Lose The Tears

Chapter 1
It all started when I was 7 years old, and my sister, Corona was 10. “You can’t have a divorce just cuz Dad’s never home! That’s the stupidest reason ever to have a divorce!” Corona cried. My mother stood there, silent. She frowned. “Corona, calm down. I know you're mature enough to handle this divorce. Ray is talking this more maturely then you are.” Corona turned around and glanced at me. “Yeah, but-but, Ray’s 3 years younger then me! He doesn’t understand what’s going on!” Tears ran down her cheek. I didn’t understand much at that time, but now, I know understand too much. My parents had a divorce because my father didn‘t spend much time with his family (us). I’ve lived with my mother and sister ever since that day. I’m 12 now, Corona’s 15, Mom’s 30. Everything is going pretty well with our lives, except for the part where Mom doesn’t have a job and doesn’t have enough money to pay for our old, rural house. Pretty soon, we’ll be kicked out of our house. We live in the rural parts of Illinois. My school holds 5th-7th grades. I’m in the 6th. I’m a straight B student. I get B’s on almost every worksheet at school. I love math, and hate social studies. I don’t know why, just do. That night, November 12, 2005, I went to my room, which was also my sister’s room. “Goodnight, Ray, Corona!” I heard my mom call out. It was about 20 minutes past my bedtime. I yawned. “Goodnight!” I called back. I jumped on the top bunk of our bunk bed. The bottom bunk was Corona’s. She loved to share a room with me. She loved me. Every night, she’d say she loved me and how lucky she was to have me. I loved her. “Night, Ray. I love you. I’m SO lucky to have you,” I heard my sister come into the room. “Love ya, too.” I smiled. I went to sleep.
The next morning, November 13, 2005, a Saturday. I yawned and stretched. “Morning, Corona!” I laughed. No reply. “Corona?” I looked around the room. She wasn’t there. She never wakes up earlier than I do. We usually wake up at the same time on Saturdays. I ran to the kitchen. I saw my mom on the phone crying and Corona right next to her. She had a worried look on her face. “Huh? What’s wrong?” I asked, completely clueless. My mom gestured for me to sit down on the couch. “Uh...,Mom?” I said. “Shhhh...” Corona whispered. “So he’s gone for sure?” I heard my mom say into the phone. She frowned like she did most of the time and wiped away her tears. She hung up. “Ray...” Corona bursted into tears. “What-What’s wrong?” I asked. “Ray, I need to talk to you.” Mom said. “Okay.” I smiled a bit. Mom shook her head. “This Isn’t a good thing, okay?” Mom said. I stopped smiling. “Ray, listen. Your father...he...passed away...” Mom started. “We just got a call from the police, they said he was on his way to see us, and...he had a car accident...” My mom started crying. “Why’d you divorce him in the first place?!” I stood up. My mom was surprised. She didn’t think I’d say something like that. I started to cry a bit. I was sooo mad. “I hate you!” I yelled. I ran outside. “Ray, wait!” Corona hollered. I kept running. I wouldn’t stop no matter what! My sister chased me outside. “Ray!” She screamed. I ran out of the fence. “STOP FOLLOWING ME!” I yelled. Corona was a fast runner. I couldn’t out run her! “Ahhh!” I tripped. Corona ran over to me. She helped me up. “Leave me alone!” I pushed her. “Ray, I know how you feel. I know your sad about Dad. That doesn’t mean you should be mad at Mom,” Corona whispered. “She was the one who divorced him! So what if Dad couldn’t be home in time for dinner, or that he couldn’t spend some family time with us...He still loved us...,” I said. “The reason he went to work was because he wanted to get money, so we could live happily. AND HAVE A BIG HOUSE.” I continued. Corona smiled, drying up her tears with her sweater’s sleeve. “Yeah.” She walked back to our house. I followed.



Chapter 2
“Ray! Hurry, or else you’ll be late for school!“ Mom hollered across the hallway. I jumped out of bed. “School...?” I yawned. Everyday I walked to school with Corona. I got my green T-shirt and blue jeans on. Corona came in the room. She was brushing her hair. She had straight, blonde hair with no tangles. I didn't know why she brushed her hair. “Good morning.” She giggled. I nodded. She wore a white T-shirt with pink shorts. She loved the color pink. SHE ALWAYS LIKED PINK THINGS. “Let’s head to school.” Corona said. “Uh-huh.” I waved to my mom, she waved back. Then we headed off. It was a 10 minute walk to my school. My sister would drop me off at my school, then walk to her school. Her school and my school were 5 minutes apart. “Ray, I wanna talk to ya ’bout something.” Corona said calmly. “Okay.” I beamed. “Well, since Mom can’t find a job...I...uh...got a job...” Corona whispered. “WHAT?” I asked. “Um, but don’t worry...I’ll only work on Saturdays...” She trailed off. “But that means...you won’t be home...and we can’t spend our Saturday together.” I frowned. “Don’t worry. I’ll be working from 6:00am-7:00pm. That means we’ll have 1 hour of fun before 8:00! Our bed time!” Corona yelled happily. “Yeah, but at 7:00, we eat dinner.” I said firmly. “...Here we are. Your school. Have a good day.” Corona stopped. She seemed sad. She waved and left. I sighed. I walked inside. We had a new student! It was a boy from Japan. He looked nice, so I sat next to him at lunch. “Hi, I’m Ray. What’s your name?” I introduced myself. “ Hey...I’m Shotaro Katsu.” He whispered. We talked a bit, and became buddies. He told me that he was an only child and that his mother died and he lived with his father only. After school, Corona came to pick me up. I told her about Shotaro on the way back. “Wow...he seems to have a pretty sad life.” She said. “Yup.” I replied. When we got home, Mom wasn’t there. “Where’s Mom?” I asked Corona. “I don’t know...She-She’s not here!” Corona cried. “Huh? No way!” The phone rang. I answered it. “Hello?” “Hello, Is Mrs. Corona Thomas there?” A man on the other line asked. “Yeah. Hold up.” I handed the phone to Corona. “Hello? Who are you?” She said into the phone. She hung up. “I didn’t even know who that was!” Corona said. “What about Mom?” I asked. “Right. You search inside, I’ll search outside.” She grinned. I nodded. I looked in every room in our house. Mom wasn’t there! “Corona!” I ran outside. I saw her hugging Mom and crying. “Mom! What happened?” I ran over to them. She smiled. “I got a job.” She had a big proud smile on her face. I looked at Corona, who was crying. “Why are you crying? You should be happy.” I said to Corona. “I am. These are tears of joy.” Corona wiped her tears. “Are you still gonna work on Saturdays” I asked. “Yeah, we’ll need as much money as possible.” She answered. We all went inside. Mom cooked spaghetti for dinner. I was wondering, If Corona got a job, I could too. I smiled slyly. “Can I get a job?” I asked Mom. “You already have one. School.” She said. I grunted and ran to my room. I was going to get a job, no matter what.
The next day, I asked Mom if Shotaro could sleep over. She said yes, which was awesome! We talked about all sorts of things. Video games, school, anime, jobs, etc. Shotaro was an artist. He drew SO good. He drew a picture of me hugging Corona. Shotaro handed me that picture. I smiled. “Thanks,”
Saturday, It was raining, but Corona still walked to the grocery store. (That was where she worked.) “Bye Corona! Good luck!” I called after her. “Bye y’all!” She screamed. I turned to my mother, who was counting all the bills. “Hmmm...$587.43...That’s our water bill.” Mom sighed. “Oh...” I said. I started to cry a bit. “Ray, sweetie, what’s wrong?” My mom hugged me. “Nothing...” I went up to my room. I stared at the picture of my father. My mom had given it to me shortly after he died. “Dad...I miss you...can’t you come back?” I started to talk to the picture. I hoped my dad would pop out of the picture and hug me, but I knew that wouldn’t happen. I smiled. “Love ya, Dad.” I went back to the living room. I talked to my mom for the rest of the day. At 7:00, Corona finally got back home. Mom and I had already started eating dinner. “I'm home!” Corona sang as she entered the room. I frowned at her. “What’s wrong....? Is everything okay?” Corona asked. “Wash your hands, then you can eat.” My mom said firmly. She got up and put the dishes in the sink. “Ray, wash the dishes when you're done eating.” Mom went to her room. “I’m sleeping now. Good night.” She shut the door of her room. “Why is everyone so glum today????” Corona was puzzled. “It’s just that...I think you forgot...today’s Dad’s birthday.” I said, washing the dishes. Corona’s mouth hung open. “I TOTALLY FORGOT!” She ran to the calendar. “November 19. Today...was...Daddy’s...birthday...” She ran to her room. I sighed. Now SHE’S gonna cry! I thought. I walked to my room. “Corona,...Get over it...I have.” I said to her. She was on her bunk, wrapped in a blanket, crying. “But...how can you get over something like that?” She sobbed. “WE SHOULD ENJOY OUR LIFE NOW! OKAY?! FORGET ABOUT DAD!!!” I yelled. I was getting mad. Why couldn’t she understand something SOOOO simple?! I jumped on my bunk and went to sleep, having nightmares.
The next morning, at 9:00 AM. “MOOOOOM!” I ran to my mom’s room. “Can I go to Shotaro’s house?! PLEASE!” I hollered in her face. “Yes, yes, YES. Yes you can.” She frowned. “OKAY! BYE MOM!” I ran outside. I stretched. I didn’t feel like talking to Corona. I dashed to Shotaro’s house.