The Notes

The Notes

Ana Zapata

04/19/2023

She knew I didn’t want a party; she knew I wanted something small and comfortable, but yet there are about a hundred people who I don’t even know in my house. Where did my mom even get these people from? For some reason she wanted me to be on display in front of all these people to prove something, but I still don’t know what. I have been trying to hide the whole night, to find just one place where I can feel like I can breathe. But it seems like that will be impossible because I have been greeting strangers for an hour now. My mom to my side lets me know how the people approaching us are my long distant cousins from Chile. I didn’t even know I had relatives in Chile.

“Sonrie y mete la panza” she tells me. And I easily do as she says, I fix the fake smile I have had the whole night and fix my posture. Once my “cousins” get to us I repeat the same thing I have told the other fifty people I have greeted “Thank you for coming to the party, I am so glad that you were able to make it”. I sound like a broken record at this point, and my mom could tell because she is scolding me the second my cousins leave. While my mom is looking for the next person I am supposed to greet, I leave her side as fast as I can and climb the stairs to go to my room. In this sea of people I probably have about forty minutes of freedom before my mom finds me. I am releasing a breath of relief the second I see my door, but I am instantly irritated because I can tell there are multiple people behind my door. I honestly don’t even bother to tell them to get out, I really don’t want to find out what they are doing. The next best place that I can go to is my mom’s room, I know she would not allow anyone in there, and it will probably be one of the last places she looks in. While it is not the privacy of my own room, I still take comfort in finding that it is empty. I throw myself in her king size bed and get as comfortable as I can. As I switch to lay on my side, I can see that there is a tiny gift box resting on one of the nightstands beside the bed. My curiosity gets the best of me, and I am reaching out for the box. Around the box there is a pretty lilac lace, and in one of the corners there is a label that reads “For my sweet Tatum”. My guess is that my mom was going to give it to me after the party. Since it is for me anyway, I do not feel guilty to be removing the lace to see what is inside. First, I find an envelope with a letter in it, and then a tiny silk bag that seems to be holding some kind of jewelry. It is killing me to find out what is in the bag, but I open the envelope first. For the most part, the letter is a very basic birthday letter telling me how proud she is, and how she loves that she has seen me grow up into a respectable woman. But there is an unusual part that is urging about a change that is coming, a serious and unexplainable change. Trying to not take it to seriously, I lay the letter on the bed and open the tiny bag. Inside the bag there is a single silver ring that has a shiny pearl in the center of it. It is absolutely beautiful. Since it was going to be given to me anyway, I decide to keep it. Instead of putting it on my finger I take of the golden chain around my neck and slide the ring right in. It’s a pretty contrast. I really hope my mom doesn’t find me any time soon, but once she does, I will thank her for the gorgeous gift.

I managed to get through the whole night without my mom finding me, because I still am in my mom’s room, I must have fallen asleep. When I head for the door, I expect for there to be a complete mess on the other side, but to my surprise, there is nothing and no one. All of those people that were here yesterday are all gone, and there is no trace of beer cups or vomit anywhere. It weirds me out, but I convince myself that my mom is the only one that could have pull it off. I am heading towards the kitchen and my mom is nowhere to be found. In the kitchen isle there is a piece of paper with my name on it. It explains how my mom had go run some errands. This is not somethings she usually does, but I have the whole house clean and to myself, so I don’t question anything. Having all this time, the only thing that I think is decent to do right now is take a long and relaxing bath. I go to my room and set up the bath with candles, bubbles and pretty cents. While letting the water run, I see myself in the mirror and I am perplexed by how another year could have gone away when I still feel the same. There is no big change coming, at least I am not convinced there is. I get closer to the mirror, and I realize that there is something missing from me. The pearl ring that I found yesterday is gone from my necklace. I’m thinking back and I vividly remember putting the ring in my necklace. This means that there is a chance that someone came in and took it while I was sleeping. Suddenly everything is piling up, the birthday note, the ring, the house being completely empty, the note this morning. Nothing is making sense. And then there is the nock on the door, and urgent nock that takes me back to present time but leaves me uneasy. I close the water and go downstairs while checking if there is anyone around. I reach the door and I look thought the peak whole, but there is no one there. I slowly open the door and check if there is someone around, but nothing. The only thing I do see is another envelope laying on the floormat, and on top of the envelope my name is written in what I recognize is my mom’s handwriting. As I am reaching down for the envelope, I can feel the panic that starts to build up on me. Inside the envelope there is just one index card that reads “Midnight, The New Docks”. Something happened, something strange cause there is no other reason why my mom would want to meet me in the docks at midnight. Should I even believe this note? It could be from someone else, maybe the someone that took the ring. The panic continues to rise. What if my mom is in danger? Did I put her in danger? Did I do something wrong? I get out my phone and call her, but it went straight to voice mail. Now I’m afraid because I don’t know what I am going to do. There is no one I can contact, no real family members. And it would not be smart to go to the authorities because of my mom’s immigration status. Am I just stuck having to wait until midnight? Without realizing I am running upstairs back to my mom’s room, there has to be something in here that will help me figure out what the hell is going on. Maybe there is a reason why she never allows anyone in here, not even me. I go through her drawers, check under her bed, check for any loose boards on the floor, and finally the boxes in her closet. Most of these boxes just have more clothes, but there is one that is full of photos, photos of my mom when she was growing up. I have seen some of these photos before, she has shown them to me to let me know where she came from, how Colombia was a beautiful country before it got bad. I find one picture that I have not seen before, I recognize my mom, but not the lady standing next to her. Could that be her mom? My grandma? Family is a topic that my mom and I usually avoid because it is not something that she likes to talk about, I can tell that she is not fully proud of the people that brought her to this world. I flip the photo over and there something written “Extrañandote mucho mi niña”. So maybe this is my grandma. This photo must have been taken when my mom was still in Colombia. I leave the photo to one side and keep digging but I don’t find anything else. I still have no clue of what could be happening. Is there a chance that I am overreacting. What if maybe there is just another surprise waiting for me at the docks. But then somethings won’t add up to that hypothesis, like what about the ring? After being in panic mode for like and hours I somehow convince myself that my mom is fine and that I will find her at the docks at midnight and everything will be alright.

I have been waiting all day, and it is finally time to go to the docks. To get to the docks is a little tricky because I have to take the underground metro, which is something I don’t enjoy doing since it is not very clean. I have heard stories about how at some point most of the world was not under water, but now everyone is living in elevated houses or in tall apartment buildings. Now you have to use boats to get everywhere or use the underwater public transportation. I would have love to see how the world was before it sank, see some flowers fields, see what the Keys looks like during the summer. Tragically the country never made anything to salvage the many cities that have sank, and they won’t do anything about it now either, apparently it was a problem that was overlooked while the government was busy with regulations. At least the scenery from the metro is still breath taking, just an immense mass of water wherever you looked. I am still holding onto the hope that I will find my mom in the docks safe and sound, and that all the other thoughts were just my anxiety. I get off in my station and make my way to the docks. The New Docks was another of the places that was most affected by the water level rise. This used to be Kendall, but not anymore. Since there were many crop fields here the water just kept accumulating and accumulating that now it is docks for small cargo ships. I am at the entrance of the docks, and I really don’t want to in deeper, I really don’t know what could be waiting for me. I can hear foots steps walking towards me, then those steps are running towards me, and I didn’t have time to do anything before someone was hugging me and I realize it’s my mom. I feel so relieved that I was right and that she is ok. “Gracias a Dios estas bien. You got my note” there is also relieve in her voice. But when she pulls away from me and I see worry in her eyes, now it is time for me to ask for the truth. But before I get the chance to, she says “Where is the ring? I know you found the ring that I was going to give you.” I explain to her how I put it on my necklace and how in the morning it was gone. “No, no, no, no, no. Ok listen to me there is a lot of things that I have to explain to you. Our family history is extremely complicated” she is saying. Suddenly I start to hear footsteps again that are walking towards us. Now there is dread in her face, she is scared. “Encerio pensaste que podrias esconderte para siempre?” says the woman voice that is walking towards us. Finally, the woman is visible, and I recognize her immediately, it is the woman from the photo I found earlier, the woman that could be my grandma. The woman stops walking once she is at a safe distance from us. “Andrea, mucho tiempo sin verte. Tatum, mucho gusto en conocerte.” My mom next to me is breathing very heavily, now I realize that we are in danger. “Estan buscando esto, cierto?” And in the woman’s hand there is the ring.