Pedrito’s Diary, Day 29
February 19, 2025
I couldn’t take my eyes away from Alejandro, Diego and Jose all night long. As always, Gabriel was in my bed. He didn’t fall asleep as fast as he did on other nights, but when he finally did, he looked like he was sleeping hard.
I was startled by the loud sound of the megaphone. I must have slept for a while. When I opened my eyes, Gabriel was standing by the bed, watching me. Alejandro, Diego, and Jose were all sitting together on the edge of one of their beds.
“ATTENTION EVERYONE! I am sorry but some of the sick boys didn’t make it through the night. We have a list of all those whose bodies will be taken to the building’s side gate. If you hear the name or names of a sibling, please walk slowly to the breakfast tables. We now know what the sick boys have is highly contagious. So, unfortunately, we cannot allow you to get close to the bodies. You can watch them being carried out.”
I heard Mama use a phrase once in my school’s library when she was talking to Papa: “Samuel, you could hear a pin drop.” I now understood clearly what she said. There was absolute silence in the entire building. As for the 5 of us, it was as if we were not even breathing. We were frozen in our tracks.
The guard read 25 names. Just when we hoped that there were no more, we all heard him continue: “Alexander Gomez, Stefano Ruarez, Jesu Garcia, and Jesu Gonzalez.”
My dear friends, the three brothers, let out an ear-piercing scream all at once when they heard the last name. That Jesu was their precious little brother. This was the first time I learned their family name. I saw how the knees of the Gonzalez brothers buckled, how they all hit the concrete floor with a loud thud. Each of them was wailing in agony.
I just stood there and watched them. Gabriel clung to me more than ever before. He was too little to say or do anything for them other than keeping quiet. As for me, I froze up, I felt so very empty and helpless. I felt numb, completely numb. The only sign of my feelings for Alejandro, Diego and Jose were the tears running down my face.
©
hülya n. yılmaz, March 9, 2025
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