"What sound is that? "I asked hoarsely for the excessive use of the voice."There is a gallon of water loose in the trunk," Jonathan replied, increasing the volume again. He looked through the rearview mirror, momentarily fixing his brown eyes on the rear seats. "I need to stop at a station to solve this problem.”We went down the interstate with the voice of an opera singer screaming in our ears. The traffic was a mess, which contributed even more to our delay and the pain in my head. Going through the expressway at a pace similar to that of a slug, when we arrived at the nearest gas station it was already early in the morning. There was no gas station attendant, so Jonathan fueled the car alone and entered the small convenience store.Taking advantage of the minutes of peace, I lowered the volume again, and leaned back, closing my eyes. I didn't have time to reflect on the relief I felt inside me seeing that Jonathan had not prevented me from ending what we had, because the blow was
From the way we were parked, between two fuel pumps, I was not impressed that no one had noticed any strange activity yet. I didn't know if I was dragging the woman or myself, since my legs were trembling and the few meters that separated me from the sidewalk seemed so far away. I was just sure that we both shared the same despair and survival instinct.My bag stayed in the car, and I wouldn't risk coming back in search of my cell phone. It seemed more logical to call help from those who were closer, so I kept pulling the woman, stumbling, and taking away any source of hesitation. I've always been very careful about offering help to someone. My instinct has always been, and will always be, to protect me. But I couldn't help thinking about what Jonathan was capable of when he was nervous, and there was a woman bleeding next to me to prove how far he had already come.The stranger was thin and trembling, but she clung to me so tightly that her nails would leave marks on me if they were
"What the fuck did you do this time, Jonathan?”A long soft and slippery upholstery touched my back when my body "or what was left under the bruises that certainly colored my skin" was rested on what I thought was a sofa. A soft and unknown aroma of incense aroused my sense of smell, and I knew I was not in a safe place. I wasn't at home.I didn't open my eyes to confirm my suspicions. I couldn't. They were sore like never before, and my left eyeball seemed to throb below my heavy eyelids. In addition to the pain and panic, there was my hatred. Hate because if I hadn't been so weak I could have saved someone's life. It could have saved me.I knew the damage before that unknown voice could express surprise. It was the result of the fury that Jonathan had poured on me in what I imagined to have been a few hours before we got there. I should have imagined that he wouldn't take me home that night. That the excuse of a tour would really be my end point. Because if I didn't give in to him,
"At least I'm doing something! “Jonathan got agitated, getting even closer to where I was. With all the effort I could make, I managed to open a small crack in my eyes, seeing nothing but figures and lights. Still, when Jonathan screamed again, it was the silhouette of Jon Maxwell that I saw in front of him. "You waste your time recruiting these filthy people and forget that your daughter is the same age as half of those bastards! Every time you ask me to steal someone's life, I lose my mind. You have no right to blame me for being the monster you created!”Among them, I didn't hear anything else. Although in the background, a few steps far from where I was, a small snap caught my attention. My ears buzzed, my hearing partially blocked by acute pain, but I was able to identify the unmistakable tiir of projectiles being counted. When the snap was repeated, I knew it was a weapon being reloaded."Where did you leave the right girl? "Asked the mocking voice, with a small air of insolence
The boy got up and my head slipped to the side. With my hair covering my face, I could force my eyes to open without fear that they would see. First I noticed the weapon held by someone's hands, then the black robes and the predatory walk of the one who approached. But the boy came back close, blocking my sight."Do you want me to do it now, boss?”"No... this will only delay us even more. She's already dead, anyway.”The fight stopped immediately, and, rushing close again, Jonathan shouted:"She's not dead! Are you playing with my face? She didn't die! It's not even the first time this has happened. She just needs a doctor, for God's sake! I just came for help to have a doctor.”"Are you telling me that you beat a teenager often? A teenager, Jonathan? It is already wrong that you have related! She is too young," said Jon, grabbing her son by the arm. "In what part of your creation did I teach you how to do this?”Jonathan tried to let go, but despite his age, his father still seemed
"Suzy, if you want to take some of these trinkets that every teenager has in the room, you can put them in one of the boxes I brought," said Gabby, opening a travel bag on my bed. “Do you have a lot of clothes? Your father said we should take everything at once. No second trips. Vegas is amazing, but he hates this place with all his strength.”"It must be because of my mother," I said, shaking my hand against my throat. It was the only way to speak without feeling that a knife was cutting my vocal cords. I wasn't fully recovered yet. "I don't need boxes.”"You're the one who knows.”Gabby removed each of the drawers from my dresser and turned all the contents on the bed. She separated clothes and accessories while throwing my belongings inside the bag. When he opened my closet, he made a face, but didn't joke about my terrible taste of fashion and didn't even scold me. My stepmother and newest friend was the one who was most strictly following all the medical recommendation I received
Gabby got up and combed my hair with her fingers. The sound was like sliding your nails against a smooth surface. Uncomfortable, unpleasant and sharp. I held her hand so that she would stop and closed my eyes.Sometimes I didn't necessarily need to be sleeping to have a nightmare. Right there, with the sun entering through the window and crawling on the floor as the world outside turned, and with the hands of someone else within reach of mine, I felt a strong smell of blood and heard a soft whisper that came from inside my mind.They said it was just a defense mechanism of my brain. A way to stifle repressed memories. But that voice has never been like the one we heard when reading a book in silence. It was something real, a request for help, a cry for help... Something real and disturbing."You don't need makeup, Suzy. You’re a survivor "she said, pulling my hand out of yours. He touched my hair again, but decided to make a braid with messy strands. "I know it's not cool that your fa
"Do you promise to visit me? "Asked Mikaela, with sparkling blue eyes and reddish by crying. She was a ten-year-old child with curly hair and a luminous face. I already knew she would be beautiful when she grew up.I used to take her in my lap to talk, but I still couldn't find the right way to bend down with the cervical collar limiting my movements, so I just made a small gesture with my head and smiled."I promise," I said, and she stretched her little finger, attaching it to mine. "Be good to mom.”Mikaela nodded and hugged my belly "it was the tallest she could get. I stroked her hair while Gabby wrapped an arm around my shoulders, sending positive energy so that I could endure the farewell. We were standing at the foot of the stairs, almost facing the entrance of the room, and my father came up with the intention of picking up my suitcase."You don't have to go there," he warned, putting the strap of the backpack on his shoulders. "Your mother brought those alcoholic uncles of y
I listen to her steps before she appears on the door frame, balancing herself in high heels that highlight the entire length of her naked thighs.Leaning with one hand on the wall, she watches me for a long time, from where I am kneeling waiting for her, venerating her.She's in no hurry. You know that I am, more than ever, willing to drown in any delight that your newly discovered sexual hunger is inclined to offer me.Therefore, I take this as an invitation to record every inch of her body in underwear made of leather and latex. She is wearing a black bodice with braided buckles that settles around her breasts as the perfect design of a heart, leaving her lap raised and more inviting than she has ever been. Black hair is hidden for some reason under a blonde wig that barely reaches your jaw, but that matches perfectly with your idea of innovation.I'm pretty sure I have my eyes shining when I notice the garter belt that connects in her tiny panties, considering that she worries about
“Listen, Mika. I want you to calm down. This is nothing but drama and emotional blackmail, it's soon over. And Grandma hit you for believing she's not strong. Have you ever thought how many times she and our mother fought and kept talking?”"This is not about mom," she sighs, calming down. "Our grandmother is dying, Suzy. She doesn't have any more time. She can't worry anymore. You can no longer have to stay away from your grandchildren because they are contrary to what her daughter wanted. She always wanted us to have someone to take care of us, but she also believes that this someone has to be a man, and all I want is to offer her some comfort before it's too late and that this guilt tear me apart inside.”That's what it is.Guilt made me make hasty decisions, but if I had had another choice... If I could have prevented the worst things in my life from happening... I understand what my sister means, but I can't help but shudder.My family is too conservative for a woman who succeeds
TWO MONTHS LATER“Something tells me that there are two very hungry people, Suzy... "sing Gabby when she appears through the door with two dormant packets in her arms.Gabby invades the office of my apartment without worrying about the cardboard boxes that guard my future move, and that lined up in the four corners of the walls, smiling openly even with the uncomfortable crying of two children at the same time. They are wrapped in wraps of the same color, because I didn't want to prematurely define the color my children should use "like blue for Adam and pink for Eylem; both are in red.I ask Gabby about Hunter's whereabouts, in which she gestures with her shoulders, going around the table so I can carry the babies. She says that my husband may be in the bath, or in the room he has been using as a studio for his photos, or simply resting. She cheerfully nods to Colton and Penelope sitting in front of me, both with expressions of pure charm when seeing the babies.Penelope sighs passio
Long before I met Jonathan, I tried to deal with my problems with oblivion, with ignorance. Because I thought that not admitting something could make it less true. So I didn't admit my mistakes, and I didn't see the mistakes in others, because that way it was easier to continue acting naturally even with the chaos in my head.This caused me problems in the future, made me sick and weakened. I filled my head with unnecessary occupations. On the other hand, I learned several languages, traveled the world to graduate as many courses as I could, I got a chance to show everyone who blamed me that I could be better than that. But inside, there has always been the shadow of a child hidden in my tangle of memories. There has always been instability.I open the door that takes me to the leisure area of the roof, where the water in my pool is motionless and apparently very cold. The large window that allows me to see the sky is open, blowing a cold breeze against my loose hair, pushing it to my
No one dares to even give a peep while watching, stunned, the long and intense kiss that Mikaela steals from Penelope.Not even Colton, whose act is limited only to taking a step back, looking away and leaving. He takes the glass of some drink in his hand in a hurry to go out the door, without caring about the looks that move to accompany him. I can't see her face, because he passes through the door with his head down, but the strength with which he hits her says a lot about what Penelope's inertia before the kiss may have meant to him.Penelope, however, is the first to recover from the shock, and what she does next almost allows us all to hear Mikaela's heart breaking.She is reluctant for a second, but ends up pushing Mikaela away, pushing her with a touch of delicacy on her shoulder, just before looking for Colton. When she realizes that he is not, Penelope curses some profanity and passes by Mikaela as if she were just a stone on the way. In a single second of impetus, my friend
"You only live once," rehe rehetes Nicole, another friend of ancient times. "It was always this phrase that Glenda used for us to agree to do something stupid.”“Nothing has changed! "Exclaims Samantha in a muffled scream, putting her shell-shaped hands in her mouth.Only three of my best friends at school could be here right now. I made the invitation to everyone because I remember that they made my wedding one of the best brands of my life. And the best part about this is that they are all already married, or with children, and offered to take care of me in the postpartum period."How are you feeling about waiting for the babies, Hunter? “My father asks.“Nervous”Glenda laughs."If Suzy hadn't been so exaggerated, she would have had one baby at a time," she scolds in a mocking tone."I just need to know the formula to get far away from a twin pregnancy. It's my husband's dream, "laments Samantha."Stay away from the Turks," I warn.Hunter slides an arm around my body, wrapping me e
"It's great to have all of you here tonight," I say when I raise a glass of juice. "It's not a Thanksgiving day, but it's a meeting with the most important people in my life, and the last time I'll see you for a while.”My pregnancy will not reach the thirty-seventh week, like the pregnancy of a single baby, and that is why I had the choice to prepare for hospitalization in the maternity hospital with almost eight months of gestation. Recognizing this left me panicked at first, but I already knew that I could not rule out a cesarean section since my exams became more frequent each new month.The babies are big and heavy, my stress "no matter how small it has been in recent weeks" has increased the chances of a premature birth, and my anxiety has not helped in much to ensure my rest. I'm leaving tonight for the maternity hospital, and I chose to have a dinner with friends and family members "the only family that really matters" so that they can give all the positive vibes I need for th
I observe the funeral silence that seems to observe us as a living form. Nothing but dust and silence, it's all we become after we were dead. How many of these souls will ever find peace?"One day they will cease to exist, dear. They will never be forgotten. We will still be fighting for them. Remember what you told me on our honeymoon?”Hunter gently denies it with his head.“I knew a lot of secrets for you that night.”I give a soothing smile with the memory."And one of them was that if at some point I thought about giving up, I should remember that I still had a world to save. We still have a world to save, Hunt. The world that will be the home of our babies. Don't give it up. Not now.”Hunter retreats slowly, looking at my face as if he were seeing him for the first time. Maybe you are writing down the details and remembering others that may have been forgotten in your period in prison. The anklet deliberately hidden under his jeans shows no sign that he may have problems for bei
We are in front of one of the cemeteries where unidentified people are buried. Hunter's uncle brought us here this morning, with the intention that I thought was a way to get closer to the family ties they lost over thirty years. It is the worst day anyone could have chosen to visit a cemetery without gates or any privacy, in an open field with a lot of dust and dead trees around.Path hand in hand with Hunter, while his uncle makes his way on the ground and talks about having visited each of the nameless tombs over the years so that he could bring peace even to those who have never had a family to cry about in their graves.It's a windy and terribly humid day, like the prelude to a storm.It's autumn, we are about to enter winter, and even the sun is misleading at this time of year. I'm wearing a scarf and above all, my body temperature has dropped faster than usual, and I'm always thinking of a way to protect my babies at all costs; even if the evil to be fought are the strong winds