4

When I was dreaming, I felt so free from the hell I had to go through for years because of my parents. I only wished this escape from the real world would last forever, because I don't want to fall for either of them, I don’t want to go back, ever.

Getting up drowsy,

I could have sworn I was hearing my mother's voice.

*Chika, we need to go.* her high raspy voice would shoult at me when I wasn’t next to her the second she decided to leave without telling me.

It was the same voice, the same one she would usually use use before she blew a whistle to tell me to run away from her and her gunmen. That was my mother's game, her favorite thing to do, and one of my worst memories that hunt me, running from her and remembering how her smile was real as my horror face of her men would shoot at me as I ran.

"CHIKA!" I wake up when I hear Juana scream, now realizing it was her.

"Huh? Huh?" I move to her as I asked I see Juana, she put the two puppies in a different bag and gave it to Jose while I stretched my aching muscles, hearing them crack as I yawn.

"We have to leave because it's not safe here anymore. Mom knows we're going in their rescue truck, so get your things ready. I know you're tired, but if you stay with us, we could all be the next winners to your parents and that nut case "Juana says, and I nod as I yawn again getting up to leave.

When I walked through the door, I could hear screams coming from the house of the old lady who helped me get here.  I had no idea what the lady was screaming about. Did she find a dead animal like the ones hunters usually leave in front of their door or in their driveway, with all its parts broken off? I hope it wasn't a person. Yes, my family has shown that they are strong enough to drop the body of a loved one.

Trying to see what was happening the cops car arrived and the old lady fainted as she tried to talk, I look at the back where the storage that I was in had a head, of one of the new maids my mother had in her mansion, her dead eyes filled with fear was staring directly at me.

I turned away because I didn't want to know more, didn’t want to be haunted more. The puppies were put on another box attached in the truck. If they are twins, which I think they are, they are usually together, but knowing my luck they will be fine as I will be with them. 

We run to get in the truck, as I open my door to one of the box that are used to hold the animals rescued to get in. A man stopped us from leaving before we were even ready to leave. Closing the door I saw him, as I ran to the house, he is with them. Hoping he does not open the door.

As I hear the inside lock start to move to open, I put my hand on it to stop it. I had to hold the door lock with my body and legs so it wouldn't open. I'm sore, and I can feel my already-ruined nails breaking slowly. I had to bite down hard on my lip until it started to bleed, and then the door handle stopped.

I moved it to be strongly locked, but I didn't know what would happen because I can't hear a thing, even with my ears pressed against the metal. All I can hear is mumbling, just like the ones in mom's van, fantastic. Just when I think I hear something, the car starts to move, and I hit the back of my head, rubbing my back head we keep going, I take a breath we made it, hopefully.

When we suddenly stop abruptly and it my head again, my head hurts and I feel dizzy. I had to put my foot in front of me out of habit from all the years I spent in my parents' van. I see the scars from my parents that haven't fully healed. Remembering I've been living with the people who could have killed me in the second but allowed me to live with their own entertainment towards me, I sigh, knowing now is as good a time as any to start a new life.

When I think about the two puppies, I wonder if I'd have found them if I'd been a second later or if it hadn't been raining. Why do I keep thinking about them? I just freed them from a trap, just like my parents have done with me, with every other animal they have hunted. 

As I keep thinking about this, I hear the door being knocked on three times from the top and once from the bottom. Juanita and her husband use these codes to help kids like me get out of abusive homes, they do these small helping hands to many who suffer like me.

When I got out, I saw that Juanita was the one who took me out. When I didn't move, I waited for her to say something, but then I heard a high-pitched sound for a split second and my ear started to sting. I put my hand on my ear, and when I took it away to see what was wrong, I saw that I was bleeding.

My first instinct is to hold on to Juanita, so I pull her down to the floor, but it's too late. She's already groaning in pain, and I hear someone run into the place we're in. Thinking we're at school, I'm surprised when the local police come out of the station. A lot of shooting is going on, but it's getting quieter as people help me move into the station, stomping while holding to Juanita we get inside, holding to her I sit her down on a chair with me next to her and the police members surrounding us.

It's been a few hours. I havent heard a single gun shot for a while, Juanita was moved to the hospital, and I was moved there too after a while from getting shot in the ear. Well, I got scraped, but whatever. Juana came into the room I was staying in without the puppies, which made me a little nervous, are they fine?

"Where are all the puppies?" I ask her, and she raises her hands as if to give up and then sits down next to me.

"They are fine in the truck, they haven't gotten out, and to be honest, I'd rather have them there while we fix everything. How are you? Since the school is right next to the police station, Mom decided to take us there instead, but we will be meeting the social worker soon either way." She says this in a sweet voice that I know hides her fear about what's going on with her mom, so I start to look at my almost-broken nail that's bandaged.

It hurt, but not as much as the other things I had to go through. People from my dad's hunting group used to teach me about the tools they used to catch animals, like a bear trap. They would hide it while they pushed me into it, and when it snapped, the pain would shoot through me so quickly that I would pass out, but when I woke up, it was always the same all over again.

"*ou just love getting into my traps and then passing out on me and my hunting party like the pathetic child you are.*

Those words, I would hear my father say things like this to me all the time, and then he would drop me off early at the border so I could walk to my mother. I've been in these kinds of situations since I was seven years old. At five he would be horrible in not even giving me a hug, it escalated as I grew older. Because I was young, I quickly learned where not to go and who not to talk to.

While I was thinking of these things, the doctor sat down in front of us, making me jump at the stranger. He cleared his throat, but before he could say anything, another professional walked in. He was a man, dressed well and holding a folder. He shook hands with the doctor like they were old friends and sat down next to him.

"Well, Miss Ventura, your ear will be better in a few weeks. I'll check on it every four days, then every other day, until it's completely better. I also need to ask your Social Services case manager, who cares a lot about your well-being, for help. Do you understand Chicka? Can you answer us Chicka?" He answered the first set of questions.

I bite my lip and put my hand on Juana's, which she immediately grabs tightly and nods at. I look down to hide the tears that are about to come out of my eyes. He gets a pen and starts writing, just like the social services.

"So I know for sure that you weigh 54 pounds less than you should. Even though you are 5 feet tall, that is still a very low weight. What did you eat when you lived with your parents?" He asks me, and we start talking about how I escaped my parents life style of being Hunters and made a deal with the Estaban family.

After a couple of hours, someone knocks on the door. The door slides, so no one can see what's going on inside. I see Jeraldo stick his head out. Sometimes he looks just like Juana, and they all look so young that they could almost be siblings. He comes in nervously, greets everyone, hugs us both tight, and then leans against the wall of the room while we finish the interview. I hear someone knocking on the door again.

Only this time, the door opens to let a cop in, and he stays in the door, guarding it as if someone is coming to get us. He does this because he knows that now that either or both of my parents know I'm in here, or worse Esteban could also know, they will try to find me even faster knowing I have surfaced.

"I think it's safe to say you have nothing to worry about, but we will need to tell the police your side of the story while we try everything we can to help and get you to your new orphanage."

His words hit me like a wall. The orphanage where I will be living? What are my parents going to do when they find me there then? Where are my pups going to live? And my bike? All the questions made me even more nervous, but I needed to know something... I had to make sure he would be all right.