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“I’m fine,” I sobbed.
His laugh rumbled through his body and shook my own in a way that made my body stand up at attention. He pressed his cheek to the top of my head. “Alicia, you are the worst liar I’ve ever met. You are not fine. And you haven’t been for a while.”
He smoothed his hand down my back. “But it’s okay. I’ve got you.”
I knew something was wrong when Ana called. She never calls anyone if she can help it. Something about the government always monitoring our phones.
“It’s Dante,” she said. “I went to the doctor with him today because the doctor said he had some news for him. He’s sick.”
“Who’s sick?”
“Dante.” I heard her shift the phone, and I thought maybe I misheard her. Dante never got sick—it was one of the side effects of his particular brand of OCD.
“With what?”
“Cancer.”
People say that news like that always hits them like a ton of bricks or something equally heavy. On the contrary, the news seeped into my very pores. It wasn’t a hit; instead, it poisoned me slowly.
Tears blurred my vision and I asked, “Is he okay? What can I do?”
“Nothing,” she replied solemnly.
I could hear my mother in the background. “Is she crying?”She called out.“Tell her to stop all that crying. This is not an emotional thing, it’s a life thing. Everything will be fine.”
I felt more than heard Ana’s long sigh. Mother couldn’t be more opposite than Ana, and Mother tended to wear on her nerves. “I’ll call you when we know more. Stay strong, Alicia.” With that, she hung up.
I stood waiting for the after-school bus, taking deep breaths to push the tears down further and further. I could almost feel it colliding with the other painful memories that I had no time to indulge.
“Well, look who it is,” I heard behind me. “My favorite card.”
“Not today, Minnie.” I leaned my head back and looked up at the dark sky. A raindrop fell directly into my eye.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. His feet rustled through the rocks on the pavement.
“Nothing,” I sighed. “Just a bad day.”
“Tell me about it.”
“It’s nothing. I’m not in the mood for jokes today, is all.”
“I can be serious. Tell me.”
“My brother is sick.” I turned to him. Tears threatened to fall, and I could feel my throat closing. “Cancer. We’re waiting to hear more from the doctors.”
“How serious is it?”
“Not sure yet. But he’ll be fine. Everything will be fine.”
I remember that he was silent for a long time, to the point where I didn’t know if he would respond. Finally, he said, “Wow, Ace, that’s tough.”
“Not tough.” I could feel my vision swimming, and I felt unsteady on my feet. I took a deep breath, anticipating my watch’s command. “It’ll be fine. It could be worse. We just have to make sure to follow the doctor’s regimen so that he gets better.”
“What’s your brother’s name?”
“Dante.” The answer came on a whisper. I could feel the tears making their reentrance; my throat felt like it was on fire. I walked away from Andrew.
“Alright, that’s my cue. Time to bring it in.”
