Chapter Text
New England in the fall was arguably the best time of the year to visit this part of the United States. The leaves were starting to turn golden brown and slowing falling to the ground, settling onto the pavements and grass as the citizens either drove past or sped by on the trains, taking it all in. It wasn’t too cold nor too hot and it made sense why so many people loved this time of year.
Not everyone was used to it though. A young girl roughly into her early twenties was walking the sidewalk just wearing her green light hoodie and red beanie. She had just flown in from Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, a couple of days ago, where even at this time of year it was extremely warm in the Caribbean. She didn’t find it to be a shock a though, because after all she couldn’t afford a coat, and in fact had very little money to get around so she knew what she had on and her spare change of clothes in backpack would have to do.
But it was worth it, she was on a mission to find her mother and her grandfather. She had to flee her home due to the dangerous environment her father had created thanks to him partaking in crime to fund his lifestyle. She just wanted the plane ticket, and didn’t care for anything else. She landed into Boston and planned to make her way down the northeastern states, as that was where a lot of Dominican expats had settled upon arriving into the land of the free. Sadly, she had no luck in Massachusetts or Rhode Island, and her next stop was Connecticut.
The young girl, named Anabel, but went by Ana for short, was truly scraping by with expenses. She ate very little and what she did ate was usually stolen from convivence stores or free samples. Her methods of travel were free riding on trains as she didn’t trust hitch hikers and wouldn’t waste the little money she had on buses or taxis. She had spent the past few nights in hostels for accommodation, sharing with strangers but luckily had packed her baseball bat to protect herself. For tonight, Ana found cheap accommodation in the town of Gravesfield, just north of New Haven. She had walked all the way there and was exhausted, but had her small white pet rat to keep her company for what was a difficult journey for her.
“Not long now little buddy!” she said down to the rodent, who was relaxing in the pocket of her shirt. Ana tried to occupy herself by looking at the trees that surrounded the streets of this seemingly quiet New England town. As she was temporarily lost in her own world, she felt something hit her face...
Water
It was beginning to rain. Ana could not afford to get her clothes wet so she started running for shelter as soon as she could. She was panicking and overthinking to herself what would happen next, but the young girl’s mind was so occupied she was not looking out for the now wet leaves on the floor and when one bad leaf got caught her the wrong way, she slipped tumbling to the ground, fell on her face.
She lifted herself off slowly to find that one of her knees were scraped, and could feel the blood coming from underneath her grey jeans. But that wasn’t the biggest of her worries as she saw something far more concerning
“Oh shit!” she exclaimed in a panic as her little white friend was on the ground and looked to be in visible pain. “It’s okay, Ana will sort it out” she reassured not just her pet, but also herself. Wasting no time, she got her pet’s carry case and safely put her in her travel case.
Now Ana had no choice, she walked as fast as she could in the pouring rain, only getting worse by the minute, trying to find a place to help her little friend. She reached Downtown Gravesfield and the sight for her sore brown eyes gazed upon her
Happy Pets Clinic
Although full of delight, Ana sighed heavily as she knew this would take a huge chunk of what little money she had, but knew it was for the best as she didn’t want her only friend in the world to suffer, she slowly opened the door, and entered the building. At the very least, she was glad to be out of the downpour
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Ana had been waiting inside the clinic for around 20 minutes. She was the only person in the waiting room with the staff down to just two, the receptionist and the lone veterinarian who was currently seeing a client. She looked around the waiting room, seeing pictures of various breeds of dogs and cats, various advice on how to look after animals and even had food and toys. As she had never owned a pet until recently and had never been to a clinic before, it was interesting for her to take into the new environment.
Not long after the veterinarian came out with her client, a tall Caucasian man who had an almost white English Bull Terrier featuring black and brown ears, next to him was the veterinarian herself. She was Hispanic just like Ana, but older and bit bigger in build. She had her brown hair with a grey streak rolled up in a bun and was wearing a blue uniform, glasses and a rainbow heart, to top it off she had a nametag which simply read “Camila”
“Now be sure to give Dipper these pills twice a day for two weeks and he’ll be back to normal in no time” Camila told the man with a smile, before bending down to the bully “I love these dogs so much, they’re like little sharks!” She smiled and stroked the canine as his tail was wagging and panting, then she got back up. The man and his dog walked off, both smiling and Camila waved shouting “bye, have a nice night!” She turned her attention to clipboard to see who was next “Anabel?” she shouted aloud, browsing her eyeballs to spot a lone girl, who was wet and looked cold. Ana got up and approached Camila, who just smiled and said “come in sweetie” letting her in first and followed the older Hispanic women behind her, closing the door lightly
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Ana was a mess. She had been nervous ever since her little friend had gotten injured. Thoughts kept racing through her mind “What if it’s really bad?”, “What if I don’t have enough money?” “What will I do afterwards?” repeatedly, but still tried to keep a brave face on. Thankfully news came out, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as she had anticipated
“Okay so I looked over and she just has a sprained ankle, it should take some time to heal with rest, food and water, and feed her with these antibiotics” Camila informed handing back the rodent to Ana
“Oh, thank you so much!” Ana sighed with relief, then she had to ask a question she didn’t want to “How much do I owe you?”
“It’s about $65, but every penny goes to charity” Camila smiled, although this didn’t make Ana feel any more financially comfortable.
“No problem” she lied, as she was grabbing her money, slowing watching the amount of green crusty bills reduce in her wallet, handing over the amount to Camila. She made it worse for herself, even if it was worth it.
“Thank you, sweetie” Camila took the cash, putting it in a pot, and then she went to go sign the paperwork. As she was writing the details down, a thought popped into her mind “So, are you from around these parts?” She opened the conversation
Ana was surprised, she wasn’t use to this kind of thing “err, no I’m not” she said rather nervously
Camila looked up at her “Oh sorry, I just noticed by your accent. Are you Dominican by any chance?
Ana’s mood changed brightly “I am!” she replied enthusiastically, with her hands in the pockets of her hoodie “I’m from Santo Domingo” She welcomed the temporary distraction from her financial woes
“So was my father!” Camila was excited “He came here in the 60s and lived in New York, Washington Heights to be exact. So, what brings you to Connecticut?”
Ana’s eyes widened a little bit, but she reckoned no harm would be made in telling her plans to a person she would likely never meet again “Well I came here to look for my mom and grandpa, I flew into Boston a couple of days to locate them, but no luck sadly”
Camila empathise with her “Oh I’m so sorry, I hope your journey here wasn’t been a waste”
Ana looked defeated “Thanks. I’ve not seen my mama since I was a baby. I’ve never met my abulieto” She revealed “The only thing my papa ever told me is that he was kicked out of the house by him he also had a younger sister, their own mama walked out on them when they were young as well”
Camila’s eyes widened heavily after hearing that last sentence, it came as a shock. The relations described by Ana were almost identical to her own upbringing. She was raised by her single father and had an elder brother who was kicked out of the house when he was a teenager, because he tormented Camila day in and day out.
But surely this was a coincidence, right?
“I... see” Camila stuttered, turning back to the paper
“Are you okay?” The younger Dominican showed concern
“Oh...yes...I’m fine!” Now it was Camila’s turn to do the lying “I just got caught in this, sorry” She went back to the paper “Okay Ana, what is your last name?” A regular question, but this one potentially had a lot more riding on it was a thought that had snuck into Camila’s brain
Ana paused for a bit, but remembered she was trustworthy with this seemingly nice vet, and it was something she had to do. So, she simply muttered the pharse “Tavarez”
It was at that moment, that one word, where Camila’s eyes widened as large as one of those big intercity highways. The shocked sent through her was strong enough to tighten the grip of the pencil she was using to snap in her hand. She froze, unable to talk or even look at Ana
The younger Dominican looked scared, and her anxiety and increased ten-fold “Hey, Camila are you okay?”
The older Dominican looked up slowly, not maliciously but with a face that looked like it was about to burst into tears “Ana...” She began slowly “What...is your father’s name?”
“It’s...Javier” Ana Stuttered nervously “Why...why do y-you ask?”
Camila could no longer hold back the tears and the water works started to flow, albeit lightly, she got up and approached Ana and said “Sweetie, I know this sounds crazy, but Javier was my brother. And everything else you described. My mother abandoned us, my father raised me and he kicked him out of the house at a young age. It’s all what happened to me”
Ana was stunned, she realised what Camila what was saying “Wait, you’re saying-”
Camila interrupted “Si, Ana. I’m your aunt” the elder woman dropped the bomb.
Ana had no words that could come out of her mouth, she couldn’t believe it. The young Dominican was so overwhelmed that she could collapse. She indeed did, but she did so thumping straight into Camila’s arms. The elder woman held her niece tightly, with tears coming from both of their faces. Tears of sadness, but most importantly, tears of relief, and for two very different reasons.
Ana had found her family, just not the member she was looking for.