Sin Fronteras Spring 2017 Sin Fronteras Spring 2017 | Page 72

Wishing for Yesterday
Yizel Aranda

It’s ten in the morning, your eyes are barely open. You notice that your
house is completely silent. Your family is not yelling and laughing, waking
you up as always. Everything seems strange. You think that maybe your
parents and your two little sisters have gone to the store. But why? Your
mom just went to the grocery store yesterday. Nevertheless, you finally
feel at peace. You are home alone! Without your mother’s scolding, your
sister’s distractions, and your father’s complaints about how you should
behave. You decide that you are hungry, so you put on your slippers and
go down to the kitchen for breakfast. You’re thinking maybe you’ll have
pancakes, or on second thought, cereal sounds easier to make. As you
walk down the stairs, you don’t trip on your sister’s dolls, you don’t move
your father’s briefcase out of your way. You realize that nothing seems to
be as it was.

The stairs squeak as though they were old, the wood looks like
something has been eating it, the walls have only one picture of your family,
and it’s a picture of you alone, smiling at the camera. You keep going down
the stairs, thinking that maybe your parents have decided to remodel the
house. Yet everything feels out of place, things are not where they should
be, as if everything you previously knew has disappeared. Your mother
always keeps the house organized and presentable. You wonder if you are
dreaming or if it is simply a confusing problem that you will find a solution
to. You finally reach the bottom of the stairs, but all this uncanniness has
left your once ferocious appetite dry. You decide to lie on the couch and
close your eyes hoping that your parents will soon return. Then an idea
comes to your mind, the idea that what you had always wanted has finally
happened! No more rules nor problems with your parents. A free life in
which you could do whatever you want without the pressure of someone
behind you. You think it’s the best thing that could have ever happened to
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you and you only have a few hours to take advantage of it. But then, you
realize that you have ignored the most important part of this moment.
You do not look as you think you should, your face, your hands, your legs,
they are different.

When you get up from the chair you turn around to see your feet,
they look wrinkled and hairy. Frightened, you turn to the first mirror you
can find. You are taken by surprise, a shriek escapes your throat. Your face
is full of old age. The light illuminates your tired, worn face, wrinkles carved
deep into your skin. Your expression is full of frustration and fatigue. It
looks like a gust of wind could knock you down. Your clear eyes stare into
the mirror. At that moment you collapse onto the floor, devastated by what
you just saw. None of this seems to be real. Where is your entire family?
Why did you grow old overnight? All you want is to get back to yesterday.
Go back to those annoying details that were part of your life. You still think
it’s some kind of dream but every second makes this moment more of a
reality. Your eyes begin to shed warm tears that slide between the wrinkles
of your skin.

The only thing you really want, is to return to yesterday.
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