Heartbreak Symphony by Laekan Zea Kemp

Author:Laekan Zea Kemp [ZEA KEMP, LAEKAN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2022-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

ILIANA LÓPEZ

1970-1998

MOTHER, DAUGHTER, FRIEND

Mother.

His mother.

Bile burns the back of my throat. I smell the thick medicinal lotion the nurses rubbed on my mother’s rough hands. I hear doors opening and closing, never knowing if it was the doctor, if he was going to show his face that day, if he was going to tell us It’s soon. I see her body, all sharp edges. I see her eyes, the fear in them that she tried to blink away every time we were looking. I see her in pieces. I see her in pain.

She was in so much pain.

And she couldn’t run from it.

But in this moment, I can.

I can run from her pain. I can run from my own. And that’s exactly what I do.

I grip my backpack tight and then I take off running.

“What about the stones?” The robot clanks behind me. “Where are you going?”

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

“Hey!” he calls after me. “Are you even listening?”

I am, because he’s in my head, even though I desperately don’t want him to be. I just want him to be quiet. To disappear. To go away.

Go away.

Go away.

Go away.

Go away!

I don’t realize I’m on the ground until there’s a shadow pouring over me. I don’t realize I’m curled into a ball until the person taps me on the shoulder.

I look up. It’s Officer Solis.

I don’t realize I’m crying until he asks, “Are you all right?”

I scrape at my wet face and grip the brick wall behind me to hoist myself up.

“Aarón?”

“I’m fine,” I say.

“Do you need a ride home?” he asks.

I just nod.

On the way back to my house, I can feel Officer Solis glancing over at me, but I keep my eyes on the street, trying not to catch a glimpse of my reflection in the window.

When he asks me, “You and Miguel getting along these days?” I realize he was probably searching me for bruises.

“We’ve never gotten along,” I say.

“Brothers can be tough. I never had one, but I had plenty of cousins. They always used to gang up on me because I was the youngest. That’s probably one of the reasons I became a cop.”

“So you could arrest them as revenge?” I ask.

He laughs. “No. I guess it was less about them and more about me. I knew what it felt like to be helpless, to be bullied. It made me more empathetic to other people going through the same thing.”

We hit a red light and Officer Solis’s gaze tightens on my La Maquina T-shirt.

Behind me, the robot’s eyes light up, amused that someone besides me knows that he exists.

“So, uh, what exactly were you doing with Xavier’s lawyer the other day?”

My body tenses like I’m being baited. Like I did something wrong.

“Have you spoken to Xavier?” he asks.

My mouth is dry. “Well, uh…”

He sighs. “Look, I’ve known Xavier a long time. We grew up together.”

“Really?”

He nods. “Our parents were cousins. My father was protective of his mother, Iliana. I feel the same way about Xavier.

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