Chapter 21: Chapter 21

As the early morning birds sang,and I enjoyed the melody, Maryam reached out toward the curtain and drew it aside in one strong motion. The light flooded in, bathing me in it's warm golds, revealing to me the colours it had brought to the world beyond my window pane, followed by the musty smell of old furniture.

"Gawd?"I said, really trying to avoid the smell.

"Good morning Mr Rolland"she said with a little bit of caution in her voice.

"How are you Maryam, it's too early to be up"I said, trying to make her leave me alone.

"No it's not, it's past twelve sir, you need to wake up" she said, I let out a loud groan, I was still laying down, trying to let my mind settle, then I managed to sit up.

Maryam was busy picking up all my dirty clothes on the floor and making sure the room looked clean, she kept dusting the old chairs and trying to make them look alive.

"Wooof... Wooof!!!" She coughed out, trying to get out all the dust her nostrils had collected, she apologized but she did so again, maybe twice or more.

Indeed those furnitures were really old and needed to be changed,just when Maryam had faced her back to leave the room.

"I think you should make inquiries on the best decorator, this house needs a life" I suggested. "HahahahahYes Mr Rolland" she chuckled and said as she closed the doors slowly right

behind her.

I wanted to go back to sleep but I was already awake, there won't be a need for that again.

I stretched my hands right above my head, yawning, I stood up, trying to find my phone that had been beeping quite silently, I noticed but ignored it.

Maryam was a bigger alarm, I sometimes wonder why she never goes home to see her family. Was she as lonely as I was?, everytime I asked she just smiled and said her family was in her heart. I call her my best friend even though she was much older than me.

She cared about me so much, I wonder if she had any child, they indeed must be really lucky, when I was little kid, she would always tell me about my family and how much she knew my real family, I knew I was a foster kid, but Mr Jones never made me feel less of his own, one day Maryam told me I had a brother but he got missing and was never found and how much my mom loved me so much, I cried a lot those days cause it caused more pains than she could imagine.

She never talked about my father,I asked a million times but she never seemed to have an answer to that particular question, my foster parents were nice and were everything to me until they ended up like my family too.

I hope one day, I'll meet them, and we will all be happy again.

"Mr Rolland, I think I just got one! She will be here in two days to take a look at the house that needs to be alive" she said aloud from down stairs.

"Hahahahahaah" I laugh

"That's a good thing Maryam" I replied back.

I could hear her giggle and that only made me smile.

In no time, breakfast was ready and it was really nice. I stayed up all day talking to Mark on the phone. He seemed to be doing just fine. I could tell his wife was calling him back to bed. He sounded really happy and that made me happier.

Me :"You should better go back to bed Mark" I said.

Mark:"I will, but are you OK? How's life? What's going on? Do you want me to do something for you? Is there a problem? What about Maryam?" he asked, not giving me the opportunity to answer one,I chuckled.

Me:"Everything is just fine Mark, Maryam is alright and so am I, now go back to Lilia before she chop your head off and that of mine" I said my mouth reviewing my fine set of teeth.

Mark:"Alright boss, please do take care of yourself and do not ever hesitate to ask me for anything, I am just a call away" he said.

I paused for a minute and at that moment I knew I had some people who were just more than ready to lay down their lives for me, and that only made me grateful.

Me:"Yeah sure man, bye". Mark:"Yes boss, take care".

After a brief moment the line went dead, I sighed, covering my eyes,I opened the back,going through my phone, I went through pictures on Facebook to free me off boredom and everything but nothing was working, I thought of what else to do, I went down stairs,straight to the door, stepping out the door, the shining day was already taken by it's enemy.

Immediately the cold breeze fanned my face and the fresh garden flower fed my nostril.

This felt so good, it's been quite some time since I last took my time to acknowledge nature, now I wanted to take a walk, maybe a drive.

"Maryam!" I called upon her.

"Yes Mr Rolland" she answered, I watched how her face turned from curiosity to amusement.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"Do I look like I am not?"I asked.

"No... Not at all, I am just a bit surprised you decided to go out this door" she said drying off her hands with the kitchen towels, trying to avoid eye contact, I smiled.

"I'll be taking a short drive and I'll be back before dinner," I said.

"OK... You want me to come along, cause I could be super fast with this meal and change into something really nice if you want?" she said, trying to offer a helping hand.

"Hahahahah no Maryam,there will be no need for that,I would love that but not today" I said walking towards the car.

"Okay.. Please take care, don't drive too fast , okay, and get home safeplease." she advised.

"Yes mom" I said rolling off my eyes and waving her bye.

"You said?" she asked.

"What did you say Mr Rolland?" she asked again.

I didn't respond, she asked again but I didn't want to answer that question, so I was quick to enter the car and I watched her stare at me till I zoom off...

Yes Maryam, you might not be my biological mother but you've cared for me like a mother. You deserve the name "Mom".