The Half Life Bet

- Are you out of your mind?! What do you mean you’re moving to London?! – That was the exact reaction I was expecting, God why mothers have to worry so much?

- Yes mom they offered me a very important job in London, it’s an amazing opportunity for my career mom, I’m going to Europe! I can’t leave this chance – Okay this wasn’t all true, I was hired by a little photography company and they were not paying much more than here, probably a little less considering how expensive the country is, I was with no definite plan, just one target and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to find him.

- But honey so far away and alone and so young and…

- Marcia please calm down she’s a responsible woman now, she can do whatever she estimates better for her life

- Oh so you are by her side? She’s just 23! No, I can’t handle this I need some air – My mother went out and my grandmother kept looking at me with fun – So that’s what you do for a men you are just attracted to?

- This is not about him granny

- Of course it is! Since when are you so interested in London?

- It’s Europe granny I always wanted to leave in Europe

- You always wanted to live in Italy, which is very different from England. You are doing this for love – I stood quite for a moment and then hugged my granny.

- Oh my God what am I doing?! Do all of these make any sense?

- Ok honey calm down, don’t freak out and just tell me. What do you know about him? – I took me a moment to get all the information about him; the memories in the castle were getting blurry along the months passed.

- His name is Benedict, he’s from London he might be a musician a painter or an actor, he doesn’t like his head, he’s very impatient and hates liars, he loves horse riding, scuba diving and motorcycles, he’s not superstitious at all…

- Okay okay enough, honey, you seem to know a lot about him but you don’t know the essential. Do you know his last name? How old is him? About his work? Family?

- I’m afraid I don’t

- His name is Benedict Timothy Clarton Cumberbatch, Timothy and Wanda are his parents and he has no brother just a step sister called Tracy. Now what I think it will concern you the most is that he is 35 and now he’s becoming a famous actor

After what I heard I felt a little dizzy, he was 12 years older than me and he was a celebrity, my granny showed me some information, he was actually on the internet he was the protagonist of TV serie called Sherlock, which I have no idea why haven’t heard about it since I’m a big fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s books, but it seemed to be a great hit in many countries. I was leaving my entire life in Chile for a celebrity 12 years older than me.

- Ooh what I’ve done

- Sorry honey I didn’t mean to scare you, but you needed to know that

- No don’t you see it? He’s an actor, apparently a good one so he didn’t feel the same way I did, he was just playing, he was just acting – My went wet when I said that, I was realizing all that magic was fake, was a performance.

- Don’t be silly! If he just wanted to play with you he would of brought you to his hotel room

- Grandama!

- I’ve been through a lot I know how men are and he was definitely in love with you, you’re just saying that because you’re scared of his fame and age

- Well there are good reasons to be scared don’t you think? He hid that from me for a reason, I can’t be dealing with a celebrity and crazy fans. And what if he wants a family soon? I’m not ready for marriage or babies. Oh granny I feel I don’t know this men anymore – She cuddled me to calm me down, I was totally regretting my decision, this was not the man I wanted to be with, he was not the prince of the castle, he’s a mature celebrity – Why you didn’t tell me before?

- Well I never thought you were going to do something so… drastic and I thought it was better if he told personally

- He was never going to tell me

- He would tell you sooner or later, you can live with a man without knowing his age or occupation, but at least you can still change plans.

- I’m afraid I can’t, I have all ready, I even sold the house and quit my job – I couldn’t contain my tears anymore, I had no choice that go to London and make my new life, with or without him.

- Honey I’m so sorry I never meant to scare that way; I just wanted you to be aware. If you want my sincere opinion, I think this guy showed to you just the way he is, in his most purely way so give him a chance, I chatted a lot with her mother and she never saw him so in love with a girl and he’s a good boy he’s not a player, don’t be scare honey you always make good decisions.

And that was it, it took me a lot of work to convince my mom, after my dad left her she’s not good with goodbyes, even more if it’s one of her daughters, the older one, the one with she lived all her ups and downs, an entire life together and now we were separating, it was hard for her, for me and of course for my granny, my little sister was just 16, so she saw it as an adventure, she was happy for me is like she knew I was going to be happy there, she was more confident than me about that which was a huge help to see that I didn’t look crazy for everyone. My friends were all shocked, of course I didn’t tell them the real reason I said the same I told my mom otherwise they would of stopped me, I also never told them about the prince in the castle, they would of never understood why I was going after him. As always it was a very fun and emotive week, I went out with my friends for the last time; I danced in my favourite clubs, had last family dinner, took tons of pictures of my city maybe they will be useful in London. The goodbye was hard, I had no return date and I didn’t know if the next time I came would be for just a visit or because I had a big disappointment in that huge country.

- Take care my little girl, please call as much as you want and if you want to return just tell I’ll bought you a ticket right away – said my mom in tears.

- That’s not very encouraging mom

- I’m sorry, it’s just so hard for me, you’ll do great there, you were born for Europe – she gave me a huge hug and kiss, the last in who knows how much time.

- I know you’ll do fine in England, what an amazing country to live

- Ooh sisi I wish I could bring you with me – I hugged little Martina hard.

- Don’t worry, I’ll visit you soon; send me a lot of stuff okey?

- Of course I will, you’ll have the best of London – I hugged my sister for the last time and then my granny – I’m going to miss you a lot granny, I know I’ll need you

- If you really needed me I’ll be going with you, you have to do this alone and you’ll find happiness there, just don’t be afraid, it closes you many doors. I love you honey – One last hug and I entered to international police, the journey had started and there was no return.
It was a long trip, with scale in Madrid, it was an interesting place to stop, it would be the last place where I’ll hear native Spanish people, it was going to be hard to find Latinos in London, it was going to be hard to feel like in home. I arrived exhausted to the Heathrow International airport and it was about lunch time, yes there where 16 long hours traveling, I took a taxi and gave the address, even I was so tired I couldn’t stopped admiring the huge city so different from Santiago, so cultural, so much history and greatness.