The diable was quiet; no one eaking to each other. It was only filled with silend eyes gng around. Julio was still feeling guilty of going against their word and didn’t dare to speak. Noelia got off his chair after finishing his dinner.

  “Where are you going, mijo?” Rosa asked.

  “Just going on a walk,” Noelia replied. “Do you want to request something?”

  “No, I just want to know where yoing. That’s all,” said Rosa.

  Noelia went downstairs aed the bakery. He was actually pnning to go to Jay’s house, he thought that he may need support from his friends. He arrived in front of Jay’s door and rang the bell. He could hear his friend’s voice, he took a deep breath before the door could open.

  “Oh Noelia, it’s just you,” said Jay, “What brings you here?”

  “I’m only visiting and I want to tell you something that bothered me before,” Noelia replied. “Do you mind if I do that?”

  “Sure, e inside,” said Jay.

  Noelia entered and sat down on the couch, Jay brought some beer for them to drink.

  “How have you been tely, Noelia?” Jay asked.

  “Fine…I guess,” said Noelia. “Nothing really special happened yet.”

  A doorbell rang, Jay told Noelia that he was going to check. Jay went to open the door and saw Mark with a package.

  “Here’s your package. Sorry if it was dusty, I fot to my shelves,” said Mark

  “Ah! My package. Thanks, Mark!” Jay replied.

  “No problem!” said Mark. He saw Noelia from the door but he didn’t say a word. After that, he left the pce then Jay closed the door.

  Jay apologized for earlier, he left a package to Mark when he was away. Jay then sat down and opened his of beer. Noelia thanked Jay for the beer telling him that it relieved some stress. Jay asked about what Noelia meant about the stress.

  “ I trust you with it…?” Noelia asked.

  “Of course! I’m your friend. You tell me anything,” Jay answered.

  “Jay… Something distressful happeo me,” said Noelia.

  “What was it?” Jay asked, ed.

  “My wife and five year-old son…They disappeared,” said Noelia, l voice.

  Jay was shocked to hear and asked, “What?! How could that happen?”

  “I don’t know…They left without any traces,” Noelia replied. “They’ve been missing for a long time that I 't even remember how long, I already tried calling the police before but they didn’t find anythi.”

  “That’s awful…” said Jay.

  Noelia remembered his wife and son, he began to shed tears as he said, “It’s stressi, we just became a family and I already lost them quickly.”

  “There, there,” Jay patted, f his grieving friend.

  “It has been quite hard tely being a siher but sometimes I don’t know what to do and feel lost…” said Noelia. “I sometimes felt inplete with the loss of my family which as well made me scared about losing another one.”

  Jay listened closely, his face with a mixture of and sympathy. He felt sad for his friend and uood his grief. He pced his shoulder around his friend, support for Noelia.

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Stay strong, Noelia!” Jay replied sympathetically. “You got this!”

  “Thanks… But sometimes it’s much to bear,” said Noelia.

  Jay looked at Noelia with his hand on his shoulder and said, “I uand your pain to lose a family member. But don’t you still have a family like Julio and Sofia?”

  Noelia stayed quiet not giving any words to Jay. Jay then said, “I know the pai go easily, it also ges you. But I hope it ges you for the better.”

  There was still no response from Noelia as he sat quietly, possibly thinking about Maria and Enrique.

  “Don’t worry, you still have your family and friends,” said Jay hugging Noelia. “If you want support, just call us. We’ll be there, we’ll help you get through this.”

  “Yeah…I guess so, thanks for listening anyways, Jay,” Noelia replied. “I’m going to go home now, I’ll see you ter.”

  “Alright man, see you ter!” said Jay. “Stay safe!”

  Noelia left Jay’s house, and he walked through the sidewalk feeling slightly better. He still felt a glimpse of his wife and son in his head, imagining them walking right beside him. Noelia came across a pyground and remembered when he and his wife used to take their kids to py.

  That feeling of nostalgia gave warmth to Noelia. All that was quickly gone as Noelia realized that they were no longer with him.

  He arrived home aloh that feeling. When his childreed him at the door, it at least gave him a sense of fort. He greeted them back with a pat on their heads.

  He crouched down and said, “It’s nighttime and both of you should sleep. You still have school tomorrow.”

  “Alright, padre!” they replied in unison. Noelia followed along his children to joio sleep. He couldn’t help but smile seeing his children walking to their room. It felt nice for him; perhaps he might have begun to accept it.