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...CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE...
"Knock-knock-?"
Silence.
"...Miggy?"
Quieter than the morgue.
"Please speak to me, Miguel."
"I have nothing to say," the hark commences through a brushed mumble of lips. The words compiling upon a faded blur comforter - diction strongly withheld, and nowhere near enough to actual coherency.
"He's only next door, you know."
"Robby doesn't want to talk to me."
"And you know this how?"
"Because I broke my promise," Miguel says, inching ever so slightly to cradle his face aside. The splotches of his cheeks readily given, and marked in the seam lines of his bedding. "I tried knocking yesterday and he wouldn't answer."
"Perhaps he was out with Johnny."
"He left earlier. By himself. Besides," he continues, "Robby would rather die than do that."
"Isn't that a bit extreme?"
"You don't understand," he says, "Johnny hates him, and Robby resents him because of that hatred. He's already told me all about it."
"Everything?" Carmen asks, "because from what I've been told, seems like Robby isn't too keen on giving Johnny a chance."
"A chance to do what?"
"Be a father," she says. "You see, I already knew about Robby. Not by name - Johnny just told me about having a son. He feels tremendous guilt for how he left him. How he chose to drink and forget, rather than face the consequences of his own actions. Doesn't excuse his behavior of course, but - it's never too late to try and make amends for ourselves."
"Sixteen years," Miguel mutters. His feet idly tapping away against his bedpost. "Sounds a bit too late in my book."
"You'd be surprise how fast time changes," she says, "after a certain age, the years just meld together. And before you know it, everything is different."
"He has a lot to atone for," she nods, "and Robby, at the very least, should hear him out. If not to forgive him then to have closure on the matter."
"As for the two of you," she smiles, hand caressing against his face, "I'm sure once school lets in, you'll be back to being the best of friends. So stop fretting so much, mijo."
"...I was supposed to protect him."
"From who?" Carmen asks, "his father? That's a big responsibility to give yourself, Miggy."
"No... there's - its a long story," he says.
"Ay, mijo - what have you gotten yourself into this time?"
...CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE END...