In The Dark of Night

"El Russo is so hot, I mean imagine if one of the Merchant brothers finally get to bed me this weekend, I will slump and die." Cathy chimed on.

"You can't slump and die from something you do every other weekend." Irina pushed up her glasses.

"Come on, don't be a jealous skank. I know you hate him. But you know me, no bad blood." Cathy retorted with a smile.

Irina rolled her eyes at her best friend. Ever since her sister was killed, Irina had felt nothing but pure hatred for the El Puertos.

"Come on, Cathy, hasten your steps, we have to hurry up now. Papa will kill me if he finds out I got home this late."

"Your father does not come home until midnight, chill amigo." Cathy pulled out a pack of gum and popped it into her mouth. Blowing a bubble out of it and letting it pop loudly.

The sound of the gum popping echoed through the quiet, dark neighborhood they walked in.

Cathy was Irina's best friend and soul sister. They were childhood friends and had done everything together right from childhood.

In El Salvador, only two families ruled the Corrina and they were the two ruthless families in El Salvador; Irina's family, The Madrigals and their rival El Puerto, otherwise known by their gang name, the Merchants.

Irina was the perfect daughter in front of her father; modest, shy, glasses, braces and all. But under the influence of Cathy, she had got the chance to live a life outside the bubble her Father had planned for her.

Ever since her older sister's death, her father hid Irina from the world in order to protect her. He rarely let her out of his sight.

She was beautiful, intelligent, feisty, with a moderate hour glass figure, green eyes, round face, cleft chin, and rose lips.

Nonetheless all of that beauty was hidden behind her thick glasses and formal dresses. The very things she had been made to wear to please her father.

On this day, she and Cathy had successfully skipped college to attend their high school reunion function. It was a get together which had been thrown by an ex school mates of theirs Cathy was dating.

So, they were both dressed in skimpy skirts and tank tops. Cathy was a black haired beauty. With cat brown eyes, straight nose, red lips and a lusciously good figure.

"Shut up Cathy, you could draw the attention of neighborhood hoodlums to us." Irina scolded her. She was shaking to her bones at this point.

"You fear too much, Irina." Cathy chimed.

"As if! There is war going on in El Salvador, and what a pleasure it would be having Mr. Madrigal's most prized possession just walking the streets in an unknown area, in the middle of the night."

"I should have just taken the car." Irina crossed her arms as they walked.

Her father had warned her severally of the dangers that lurked outside the Madrigal house, and outside the safety of her bodyguards.

From the way it looked, they were no longer within the Madrigal turf, they were on another turf, she could only hope it was not El Puerto.

"Hey, shh, listen to this." Cathy said. She had been on her phone all through their walk. She played a voice note her boyfriend had sent to her on a chat.

"Baby, I miss you already. Come back! I want to bang you so hard, and make you scream my name until the walls can't bear it anymore."

"Gross! Why would you play that out loud??" Irina squirmed. Cathy bursted out laughing.

"It is hilarious seeing you play all innocent and sweet. Here, I'll give you a quick sneak."

The voice note had been followed by a dirty picture of her boyfriend's private part, and she showed it to Irina.

"Virgin girl, dig that. I'm going!"

"What? You're not serious, are you??" Irina said, alarmed by her friend's decision to suddenly abandon her in the middle of the night, at the center of nowhere.

"Hey, come on, you are an adult, Irina. You're an adult! All you have to do, is walk really fast."

"Follow the straight road, don't make any turns and don't leave the straight path no matter what. You should be on the Madrigal turf saying hi to all your neighborhood freebies in a second."

"How easy for you to say, you are abandoning me, Cathy. I can't believe you right now, and that too for a man???" Irina pointed at her phone.

"It is a full dicked man, Irina. Full dick. I can't skip that. See you tomorrow bestie." She kissed Irina on the cheek and turned back.

"Don't forget to follow the straight road!!" Cathy screamed out and ran back into the darkness.

"Oh boy. You can do this, Irina. You are fearless! You are strong!" she murmurred as she walked.

Suddenly, Irina gasped at thee sound of crickets which had become a lot louder than they had been when she was with Cathy.

Now, she could hear the most odd sounds, like water hitting wood.

Even the sound of a stray dog barking about three blocks from where she was, sounded so near.

"Oh Santo Dios, please protect me." She shook as she walked.

She had barely gone half of one block, when suddenly, she heard a gun shot.

Just like that, Irina's feet scampered. She ran with all her strength, not caring where she went, as long as she was safe.

She did not know when she had wandered into a different street.