faces had predicted the result.

He couldn’t help himself and quickly yelled at the chief: “Hoy, Hoy, don’t tell me…”

“What about all that talk that you won’t come back until you find her?"

“Does Policemen only good at talking big?”

“Answer me, where is my mother?”

“...” The department head remained silent, looking down. He could not find the words to respond to Elyan, or rather he felt the feelings of the poor boy in front of him, because at this moment he raised his hand as a gesture.

Behind him, the police officers dispersed, clearing the way and allowing the policemen to advance.

The two policemen were carrying a black linen bag and seemed to be having difficulty doing that. They passed by the other colleagues and arrived in front of the president and Elyan.

“Isabella Gervano, age 37, female widow, after a search that lasted two and a half hours and relying on the efforts of several police officers, the body was found...”

“Nooooo!” Elyan shouted out loud, his sad anger could be discerned.

“No, no.”

“Stop!”

“That's impossible. This can’t be my mother..”

“Huh, yeah, you obviously made a mistake since the picture is old, yeah that’s the thing...” While he tried to console himself, no one inside the center spoke.

With the head of the department nodding his head, the two policemen opened the bag and what was inside was revealed.

“Noo, mom, nooo!” Under everyone’s gaze, that poor young man fell, whose legs failed him. An indescribable sadness filled his heart. He screamed loudly as he stared at the corpse of the person he loved most in this world.

It was Mrs. Isabella, her eyes were closed, her breathing had stopped, her body was stiff, a thin line of blood could clearly be seen on her neck, she could no longer feel or sense, she was no longer alive, she was dead.

Elyan touched her cold skin and grabbed her hair, which he used to do for her. He embraced her with force, did not want to leave her as he cried and wept. His heart had never been as heavy as today. It was painful, this unbearable feeling, how could a person bear it?