EUPHORIA

Frida", Mamá yell out. "Tu comida se está enfriando." Mama barely speak English.

I quickly run down the stairs and to the dining room. I stare at my plate.

"Spaghetti again?" I look at Mama and she's not impressed.

She drops the rag she's holding on the table. "Your papa can't afford to get a better meal for now."

Papa can't afford any meal. The only reason we can eat spaghetti is because that's what he sells. I don't say anything. I eat.

Dad watches me as I eat. He doesn't say a word. We all eat on silence. Mamá is not a fan of silent dining tables. Not like there's anything to talk about anyway.

Mamá looks at Papa. "How'd the protesta go?"

I look at Papa too. A protest?

Papa coughs before speaking. "It wouldn't make any difference. We need more than just a protest to stop La Sombra."

I stand up. "You protested against la Sombra?" I've always known Papa made stupid decisions like making us move to this part of the state. But a protest against la Sombra has to be the stupidest thing he's ever done.

"We need a...uhmm...pista. A cue."he continues.

"Wtf," I yell.

"Lingua Frida." Mama yell.

Protesting against la Sombra, no one has ever done that. No one has tried fighting back. Well, Papa did once. He lost a finger. I look at him. I know this wouldn't turn out well.

Papa keeps talking about the protest. He looks out the window and freezes. I look too. There's a black Jeep parked outside. I know this is trouble. Men come out of the Jeep holding baseball bats. I freak out.

"Papa why tf would you want to pull a protest against la Sombra. Lemme guess, it was your idea right?"

"Now is not the time." He says and gets up. He looks at Mamá as if saying 'you know what to do ' with his eyes.

The men start yelling Papa's name. Papa kisses my forehead before running down to talk with them. I hear loud angry voices before hearing punches being thrown.

I look over at Mama.

"Pasa pasa." she drags me to my room and hides me in the wardrobe. "I'm going to go help your papa. If anything goes wrong, I need you to uhhh...correr...run...si si." Her hands are shaking. "Run go find your Tíos. Find him." She picks up a piece of paper and a pen and scrambles something on it. She gives me the paper and hugs me before running off to help Papa.

I hear Mama screaming and begging them to stop. I hear a gunshot and a body thud. Mama screams very loudly. I know what has happened. Everything has gone wrong. I hear another gunshot and Mama screams even louder. I hear the third gunshot. Another body thuds. It is Mama. I cover my mouth before screaming so the won't hear me. I hear two more shuts. I know that there's no way any of them could've survived those shut.

The men start leaving. I hear a voice. A familiar voice. It is Alejandro, the leader of this miserable Mafia.

"Where's the girl?" he asks. "The daughter. Find her and bring her to me."

They begin searching. In movies, they'd always check under the bed and then the wardrobe.I slowly open the wardrobe. There's no one here. I get out and run to the window. I look down. Ooohh it's high. Very high.

I run to the other window. There's always a dumpster there. I seize my breath before jumping down. I fall right into the dumpster. I look up at the window and see a man looking at me.

"Ella saltó,"he yell. "She jumped!!"

I quickly take off. I'm not going to die. Not today. I run as fast as I can. But they don't stop. They chase me. I run into the market, it's always very stuffy there, literally the worst place you would try to find someone. They follow me there anyway. I look back at the men. They're all holding guns. If they really wanted me dead, they'd have shot at me. I'm not Superman or Wonder Woman, I don't know how to dodge a bullet. There's only one reason why they don't shoot... they need a sex slave. 'Horny bastards,' I mutter under my breath. I run to a quiet part of the market. No one would take me into their home to protect me, it would only cost their lives. I look down and I have an idea. I never really thought I'd be getting into a sewer before but here I am trying to hide away for my safety. I quickly open it and jump in. "Wow typical Teenage Mutant ninja turtles." I chuckle when I say this. I chuckle--cry...if that's a real word. I look at my hand, the not Mama had given me is still there. It has Tíos address.

Papa and Tío never got along. Bold of Mama to assume he'd risk his life trying to help me. I hear voices above me, of course they're still looking for me. I'd have to walk a little bit inside this sewer then.

I walk for what feels like forever. My stomach grumbles. Now I miss spaghetti.

"Fuckkkkk. It stinks in here,"I scream. I find the next exit and climb out. It's night and I don't think they would still keep searching for me for this long. I've always known la Sombra to be foolish cowardly ignorant men. Rather than find work for themselves, they forcefully take hard earned money from workers around. A member of la Sombra can never be seen walking alone. Why? Cause they're scared. Scared that they'd be beaten up by men whom they gang bullied. No one has ever tried that though. Everybody in Durango is either a coward or a fucking coward, well not everyone. Papa had been the only person in Durango who had returned a punch to a member of la Sombra. The man didn't say anything to Papa, he just took his things and left. At midnight, they came in numbers. They'd beaten Papa up and made everyone watch. Before they left, Alejandro cut off Papa's pinky finger.

"Next time, it won't be just your finger,"Alejandro said. "I'd be going home with three heads."