"Aurora, what a beautiful name," Xavier said, drinking more.
"She was," I said.
"What happened? Do you still talk with her?"
"No, it has been more than a decade since I have. She was in the same orphanage that I was," I said, looking at him.
He looked at me, his eyes widened. "You're an orphan... wait, so your family... you're not related..." he asked, trying to be as kind as he could.
"Yes, my mother is not related to me. Her name is Emily. She worked at the orphanage, and when she was about to leave, she decided to bring me along."
"That must be a great story to tell people, having such a kind caretaker adopt someone who had nowhere to go."
"I think she just felt bad for me. I was fourteen when she was about to leave. She knew all the people that were my friends in the orphanage had parents, but when she saw me, she knew that if she didn't do something, I might be left out of love..."
"She seems like a kind person. You must introduce me to her," he said with a large smile.
That smile, I thought, and then a flash of light hit, bringing back an old memory.
Walking in the golden-ceilinged house of many children, I could see all the faces. Right in front of me was Miss Emily. She looked at me, then I saw her hand pointing toward where I had to go.
Following the directions, there was a girl all in a coat and jeans, crying at me with her amber green eyes. I looked at her long brunette hair.
"Don't cry, Aurora. We'll see each other again, I promise," I said, reaching out to give her a hug. Even though she was taller than me, she felt smaller for that moment in time.
"But how will we see each other? How? I'll be in England, out of the country, with a family I didn't even know existed. I'm being taken there by a father I thought had left me. Now he wants me, but I have..."
"Stop, Aurora. Tell me, do you think just because we're seas apart, we'll forget each other like nothing?" I said, holding her even tighter.
"Ash, you are my..." Then the memories flashed, moving back to the present and into the past once again.
"Jordan... I will not forget you," I said, looking at him walking out of our house into the new world. Then another flash, the one that bound it all together.
Came... "Why are you crying?" the blonde angel lady said to the boy.
"I don't want you to go like all of them. Aurora left, now you... I can't lose you. You promised me you wouldn't leave me." I looked at the young girl with blue eyes that seemed to open me to an ocean of peace.
She wrapped her hand around my head and said, "I would never leave."
"Ash, do you wish to live with me?"
"Yes."
"But you'll have to stop calling me Miss Emily."
"What do you want me to call you then?" I said, looking into her eyes and the golden warmth of her hair.
"Call me your mother."
"Alright, Mom."
"Alright, my boy. Ash, my boy," she said, holding me tight. Then a flash of light hit my head, cold sensation— the moment was the end of it, how it all began, just as it ended with no hope to last longer than a flash.
"Don't cry, Ash. This is my end... you have done so well in school, in all your classes. I wish I could have given you more, given you more of my love and heart," she lay on the hospital bed, her hand reaching to my face. I could see her blue eyes, still bringing warmth and peace.