FAILED PLANS

Ximena already knew every stain on the walls and every crack in the floor. She felt suffocated within those four walls; the despair threatened to tear her apart. If it were not for her baby, she would not resist that situation. She remembered the Yoga classes for pregnant women; she sat in the lotus position to meditate to try to calm down; she even imagined that she was talking to her baby, who was telling her,

“Mommy, please be strong, the same way you have been all these years.”

“Yes, my baby, we are going to get out of this; Daddy is coming to rescue us.”

She imagined that with her breath, she was absorbing light that purified them. She felt that she was already out walking in Sicily with Angelo and her beautiful baby in a golden stroller. Where they were walking, roses of various colors were growing, and the wind carried their scents. At this moment, she heard some murmurs. She concentrated on them; surely they were coming from a room next door, where a man was talking to another