Chapter 18
Mateo shut his bedroom door slowly before hurrying over to his desk. Opening one of the drawers, he pulled out a box with a picture frame and a few other items in. He smiled at the photo; it was one of him laughing in his grandfather’s arms from when he was around seven or eight.
It was taken only a month before his grandfather died.
Mateo had loved his grandfather so much, the man had meant an incredible amount to him. Placing the frame down on his desk carefully, Mateo pulled out a small wooden box with butterflies carved on top.
Something else his grandfather had made him.
Mateo loved butterflies; he always had as a child, and he still did. They were beautiful and so colourful, and although he didn’t like pink anymore, he still adored the little set of pink butterfly clips his grandfather had carved him.
Only, he’d lost one of the matching pair.
And then he saw it again, in Jedidiah Hargrave’s hand.
Plus, he knew how Jedidiah said he’d come across the hair clip - the little girl who saved him from being kidnapped.
But Mateo didn’t remember anything like that happening. However, he was also aware of the fact that he’d suppressed a lot of memories from when he was young, so instead, he went to his parents.
If something like that had happened, Mateo was sure he would’ve told his mum or dad, and they would most likely remember.
That evening, once everyone had gone to bed except for Paula, because she liked to stay up late reading, Mateo crept out of his room and sat down on the sofa next to her. Paula smiled, patting Mateo’s leg and resting her head on his shoulder.
[Is something the matter, Matelito?] she asked gently, always able to tell when something was going on with her children. Mateo smiled slightly sadly, taking one of her hands in his. [Mama, do you remember when I was a child, and we came to England for a holiday?]
Paula nodded, sitting up straighter and glancing in to Mateo’s eyes. [Of course I do, it was a rather…memorable trip.]
Mateo was silent for a moment, before squeezing Paula’s hand. [Mama, you know that I don’t remember much from then. But did I- when we were on holiday, did I help a boy? Did I stop a boy from being kidnapped?]
Paula’s eyes widened with surprise and she grabbed his arm. [How did you know that? Are parts of your memory starting to come back?]
Mateo shook his head sadly, glancing down at the floor for a moment. [No, not at all. But does that mean- did that really happen?]
[Yes, it did,] Paula said with a sigh, squeezing his hand before getting up from the sofa. [Wait here for a moment, alright?]
Mateo nodded, trying not to think too much just in case he ended up overwhelming himself with this whole revelation. When Paula came back, she had a photo frame in her hand. [We took this picture together that day; you and me. This was the last time you ever saw that second clip your grandfather made you - you must have dropped it at some point, and after you’d been screaming and crying over the boy, you kept crying over your lost hair clip.]
Mateo gently took the frame from her hand, smiling sadly. It was supposed to be a fun ‘girls’ day out’ whilst Emiliano did some boring shopping or something, and Carla hadn’t been born yet. It was supposed to be a nice day out for Paula and her child, but then Paula had sat down for a moment, needing a rest after a decent amount of walking.
She was pregnant at the time, and Emiliano hadn’t been overly keen on the idea of letting his pregnant wife and five year old child walk around a foreign country on their own, but Paula had reassured him that it would be alright.
And then Paula had stopped to rest on a bench whilst Mateo played, running around the park on his own. As soon as she heard her child’s screams and cries, she dashed to find Mateo. And she saw her five year old child sprinting towards a scene which was obvious to Paula instantly - it only took her a moment to take in the scene; a crying little boy being manhandled into a van by two men.
Her motherly instincts kicked in and Paula snatched Mateo up off the ground before screaming as loudly as she could, pulling out her phone to call the police. Only, she encountered a problem instantly: she didn’t speak English.
Luckily, her scream had been effective in calling other civilians to the scene, and the kidnappers hadn’t realised that she didn’t speak English, so had instantly assumed that the police were already on their way.
Shortly after, the kidnappers abandoned the boy, speeding off as a woman ran down the street, shouting for her son. Paula grabbed Mateo and took him away from the park, calling her husband in tears as shock and adrenaline ran through her body whilst Paula clutched her child to her chest, sobbing.
Mateo gently pushed the photo frame back into Paula’s hands after she’d finished recounting the experience to him, and he sighed. [I know where my missing hair clip is; my boss has it. As it turns out, he was the boy from that time, and he’s been searching for the girl who dropped the clip.]
Paula was stunned into silence for a moment before squeezing Mateo’s hand. [Do you want to tell him that it was you?]
Her son was silent for a moment before sighing. [I don’t know. I don’t even remember it happening, so it doesn’t really matter to me all that much, but…he really wants to be able to thank the person. Shouldn’t I tell him it was us?]
Paula placed the photo frame on the coffee table, hugging her son to her chest, much like she had when Mateo was only five years old.
[You don’t owe him that, if you don’t want to tell him. Would you feel comfortable telling him that you once presented as a girl? That the child he met back then was actually a boy, and you just hadn’t realised it yet?]
Mateo groaned, shaking his head. [I don’t want to tell him. I don’t want to tell him, just because- I don’t even know why, I’m not worried about him being a transphobe, his best friend is trans. But I just- I don’t want to, does that even make sense?]
Paula smiled softly, pushing some hair from his eyes gently. [That’s alright, my sweet. If you don’t want to tell him, then you don’t have to. But if one day you do want to, then you’re allowed to do so whenever you are ready. Don’t let anyone ever try to convince you otherwise.]
Mateo smiled, hugging his mother again. He was so, so grateful for his family.
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