My... Our Wings! [Finale]

It’s been a while since the last time I traveled out of the city, and on a train nonetheless, I’ve never been a fan of long trips, so believe that this isn’t something that truly makes me happy or anything, especially when the place where I’ll be going isn’t any wonderland… or at least I’ve been telling that to myself for the last few years…

When I was a child I was a big fan of a superhero, a guy who could do wonders, he was super strong and faster than any regular human, the only thing that he lacked was the ability to fly, but that didn’t stop him from saving the world, but to become a hero he had to lose something that was way more important than the world itself for him, with that he learned that you must always help people when you are capable of doing so.

When I was a child I loved to watch any kind of movie about heroes who saved the world and then went home with that beautiful girl who was behind them through the whole movie, movies about that spy who was so charismatic that even when the face of the actor changed, you knew that you were still following his steps… There were stories about little men who had to save a fantastic world, a young guy who traveled alongside his friends to save the whole universe, even if it meant fighting against his own father, there was this guy who went on a journey for a treasure that could grant him any wish, I even managed to discover real adventures that introduced me to new worlds that me a part of them up to that day, be it that boy who wanted to discover the wonders of this world with crazy creatures that could shoot lightning almost for fun or traveling on a ship with the lousiest of the crews while searching for the biggest treasure that mankind has ever heard of… Everything is wonderful in those worlds, not because bad things never happen there, but because the characters give you something that will forever be with you…

You might be wondering “why is this crazy guy talking about all this nonsense?”, but that’s no more than what defined my life, the search for wonders… no, the idea that wonders would come to me as it had happened to those characters whose journeys I had been religiously following over all these years, even decades on some cases, that idea kept me living as a simple-minded not completely depressing during all my life, but I guess that I never noticed why these were so meaningful to me…

Every time that I think about my first time watching the fights of that superhero that felt like a friend to any kid, or that loud pirate who wanted all of us to be his friends, every time that I thought about it I could recall the same thing, a tiring day at school, those friends that I should’ve kept until now saying the usual jokes, but more than anything, the warm food at home that someone always had for me…

The memory that a person has of a part of their life is much more complicated than just remembering the exact situation that happened there, sometimes you don’t want something to stay in your brain, other times you fool yourself to think that you are never wrong, but sometimes you just can’t remember about your first days… When your dad takes you in his arms because you were too tired to go to your bed by yourself, those moments when your siblings hear about what happened to you at school, and even when you fight each other almost every day, they want to protect you more than anything else, you can see the rage in their eyes, the rage that burns from the love that they have for you, there are also situations that are as easy as when your mom must leave the house for less than a few minutes, but you can’t accept that you wouldn’t be able to see her face or hear her voice during every single second that composes those minutes… When you can go back to ignoring every bad thing in your life everything seems way better, obviously, it would be unfair to ignore all of the bad things, but the same can be said about ignoring the good things, and isn’t that what I've been doing during all of my life…?

After what seemed like an eternity sitting on the best seat of that train, the journey is finally coming to an end, I can see the same mountains where I used to play, the park where I used to run, even that school that I didn’t even like… I can even remember how I fell down on that corner and peeled my knee, not the best of the memories to recall at such a moment of my life, but definitely a memorable one, especially when I think about the face of the guy who pushed me and how guilty he felt, then we became friends, but even then I would never take that face out of my mind.

The guy at the doors of the trains starts to call the name of this station, it isn’t important, since this is actually the of the road, but I guess that part of the work goes with doing that.

I get out off the train, no one is there looking for me, no one was waiting for me, but I can’t say that it surprises me, one could even say that it was the expected closure to this little travel of myself…

This town isn’t especially big, or at least I think that it isn’t especially big, which isn’t fair since I know it like the palm of my hand, it's not that special when you’ve been living in the same place for years, its hard to not recognize every place where you set your feet, every street, every corner, even some of those persons that just wander around as the only thing they do during their whole life, even them can be easily recognizable as if they were almost a part of your life, which is weird considering that most of them don’t have a grasp of an idea of who the hell I am.

The distance between the station and my destination, the house that I used to call home, isn’t that big with all things considered, especially if you take a bus or a taxi, or a bicycle like most people around here like to do, or at least the younger ones, but I personally want to take my time, maybe I don’t want to go to that home at all, maybe I just enjoy the sight of the streets and enjoy being around here, walking with all these normal persons… Or maybe I just don’t know what I’ll say when I go back…

I think that a long time has passed since the last time I was here, but I’m not able to remember how long it has actually been… Not only have I been out for some months since I started working at the hospital, but during my time as a student, I barely appeared around here, even if the distance wasn’t a real problem. After all this time without any meaningful contact, and with my childish efforts to act as a lonely adult and avoiding every contact with my family, it feels so weird to receive a letter of all things, it could just be a way of looking special from the sender, or maybe they just wanted to give me a weird kind of surprise…

After reading it, Fennel instantly asked what it was, then Tony and Lisa had to come and ask to, that’s a call for me to avoid reading important things at the hospital again by the way, but I guess that it wasn’t all that bad of an idea, if I was alone I probably would have fully ignored this thing, maybe Lemon would have a new toy, but thanks to the child-like behavior that my friends like to have, I now had this dumb responsibility of telling them that my family was inviting me to a birthday party.

My mind is quick to act, kinda, so just saying that I had work to do was a decent enough plan to avoid coming here… If only Abraham hadn't been informed beforehand… I should be happier about receiving more than one free day at work, even if it is on a whim that comes from the director being a family friend.

After walking for what felt like an eternity accompanied only by my divagating mind, I saw those big doors at the end of the street that always brings weird memories of my childhood back to the present, running from the school with some random friends, all the way to my house, only for them be scared by the magnanimous castle-like appearance that my family always loved to have on any place that they inhabited, even Abraham would be impressed with this site, and it’s not like he lives on a worse situation, but after all the years since the last time he came it would be a truly impressive thing to see, now imagine bringing a friend here only for them to discover that you’re the ‘spoiled’ son of that crazy rich guy who always appears on the news… making friends isn’t easy when they consider you different, be it better or worse than them, kids will always find a way to set you apart…

I walk to the door, I’m as far a person can be without directly touching it, wait for a little second for that classic voice to come to me.

“Welcome home Mr. Adam!”

A tender voice from my past goes to my ears, and then from my head all the way down to my heart, Roger Sforza, the butler that over the years became a part of our family, and even in his older years still runs to me every time I knock these gigantic doors.

“It’s been a while, Roger”

By this point, the distance that could be between us is just a thing from the past, with a man who never marked my life, but still feels like an uncle who would do anything for me, his long skeletal arms reach to me, and without a second to react, I’m embraced once again… The last time I was embraced by this tall old man, I was smaller than him, so I always ended protected by him, he was like my shield, the only real person who I cared about… But I hadn’t thought about him, I guess that I can be really unfair when my head and my heart disconnect from reality… Now that years have passed and I’m not the same little child, I still can’t hold a candle to this gentle giant, but I finally feel like I can return this hug…

Roger offers himself to take my things to my old room, but I’m not one to depend on others at this point, I gently reject his offer and keep on my road through the house…

“It’s good to see you again little boy” – He says with a smile on his face, I’m only able to respond with one of my own…

I keep my road through that enormous house, one by one the people who work there come to receive me, I see a lot of faces that appear for the first time before my eyes, while others have only been absent from my mind for some time, but still appeared every time I reminisced of this place.

My room is on the third floor, one could wonder how it took me so long to be able to climb a stair without losing all my breath, but those are the doubts that can only be answered with the logic that only the stupidity of the human itself can give you.

I reach to that old door, it still has some of those paintings that I did during my childhood, and not even the walls could be saved from my hand at the time…

“The room is exactly the same that you left behind”

That voice brings back some other memories, Eugene, my brother, was always aggressive, but the first one to think about me when I was in need, the only one who would recognize every single mannerism that I had while I was younger, he knew everything that I liked and everything that I didn’t… The only bad part was how much he enjoyed mocking me about them later, but maybe that’s just what siblings do…

“Our sister, Jade, she is coming back later, you should prepare for the party” -

He says as he waves his hand…

“And what are you going to do, brother?”

“I guess that I’ll get ready for the birthday party, it’s not something that I’d like to miss, I even brought a special gift this time!” – His face shows a big smile that I had never seen, at least not in a long time…

My bags end on the floor of my room as I used to do with every backpack that accompanied me during my younger days, the room now feels exactly the same as I remember, it’s even surprising that dust didn’t take my spot on the house, almost like someone was paying attention to every little detail.

I take a little shower and get into the clothes I brought especially for the occasion because even if I wasn’t completely hyped I still had to look fine for this context.

After dressing as I should, I walk out of my room, and that man is waiting for me, my dad… His presence is as imposing as always, his long hair is slicked back as it has always been, his body as a whole seems exactly the same as the last time I saw him, but with a notably higher amount of wrinkles that plague his face…

“It’s nice to have you back” – His voice sounds as monotone as always, but it feels like he put more effort into it, like if he had to hide something else with that serious attitude that he loves so much.

“Thanks… dad…” – I guess that I also tried to do the same monotone sound, but I’m not the master that he is…

“Adam… son, you’re the last one, everyone is waiting for you to start the party” – For the first time in a long time he shows another tone, I want to ask him a lot of things, about my mom, about Abraham, even about Bob… But this simple moment means much more for me…

We enter the biggest dinner room that someone could imagine, my family is there with the same elitist attitude, but I finally notice how their faces show a tender sensation that I never realized was there from the start…

A big table is waiting for me, a cake the size of my apartment, Lemon could dive in that thing and I would never find her, so I guess that it was a better idea to leave her with Lisa. The decorations look as expensive as something can be for a simple birthday party.

I feel mildly amazed for this place, and then I feel it once again, that sensation of something weird incoming, that same sensation that always invades me when something that only I should feel appears, but I finally feel happy of knowing what’s coming…

“Happy birthday Adam”

The kindest of the voices resonates through my soul…

“Thank you… mom”

I guess that I have a lot of things to ask now that I can see her, but for now, I’ll just enjoy this chance to discover once again what I had ignored about my life, I’ll just enjoy the moment and what I have for now… For now, I’ll keep on living…