As the evening was approaching, Lyla and I were sitting on the picnic bench talking about our very own personal lives with one another. But what caught my attention was the trauma Lyla has been going through, especially with having to deal with her parents' strict morals and the incident that had happened to her dear friend.
So, there I stood, trying to comfort Lyla as she was suffering from a panic attack.
"Hey, you good?" I asked, trying to comfort Lyla as she managed to control her breathing, "You got me worried there."
"….Yeah, I am alright." She replied as she reached for my hand and gently squeezed it.
Lyla shifted her gaze from feeling all panicky to feeling a bit calm as she proceeded to tell me more about the incident that had occurred in Seattle all those years ago.
"….I wasn't present at that time when the incident took place, but as soon as Sean immediately ended our call, due to an activity that has gotten his attention; I had a bad feeling about all this. As if something bad was about to happen to him, and I was right about it. Almost a couple of minutes later, I heard police sirens as they sped past my neighborhood and onto where Sean lived."
She stopped mid-way and shifted her gaze towards the dirt path, in which she came from, and begin to explain the strange encounters that the Diaz brothers had to face in the long run.
"It happened so fast, after I tried texting and calling Sean. But, sadly he wouldn't answer my calls, and to my horror, their father, Mr. Diaz was shot and killed after a scuffle with the police officer; who as well was found dead."
"Hold on! What did you mean the Police officer who shot Mr. Diaz was also found dead? Please explain because that part is confusing to me." I asked, stopping Lyla mid-sentence.
"….Ok…so what I heard from the news report is that the officer was pronounced dead somehow, due to having his inside chest and torso been compressed; blocking his windpipes and making him suffocate right after he was been tossed mid-air. Even the police cam caught the strange phenomena as it occurred. Even their house was destroyed by some unimaginable force, and it too was captured by another police cam, by a nearby police officer who was called on the scene to assist the other officer who needed backup…" She answered, looking all scared.
"Wow that was intense. Surely, you tried to reach out to him right?" I asked, looking all nervous at her response.
Lyla started to sob, as she spoke…. "I tried calling him ('sniff')…. and no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get a hold of him. He wouldn't pick up, until he finally reached out to me. His response was that he and Daniel where fine, and where somewhere in the state of Oregon…. But, the way he spoke, I could tell that he was indeed scared to talk about it. But, he was willing to give me a clear explanation of what was going on with him and his brother as soon as he was in the clear and away from law enforcements…. And it would eventually take at least a few more days for him to call me back, until then I had to wait patiently for him, since I too was under the police investigation…."
Her story got more drastic than ever, but as the evening summer was coming to a close, nightfall was at its peak. In the middle of it all, I was there comforting Lyla; trying to keep her calm from having another panic attack. During the middle of it all, she continued on explaining how trying to limit her communication with Sean, was the only thing that can help prevent the police from eavesdropping on her communication with him. However, this took a toll on her mental health, and to keep herself from falling into despair, she had to rely fully on medication.
Lyla came through as she was able to regain her composure, and slowly broke away from me and gave me a warm smile; the same one she gave me earlier. She carefully, wiped away her tears with a dried handkerchief that she had tucked away on the upper left side of her shirt pocket, and proceeded to tell me more about the incident….
"….Sean called me three times on separate occasions, which gave me a bit of relief to see him doing ok, and it motivated me to continue on with my life…..and what he said on the phone….had warmed my heart." She blushed as she continued on with her answer, "Sean promised me that when this is all over, he will come and see me again someday, and he told me one last thing before we ended our call…..He said he loved me, and will do whatever he can to make it right to me….always."
Hearing those strong words of someone confessing their feelings to her, it too made me blush. But, Lyla wasn't done yet and explained how Sean and Daniel where at their wits end after going on the run, and away from the authorities. After a few months of running away from the authorities, Sean decided to turn himself in; in order to give Daniel a peaceful life. They didn't go too far, and finally their chase came to an end just as soon as they reached the border in Arizona, where their mom resided. After, Sean was detained and Daniel was sent to live with his grandparents; Sean based on the lack of evidence that happened back in Seattle, and the judge who wasn't lenient to him was sadly given a 15 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
This however, led to Lyla and the community who had foreseen police brutality throughout the years due to discrimination, had rallied against the authorities and the Judge. This sparked a major outcry in society and to avoid a riot, the court appointed a new Judge to reiterate the case….
"Myself and others who knew that Sean was innocent, had started a rally against the authorities who prosecuted him, and the judge to gave him an unfair sentence. We were able to come up with enough funding to hire a strong lawyer, who was able to confirm Sean's innocence, but with so much at stake and some evidence that did place Sean at the scene of other incidents that took place; the judge reduced his sentence to 5 years…."
"Oh, that's great" I said, feeling all relief to hear that Sean was given a light sentence, "So, what happens next after his 5 years sentence was up?"
"Well to put it bluntly, I was excited to be there during his release from prison. However, I wasn't the only one there, so was his Mother, Daniel, and Daniel's friend. We all were there to greet him being released from prison. I couldn't hold back my happiness and rushed towards him with open arms, embracing him with all my heart. I even…..planted a kiss on his left cheek." She said with a strong confidence in her heart. "But, you have no idea how hard it was miss seen his face all these years, but, there he was…. finally free."
She sure was joyful, to tell me her tale of her dear friend Sean, and his little brother Daniel. In fact, her story has indeed some truth to it that I can relate to in some way. Which is that of regret, my selfishness is what led me to abandoned Max, in her time of need as she was trying to settle down somewhere peacefully, while she was taking this new career opportunity as a photography professor at some prestigious school. But, I want to make things right, and I decided to take that leap and find Max, and reconnect with her. Wanting to apologize to her, and tell her how much I miss, her, personally. The question is how to get to her, knowing full well she is on the east coast of the United State; meanwhile I am back in the west coast somewhere in the state of Oregon. I know I got to start from somewhere, but where?