In the very beginning...
SELENE ORLANDO.
~Riñg
The steady ringing of a cell phone woke a beautiful young lady from her morning sleep.
She looked at the clock hung on the wall at the end of her small worn-out room and discovered that it was not yet three o'clock, groaning she reached over to answer it.
"Hello, Selene here. Who am I speaking to?"
Who in God's name would phone by this time of the night?
"Miss Orlando, it's Mr. John Dallas from the U.S. speaking and we have news" the man on the other side said with his slight Texan drawl.
I sit up straight in my bed, my heart leaping to my throat at what the news could be. I fervently hoped they were good news.
All I knew was that it had to be about my half-brother which I had seen in a photograph my dad gave me years before his demise.
'Please be good news, please be good news, I chanted in my head.
"Are you still there Miss Orlando?" Mr. Dallas always sounded annoyed or irritated, maybe his job just didn't pay him well. He sounded like a man in his late thirties creeping into the I'm getting old circle. He didn't enjoy his job, I could tell because he couldn't hold a conversation long without clicking his tongue in annoyance or sighing or tapping his pen against whatever he was tapping it against.
"Yes, I'm all ears. Go on"
"We have just traced your last blood kin, although he is your half-brother, he is still your last relation–"
"And?" I knew I was being rude to cut in but all of the other information sounded like subtext to my ears, I was desperately waiting for a way to contact my newly found half-brother.
"We have his number, he lives in the U.S., and personal information is withheld for privacy. I'll send you his picture"
Finally, something of value, I thought.
"Can I have his number then?" I hoped I did not sound too eager. I probably did, how else was I supposed to react when I hadn't seen my brother or heard from him since I was born?
"Could you wait a second" Some shuffling sounds were made from the other side and I waited silently praying to myself, hoping that Mr. Dallas hadn't misplaced it under the extremely voluminous sheets of paperwork that littered his desk so much that he always complained about it on the phone.
I had sent my condolences the first day he had cried about the amount of work he had to do to survive but his complaints continued every other time I had called to follow up on my search, soon I found it a norm to tune out his complaints and focus on my matters.
After a short while, the man returned.
"Do you have a pen and paper?" he asked with the same drawl.
"Yes‚ please do continue" he called the number and I thanked him and then hung up.
"Well that went well, could have been worse but it wasn't, I could have spent hours listening to him rambling about being buried alive in his office under a large volume of paper. Now, what to do with the number?"
I stared at the number for quite a long time debating whether to call Kelvin or not, as the man had said his name was. What if he had a family that didn't need extra baggage? or a family that didn't need strangers acting the part of a loving and caring stepsister and step-aunt and step-sister-in-law, people thought stepmoms and stepsisters were a horrific duo all thanks to a certain romantic movie.
I saved the number to my contacts and felt tempted to call it.
I paused on the dial and hesitated, questions bombarding my mind; would he accept me as his half-sister?, sure he was older than me but would he?, would he play the role of an older sibling to me?, what if he rejected me?, what if his family didn't accept me?, just by this thoughts my hands became sweaty and I rubbed it on the old night robe that I usually wore every night to sleep.
After struggling with my confidence for over thirty minutes, I decided to call the number. It rang thrice before a male voice filtered through the speaker.
"Hello, who is this?" A deep voice reached my ears, I swallowed unsure of what to say.
"Hello?, is this some prank?, cause if it is, I'm calling the cops and you will get arrested" His voice had a hint of threat.
"Hello" I finally spoke up.
The receiver on the other side hesitated before he spoke again, this time without any trace of aggression.
"Who is this? please"
"I'm Selene" I said biting her nails and looking around nervously, what to say; what to say
"Ok???" He sounded hesitant. "I don't know anyone by that name but since you're not calling my work line, you must be after me privately. So what can I do for you?"
"I'm sorry if I startled you, I'm just calling to see if you are okay" I facepalmed after that statement for being an idiot, of course he was okay, why wouldn't he be?
I prayed that he would not notice that statement but he did because he paused for a long time before he spoke.
"Have we met before? Did I perchance give you my number, promise to call, and forgot?" he asked politely.
"No, it's nothing like that. We haven't even met, I mean, we are far from each other by long distances...what I'm saying is that we have always been far from each other..." I was ranting again, anxiety issues.
"Who are you and what exactly do you want?" he interrupted when I wouldn't finish talking.
I took in a deep breath to steady myself before speaking slowly.
"Don't be surprised but I'm your half-sister, I've been searching for you" I paused and waited for the man on the other end to access the information.
"I'm sorry, you are my what? I haven't heard your name from any of my relatives, you better not be lying to me, there's nothing to gain from it"
"I'm not lying. I'm your half-sister. Isn't your hometown Menorca, Spain?"
He must have caught on to the seriousness of my voice because he stopped talking again.
"Are you being serious? This better not be a prank"
"I'm serious"
"Tell me the family name"
"Orlando of course, I'm Selene Orlando, first daughter, and only child of Rodrigo Fernandez Orlando and Martha Fernandez Orlando"
Silence filled the other end of the phone and nobody spoke for minutes until I cleared my throat.
"Did...did you check that to make me believe or are you an Orlando" his voice was tight and hoarse.
"No, and how would I, if you like I can describe our dad, maybe then you will finally believe me"
"Fine then, I'm all ears" he said, his voice falling to hushed whispers.
"Our dad was a well-built man, worked at Corey cobbles and cuffs, I don't know where that is since I've never been to America, but you should know the one that makes shoes, he was of average height and had a birthmark of a small tooth on his neck and he also had a tattoo of my mother's name on his chest, and your mother's on his back–"
"That's okay" A voice silenced my description.
His voice now didn't sound like the one that threatened me a few minutes ago, it was low and tight. Probably too many emotions tightening to form that lump that clogged the throat.
A noise like leather against fabric was heard followed by the sound of a fridge being opened and then a glass sound.
"Are you older or younger?" he asked after gulping down something and clearing his throat.
"I'm younger" a string of curses followed my statement.
"Are you okay? Where are you now?" He asked without waiting for a reply.
I couldn't help but smile, my half-brother did act the older sibling role.
"Hey, are you still there? Selene? Hello?" He called into the phone.
"I'm here. I was just lost in thought" I said before continuing" and in case you wanted to know I'm in Spain, I have always been in Spain"
"That's funny, you don't sound like someone who lives in Spain"
"Well, that is the perk of being a father's daughter..." I trailed off. Forbidden topics, never touch forbidden topics, that was a rule amongst grown siblings.
The silence was what ruled the entire three minutes, nobody talked, nobody moved, nothing but straight silence.
A silence that was broken by Kelvin's cough, "Let's forget about that now, shall we? We can't raise the dead even if we wanted.
"Yeah, we should... ahem... forget about it"
"Do you want to come over? I mean to stay with me in America since it is just the two of us, it should be the same thoughts you had in mind or you wouldn't have decided to search for me or contact me"
"Yes, that's quite true. I would love that. I've heard that America is quite beautiful at night with pretty lights and all" I couldn't help the feeling, finally, I was going to be free, I was going to leave my past behind and start over again. "Then I should start pooling in my resources"
"What resources?"
"You know, the money for the plane ticket and the passport and–"
"Don't worry about the money, just send your account number and I will transfer the money"
"I can handle it myself, you don't need to worry"I tried to stop him, I wasn't a damsel in distress, I could afford it if I worked hard enough.
"I said don't worry, I will take care of the money, after all, I'm no stranger now am I?"
"No, you are not. Not typically but yeah, you get what I mean"
He snorted a laugh.
"Okay then start packing, you are leaving tomorrow"
"Tomorrow, already?" I echoed like someone who had trouble hearing.
"Yes, why?" He asked.
"Shouldn't you think of the cost so you don't squander your savings, I think tomorrow is too close, besides it's Friday, won't you allow me to greet my friends and neighbors goodbye"
"Money is no issue. Fine then, till next week then, I'll let you kiss your friends and neighbors goodbye, don't just tell me about it, I'm not interested in the details"
I could not help but laugh, seems like he had a sense of humor.
"Do you know that you are acting like an overprotective and possessive father"
"Of course, I have to, you are the only one I have left, so I must protect you" he chugged down the rest of his drink.
"Thank you" was all I could say.
I heard him mumble you're welcome before I hung up.
I stared at the number before smiling and then placing it on the nightstand beside my bed.
I grabbed my pillow and screamed into it.
Adjusting my pillow, I laid down and fell back asleep thinking of all the adventures I would have in the US and my half-brother and my dad's workplace.
...
She must have thought that when she gets to America things would move smoothly, she'd get into uni, graduate, have a job, marry a good husband, have kids, grow old and wait for the grim reaper to show up at her doorsteps, not knowing that Fate has a way of playing matchmaker games and what it had in stock for her was big, bad and sexily dangerous.
Two days later Selene stared at her now empty house where she had lived for most of her life after leaving her aunt's house, she sighed and rubbed the worn-out walls then closed the door and gave the keys to the caretaker, and headed for the airport.
After all the necessary documentation she sat on her designated chair in the airplane, anticipation eating her guts and soon her heavy eyes closed shut.