A last hope

Has life ever taken away something so precious to you and you don’t know why? Have
you ever feared of something bad happening but never truly thought it would? Have you ever
loved someone so much and then they become your worst enemy? Well, all these things have
happened to me.
It all started when I was 16 years old I lived in a small town in Mexico called Mendoza.
In this town all the people know every single person and everyone knows everyone’s business. I
worked in my uncle’s small mechanic shop with my two cousins. I loved that mechanic shop
because I could spend time with my uncle and cousins. I would go to school in the mornings and
then go straight to the mechanic shop in the afternoon. Ever since my cousins and I were little,
my uncle would take us to the shop to work. My uncle's family of five were very poor. They
lived on the really poor side of our town. They had 2 bedrooms and a living room combined
with the kitchen, and my cousins had to sleep together in the same room with their sister. They
had two beds and my uncle and aunt slept in the other room.
My uncle was a mechanic and my aunt was a perfume seller and their daughter goes to
medical school and well my cousins and I work at the mechanic shop. The reason I work in the
mechanic shop with my uncle is because he can’t afford to pay other workers and he can only
afford to pay me and his sons. My parents live in the U.S so sometimes they send me things I
need but I don’t like to depend on them too much and that’s why I work.
My uncle works really hard but it never was enough for my aunt and the way of living
she wanted to have. My uncle used to struggle with alcohol abuse, now he doesn’t drink but that
was because he got really sick. My parents came to visit one day and my mom realized how bad
my uncle was. I didn’t realize because my aunt wouldn’t let me see him for the longest time.
My parents forced my aunt to let them see my uncle and that's when we all realized that he was
sick. My mom, him and I started talking.
“Tacho why didn’t you tell us you felt this way?” My mom said
My uncle responded by “ I didn’t want to be a bother to you guys.”
At this point my aunt came in and she gave a serious mad look towards my uncle and she said
very hypocritical,
“ Well we didn’t want to bother you guys but if you guys would like to give some money
for some treatment that would be very kind of you guys.”
I remember that day my mom didn’t even hesitate to answer. She said
 “We will help you guys.”
As soon as my mom said that my aunt had this look on her face. I saw her face and I got
suspicious of her true intentions. She had this look of joy but not in a good way. I also looked at
my uncle's face and his face looked worried but he wouldn’t say anything. My parents left but
they would send money to my aunt monthly. My parents weren’t the only ones helping out but
all my family in the states helped out. My aunt would take care of my uncle but she wouldn’t
really let us see him. My cousins wouldn’t talk to me about anything and I would get really
worried. My uncle is someone so special to me he is like a second a father to me.
After a few years my uncle was getting better. He seemed to walk better and he overall
seemed better. He was struggling with digestive problems and with that his body was suffering.
My uncle’s family out of nowhere started to get better. They got a bigger house, a new car, a new
computer, wifi and they all had new phones. I was happy for them but I didn’t know how they
got all this money all the sudden. After I started suspecting things my uncle started to get sick
again and I wasn’t able to talk to him anymore and when I could the poor man couldn’t talk. His
face was so swollen and his eyes were full of sadness. It seemed like he wanted to say
something but couldn’t. My aunt would act like she cared but in reality I know she didn’t. I was
confident that she didn’t because she had been cheating on my uncle and my family and I just
had found out. Later on my mom got upset and started sending the money to me to send him to
the treatments and my aunt did not like that at all, but I didn’t care. A few weeks later I took him
to his first surgery. I was very nervous but I had hoped everything would be okay. He wanted to
talk to us and
He said, “ I want to tell everyone thank you for everything.”
“I love you guys all and I wish all of you the best.”
Everyone started to cry because he kept going and said such beautiful meaningful words.
His surgery went well and he pulled me to the side and started talking about his memories with
me when I was a little girl and he told me that I would always be his princess. I didn’t
understand why he was telling me this but I let him. He hugged me, and told me he loved me,
we took a picture together… and that was the last picture I ever took with my dear uncle.