Where Were You?

It’s my first day back home and I’m really excited about being with my mom again. Earlier that day my mom told me to go to the library to return some books she took out earlier that week, which is weird because she doesn’t really let me out. Around 4 p.m. I got ready and started heading out the door, just when my mom screamed “Penelope, see if you can find some books that you might be interested in.”
The library is only a few blocks away. When I walked in I felt a cool breeze which felt pretty good because it was so hot outside. I put the books back in the return bin. I started looking through the comic book section, than the horror section until I got to the comedy section where I saw a book that I liked called “The dying fish”. While walking up to the take out section I saw a man who looked so much like me, blond hair, blue eyes, a skinny face even the same birth mark on the side of our face. As I looked at him with a blank stare, I thought that I might know him. I took my book out anxious to run home and find my mom. While running home I could only think who is he? Do I know him? What if he’s my uncle? I need to get home! I was already sweaty of just thinking and running so much. “Mom! Mom! Where are you? Mom!”
“What’s wrong? Are you okay? Did something happen?” my mother said running down the steps.
“No mom! I need to talk to you about something serious!” I said while taking a deep breath.
“What is it honey?”
“Sit down mom, this is something really important,” I said while sitting down.
“Okay.”
“While I was at the library I saw a man who looked just like me! Well, I looked like him! Same thing, my point is that I think I know him, he looks so familiar!”
“I don’t know anyone who works at a library, do you know his name?”
“Yea! Marc. Marc Cruz. It was on his name tag.”
“Hmmm. Did he say anything to you?” while she scratched her head.
“No he looked at me with a blank stare but didn’t say anything to me. Do I know him mom?”
“Well sweetie, there’s something we need to talk about”
“Okay. Talk!”
“Well, when you were younger. Your father wasn’t really around. But …”
“Just make your point mom!”
“Okay. He’s your father!”
“What? Are you crazy? How could you not tell me? What were you thinking? I wondered for 15 years who my father was and you knew all along?!” she said angrily.
“Calm down! Your dad wasn’t around because something happened, not because he didn’t want to!”
“Why didn’t you tell me? You don’t think that I wondered about my father? Why didn’t you tell me that he works at the library?”
“Because I wanted you to find out yourself. It was too hard for me to tell you!”
“I can’t believe you would do this to me!”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“No?”
“We’ll he’s coming over later”
“What?! And you tell me now!”
“I didn’t know how to tell you, that’s why I sent you to the library to see if you would notice him. You needed to know”

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Two hours later, around 6 p.m. I heard a knock on the door. I got so nervous knowing that I will finally meet my father. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. I had butterflies in my stomach and it was turning around I felt like I was going to get sick. While walking down stairs I heard my mom and dad whispering and I could only imagine what they were saying about me.
“Hi dad,” I said while walking down the steps.
“Hi sweetie, we need to talk about a lot of things.”
“I know, we should sit down.”
“Look sweetie, I know you might think badly about me but I didn’t try to do anything to hurt you.”
“Then why weren’t you in my life for fifteen years?”
“You wouldn’t understand, something serious happened. I got deported a couple of months after you were born and I couldn’t come back. I didn’t tell you because I thought you would be ashamed of me.”
“So how are you here now?”
“I finally got my papers, I got here six months ago but I wanted to settle down before I came back into your life.”
“That must have been hard for you.”
“It was. I’m so sorry; I hope you can understand that”
“I understand dad.”
“I hope you do, I love you so much Penelope.”
Penelope went to up to her room, feeling relieved that she knew her dad loved her.