Chapter 5: Through Her Aunt's Eyes
Eleanor was aware of the burden she carried in her arms. The loss of her sister Maggie had turned her life upside down. Maggie had always wanted something more perfect. In her world, there was always success, perfection, and high expectations. These disappointments in her son showed Maggie's disappointment in her last years. Eleanor remembered her sister's last days; there was a frozen loneliness in her eyes, a lost love in her heart. She had to ask everything before her expectations for her son Sylas were shattered.
But now, Eleanor had a different reality. Sylas had brought new life into her house, into her rooms, just a few weeks ago. The loss of her sister Maggie had left a huge hole in Eleanor's heart, but Sylas' new spirit was giving her another path. Eleanor had to learn to reconnect with this boy.
There was something in Sylas' eyes when he first saw him. That boy seemed to want to grow up and mature as soon as possible. **This behavior was the first thing that caught Eleanor's attention. The boy was very mature and intelligent. At that moment, Eleanor could not figure out what she was feeling; Sylas had taken on the conscious attitudes of an adult in a child's body. This was not the momentary maturity of a child, but a reflection of the pain carried by the traces of a life. But at that moment, Eleanor still accepted it as only early maturity. This boy seemed to have traces of a great soul inside him.
"Should a boy like you think this way?" Eleanor thought. But there was nothing strange in the boy's behavior. He had an intelligent, thoughtful, wounded mind, and these feelings were enough for her to understand him. Sylas seemed to echo the loneliness and struggles that Maggie had felt in her last years. To her, these were the traces of a mother's great expectations for her child and her obligation to be perfect. Maggie's loss had not replaced something missing in Eleanor's heart. But every moment she spent with Sylas offered her a new opportunity.
As Sylas approached her with his body, his attitude, and the multi-layered souls inside him, Eleanor realized that she had to accept not only the body of this child, but also a part of a person who had been lost in the past. Maggie's loss had turned into a love that had blossomed again inside Sylas. He had to shoulder a new life now. It would be Eleanor's duty to give life to Sylas, to offer him love, to embrace him.
While Eleanor was saddened by her sister's absence, she now expected the love she would direct to Sylas to replace something lost. She felt the emptiness inside Sylas. She could see the mature, painful soul inside him, and she wanted to offer him a new path, a new home. But in doing so, Eleanor decided to embrace that soul with love. Instead of his once lost **sister Maggie, she had to guide Sylas with her own heart.
"This child is a new beginning. This child can bring a lost piece, love itself," Eleanor thought. Now, she had made the decision to adopt Sylas. A loss that seemed like the end of everything would be met with a new beginning, with love. She would give Sylas the love that had been lost, and she would accept him. Eleanor decided to trust Sylas, full of love.
She was ready to be a new mother to him, to surround him with love, and to rebuild their own family ties.