The Squirrel Under The Tree

"Alright, she can come with us," she had her hands tied and was left with no other option. "But... only until they find her family."

Collin's mother named Bella, had failed her first marriage miserably due to the financial crisis that always surrounded Bob, which had also made him resort to excessive alcohol consumption and despicably swearing before the eyes of the little child. She saw glass shards lying on her path and made a detour to look for a paved flowerbed, and succeeded.

She married a man who provided her with all the riches and comforts of the world, but couldn't make her forget her only son, who was still growing up under his father's negligence and suffering.

Then one day, her wish was answered in the face of Bob's defeat and now she was dreaming to have a perfect life along with her loving and well-off husband, and her beloved son.

Oriel's involvement didn't seem much of a big change for her and she agreed to accept the condition offered by her son.

"Oriel, come with us!" she stretched her hand out to her.

She took a step backward in refusal, "I won't leave dad alone!" said Oriel.

"But you can't stay here," Collin went to her. "You haven't eaten anything... and you are hurt too. I can't leave you alone here. But I promise that they will take care of your father until you come back next time... don't you trust me?"

She raised her head for a moment and nodded strongly. "Trust you." She grabbed the end of Collin's T-shirt with her small fingers, "I'll go with you," she said.

Not even a day had passed since they met and Oriel had developed faith in Collin; he was the only one she felt comfortable around. And Collin too was sticking by her side, leading the way to her.

They came outside the hospital and Collin saw a flashy car around the corner of the street with a personal driver waiting at the steering wheel. "That's our car," Bella mentioned.

Collin opened the door for Oriel to sit in first and then he got in, following them Bella took the front seat. The engine revved when Bella told the driver to head on and Oriel touched the car's window at the hospital's view.

Both of them were left wide-eyed when they witnessed the car passing the entrance of a beautiful villa in the middle of thousands of acres of land. "Mom! is this where you live?" Collin asked.

"Yes, do you like it?" Bella was delighted to know that he was already liking his new home.

Oriel's eyes hardly moved while she was grieving. Her body was present in the car but her consciousness was lurking around the hospital. "Oriel! come out." she retraced herself with Collin's sudden interruption and noticed that they had arrived already as he was standing outside the vehicle, offering his hand to her.

She stepped out of the car and collected a look around, "Do you live here?" she asked, appalled.

"I don't, but we can live here together from now on," he replied. "Do you like it?"

Bella was baffled to see this side of her son. She couldn't even fathom that they had only met a day ago. "Now, come inside, first have something to eat, and then you have to sleep," she ordered.

Collin and Oriel went inside the Villa. At every little thing, astonishment surfaced in their eyes. From the pristine and shiny floor to a ceiling decorated with lights and a chandelier on their heads, from one end with a massive staircase to the other with an embellished fireplace, everything was appealing to them. They were shy to roll their eyes, catching more of it, but what was visible right before their eyes was astonishing itself.

"My husband is asleep right now; he will meet you in the morning," Bella informed them. "Come with me, I will get you something to eat."

She went into the kitchen, authoritatively disturbing the sleep of the household cook and instructing him to prepare something in least time possible.

She seated the kids at an oversized dining table, and soon the surface of the table was hidden behind the plates and dishes that the cook served.

It was their first time witnessing the presence of so much variety on a table. It was for just two little children, facing each other on two opposite ends of the long table.

"See if you can find something to your taste; the cook didn't have enough time to prepare much." Bella was spilling irony from her mouth; there was nothing that could pass as an effortless cooking.

They began to eat, making up for the duration of starvation that day, but even though they were full, they found it hard to leave leftovers of such a delightful feast. They were pushing themselves to eat more in order to leave less but the food was in such an abundant quantity that it felt like dishes were magically appearing on the table.

"Are you done?" Bella pointed toward the clock, reaching four in a few minutes.

Finally, they yielded to the unfinished food and rose from their chairs. Bella led them to the second floor with a room on either side of a hall.

"Oriel, you can take this room and I will be in this one with Collin."

Bella took him inside her room and left Oriel to use the other one on her own. She reluctantly entered inside and found it needlessly spacious and large. She was also scared of being there alone. "Dad!" she called under her breath.

Meanwhile, inside the other room, Bella was putting Collin to sleep by reading him a storybook. But she was unaware that he had grown mature enough to find those fairy tales childish and lame.

"And then that shepherd asked the king..." she was proceeding with the story when Collin suddenly interrupted, "Mom! I can go to sleep just fine."

Dejected Bella closed the book and tossed it on the nightstand. "Why did you have to grow up so fast? I am going to miss those days," she exclaimed and went to bed with Collin beside her.

The dawn broke and Collin was on the edge of his bed, waiting for his mom to fall asleep so he could go and check on Oriel, worrying about whom he was unable to shut his eyes. Then suddenly faint snores of his mother beside him entered his ears and he quietly sneaked outside the room.

He slowly turned the doorknob of Oriel's room and peeked inside before going in. He saw her lying on the bed with a blanket over her head. He was relieved to find her asleep and was going to close the door again.

But then, he heard her weeping inside the cover of the blanket. He approached to the bed and listened to her snorts and sobs getting louder as he went closer. He removed the blanket from her head and saw her eyes swelled up from shedding the tears that were visible on the velvety texture of her blanket.

"You should sleep, Oriel." He said holding on to the blanket.

"I'm scared! don't leave me alone." she reached for the edge of his T-shirt again and tugged on it to stop him.

"Okay, I am here with you... I will protect you until you fall asleep."

Oriel became calm and she scooched inside the blanket again while keeping her grasp on Collin' shirt.

"Let me read you a story!" Collin began telling her the same story that his mother was reading to him. "Once upon a time, there was a shepherd..."

She listened to him attentively until they fell weak to the exhaustion together and snoozed beside each other.