“You are going to college! Do you hear me? You’re going to Yale.”
“You don’t understand!” I screamed. “I don’t want to leave Thiago, and I’m not going to.”
“I’m going to talk to Katia, Kamila. If you remain this hardheaded, you’re going to force me to do something I don’t want to do.”
That got my attention, and I looked him in the eye. “Katia wants me there, Dad. She agrees with me. She thinks if we keep spending time with him, visiting him…”
“Enough, Kamila!” my mother shouted. “Get over him and get on with your life! He’s not going to wake up, sweetheart. He’s just not. And someday you’re going to look back and realize you threw your future away for nothing.”
Her tone had softened, and she was trying to soothe me, but it only made me madder. “You don’t know anything!” I yelled back. “Neither of you do!”
Furious, I went to my room, where I cried for hours. And before going to bed, I looked through the window, hoping Thiago would appear, as if by magic. I was waiting for a miracle, for him to open his eyes, ask for me, go home, smile at me from his bedroom window like he’d done so many times before.
But his room was empty.
* * *
The next day, I got up early, even though I’d barely slept, and went to the rehabilitation facility, ready to spend the whole day there. I sat next to Thiago for hours. At some point, his mother appeared in the doorway and asked me to come out and talk with her.
“Your parents called me, Kam…” she said. Hearing her callme that made my heart ache. “They told me you don’t want to go to college.”
“I’ll go when Thiago’s better.”
She smiled and hugged me. “You don’t know how much it means to me that you believe my son will open his eyes again, Kamila. But I can’t let you waste your life.”
“Katia, this is my decision. I want to be here. My parents don’t understand now, but they will.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, dear, but I can’t let you go on like this.”
“But—” I heard the fear in my voice. I felt as if I was drowning.
“Today will be your last visit,” she said through tears, but firmly.
“No…”
“Tomorrow, I’m taking you off the visitors’ list. I’m sorry, Kami. Doing this hurts me more than it does you, believe me, but it’s the right thing to do.”
“No, no! Please, no,” I begged, taking her hands. “Please don’t break us apart. Please. I know I can get him to wake up, I know he will. Don’t push me away…” I cried, and my legs gave out. On my knees before her, I went on pleading, but it was no use.
She cried with me, but she made me understand there was nothing I could do.
They were pulling me away from Thiago. They were coming between us. I wouldn’t be able to see him anymore. It was as if he had died.
* * *
I cried for weeks. I cried, shouted, broke things, locked the door to my room, barely spoke with my parents.
I cried until I had no more tears left, and when they were gone, I tried to think of what I could do to keep from losing contact withThiago. I needed to know how he was progressing, if there were changes or improvements in his condition.
Taylor came to see me, and I cried on his shoulder. He felt my pain, he understood it, and he cried with me. He had gotten into Harvard, and he was leaving, too. We were both leaving Thiago behind. His mother would bear the burden alone, but she knew Taylor had to live on, had to live for his brother, it was what Thiago had wanted when he’d gone back for him. It was what he’d sacrificed his life for, so Taylor could live out his dreams. Taylor had to live for him. That was what he told me.
When he left, I sat at my desk, looked out the window, and sent an email to the university to confirm my attendance.
When I told my parents, they looked at me as if I’d lost my mind.
“Harvard?”
“Harvard?!”
