Happy Friday the 13th! Warning: rape, assault, child in danger

"Muchas gracias, Karla," Diablo murmurs and they exchange a hug after he's finally released. "Seriously."

"Oh, de nada, amigo mío."

Since she'd been through law school, she'd coached him in what to say to the judge and he had gotten an excellent lawyer by the name of Maria Ramos. They leave once he shakes hands with Maria and thanks her profusely.

"Laronne!" she calls out the minute they walk through her front door. "Someone's here to see you!"

"Who is it?" He bounds into the foyer and the gloom on his face is replaced with extreme, undeniable happiness. "Daddy, you're back!"

Diablo squats to the floor and opens his arms so Laronne can jump into them. He squeezes his son tightly and kisses the top of his head a few times. "Sí, mi hombrecito." He stands, spins the boy around, and sets him back down on the floor.

Yes, my little man

In the background, Gloria, Karla, and their boys beam at the reunion between father and son. Ramón isn't back from work yet, and as much as Diablo would love to see his best buddy and surprise him at their construction site, he doesn't want to be away from Laronne for a while. It's been a harrowing couple of days and he just wants to relax.

"¡Estoy tan felíz de que hayas vuelto!" Gloria exclaims and the boys clap and cheer. It makes Diablo smile. "How'd you do it?"

I'm so happy you're back!

Diablo smirks. "Well, first of all, I didn't even need a trial. My lawyer got the complete and honest story from me. She spoke to an understanding officer, who was thankfully willing to listen to it and search my car and my apartment for the gun that Stratman claimed I tried to pull on him. Of course, it was never found and the traffic cams only caught me complying with orders, pulling out my identification when Stratman asked to see it. She admonished Stratman, Linda, and Pearson for being racist and arresting me just because of their stupid revenge scheme. They were fired immediately and I would've only had to pay the ninety-dollar fine, but it was waived to make up for the cops inconveniencing me the way they did! So, all my charges were dropped."

Gloria high-fives him. "Wow, that's amazing, dude, congratulations!"

"Sí, ¡es un milagro!" Karla agrees.

Yes, it's a miracle!

Diablo just smiles at them, relieved that one bump in the road has been smoothed over. All that needs to happen now, is Blanca and her girls coming back and Dean being gone for good.

"Oh, before I forget! ¡Tienes un nuevo correo!" Gloria waves Diablo into the kitchen and sifts through the pile of mail. She hands him an envelope with his name on it and he excitedly opens Blanca's letter.

You've got mail!

Ay mi Diablo,

Lo único realmente bueno de estar afuera casi todas las noches es que puedo mirar las estrellas y pedirles deseos. I wish you were here with me right now and we could stargaze together. Para que eso sucediera, Dean tendría que sufrir una muerte lenta y dolorosa. At least I'm with my girls...they're keeping me strong.

¡Besos y abrazos querido!

Te amo mucho, mi corazón,

Blanca

the only really good thing about being outside almost every night is that I get to watch the stars and make wishes upon them. For that to happen, Dean would need to die a slow and painful death. Xoxo darling!

"Oh, mi amor," he murmurs to himself sadly while tracing her name with his finger. "I miss you and the girls so much…"

"¿Cómo te fué en el trabajo?" Blanca asks as soon as Maritza meets her and Raiza to go to a food bank. "Me alegro de verte ilesa!" She looks over at Vee. "Thanks for bringing her here."

How was work? Glad to see you unscathed!

"You're welcome. See you tomorrow, Maritza."

"Okay! You, too!" They wave at Vee and she returns it. "¡Fue grandioso!" Maritza answers Blanca when Vee makes her departure. "I made a lot of dinero." She just wishes Flaca had seen her at the Indigo Club. She wonders what her best friend and crush was doing there, since Flaca's underage. She'd blown her a kiss to create a calming aura and she hopes Flaca was able to feel it.

It was great!

"Ah, ¡increíble!"

"Yay, Mommy and sissy are both here now!" Raiza pipes up.

"¡Oh, sí, bebé!" Maritza squeezes her baby sister tightly and kisses her cheek.

"Entonces, ¿cómo fue el trabajo para ti, Mami?" Maritza wants to know.

So, how was work for you?

"Todo salió bien."

It went well.

"Do they like Soleia?" Maritza wonders quietly.

Blanca nods with a grin. "Sí..."

Tonight's dinner is macaroni and cheese. It smells heavenly after eating nothing but sandwiches and chips for the past two weeks, but Maritza suspects her mom's cooking is probably a lot better. These people are just doing it for charity to feel good about themselves, she thinks. "Mmm, yummy!" Raiza squeals as one of the servers slop some on hers and Maritza's trays.

"Gracias," Blanca murmurs as she gets hers next. She nudges Maritza. "Es comida gratis."

It's free food.

"Oh...thank you." Maritza grins politely.

"Enjoy, ladies!" the woman behind the counter tells them, and they do.

"¿Qué tal fue tu noche? ¿Fuiste capaz de encontrarlas?" Theresa wants to know as she sits on the edge of Flaca's bed.

How was your night? Were you able to find them?

Flaca shakes her head no. There's not even a story she needs to make up; she just has to omit the fact that she and her friends went to a nightclub with Alex. Luckily, they hadn't been caught by Aleida or Margarita. "Sin embargo, nos divertimos. Fuimos a Angelo's Pizza, vimos la Estatua de la Libertad y ¡tomamos muchas fotos! Mañana volveremos a buscar a las Floreses."

We had fun, though. We went to Angelo's Pizza, saw the Statue of Liberty, and took a lot of photos! We'll search for the Floreses again tomorrow.

Theresa pats her hand with a sympathetic smile. "Oh, eso es bueno, ¡espero que puedas encontrarlas pronto!"

Oh, that's good, I hope you can find them soon!

"Sí, yo también..." Flaca tucks a purple lock of hair behind her ear and stares at her pink lava lamp on her nightstand. "¿Mami?"

Yeah, me too.

Theresa gazes at her, concerned. "¿Sí?"

"Vi a Ian con otra chica. I'm so done with him! Los confronté a ambos. He's just like Kubra!" She's referring to her mother's ex-boyfriend from last year, who turned out to be a scumbag.

I saw Ian with another chick. I confronted both of them.

"Oh, nena, lo siento...you must be devastated!" Theresa gently chucks Flaca's chin. "Sé cuánto lo amabas."

I know how much you loved him.

Flaca scoffs. "Gracias, pero no voy a llorar sobre él. Just the end of that chapter of my life, ¿ya sabes?" She'd used up all her tears in the limo as she laid her head in Cat's lap, stretched her legs over Elena's and Ceci's knees, and sobbed. She wishes Maritza had been there and offered her solace as well, because she would have if she was. Flaca had wiped away her mascara tears before arriving at the Gonzales apartment. Thinking about Maritza brings tears to her eyes and chokes her up; she really needs the other girl, but her mother holding her would bring her an equal amount of comfort. She can't believe she almost encountered Maritza. For some reason, soothing energy filled the air when she had. Flaca lets out a whimper. "Ay dios mío..." she whispers shakily.

Thanks, but I'm not gonna cry over him.

"Marisolita, no necesitas ser fuerte todo el tiempo. Está bien estar triste," Theresa assures her gently. Flaca crawls into her embrace and Theresa threads her fingers through Flaca's hair. "Mi amorcita..."

you don't need to be strong all the time. It's okay to be sad.

Flaca sniffles. "Lo se...pero la extraño mucho..."

I miss her so much...

"¿Quién, Maritza?"

Who, Maritza?

"Sí..."

"Oh..." Theresa starts rocking her. "Mi pobrecita..."

My poor dear...

After a few rounds of crying, Flaca sits up slowly. "Her letters stop me from goin' totally loca."

"Entiendo."

"What happened to your girl you were snorting cocaine with, the one studying veterinary science?"

A sad look crosses Daddy's face. "I had to give Amber to Felipe...she needed the money, and he wanted her so bad."

Maritza wants to lunge at her. Instead, she grits her teeth and shakes her head. "The last girl he fucked ended up dead, and you know it! Did Talia's murder not mean shit to you?"

"There's nothing we can do about it-"

"Now, look," Maritza cuts her off. "I don't condone domestic violence, like...at all!"

"Neither do I!"

"You're an enabler. You should've called the police."

"Oh, and gotten us all arrested?" Another sex worker, Annalisa, folds her arms across her chest. "Don't bark orders at Daddy. You ain't even in charge."

"Yeah, it doesn't work like that, Lolita," Annalisa's short, curly-haired blonde partner in crime Tina chimes in. Amber's closest friend, Vanessa, nods her head yes in agreement.

Vanessa's john Alejandro smirks at Maritza. "One dead whore ain't the end of the world."

"Just be glad Humps didn't give you to Felipe, okay?" Daddy says exasperatedly, rubbing her forehead. "Amber was the love of my life. It hurt when I had to...basically sell her to the devil."

"No. Se la vendiste a Díos, she'll be in heaven by the time he's done with her," Maritza tells her angrily. "My mom was almost killed by her ex millions of times. Don't speak to me again." With that, she flips her hair over her shoulder and stomps off.

You sold her to God.

"Have you seen yourself lately? You way too skinny!" Cindy comments on the way to work. The wind howls around them and they turn for a second at the sound of drunken yelling on the street. Their big black garbage bags are slung over their shoulders. Cindy is carrying a lamp she'd dragged out of a dumpster. They're planning to put their belongings in lockers.

"Asshole motherfuckers." Blanca adjusts her light blue uniform. "Lo sé...no matter how much I eat, I'm always starving. It's like, nothing is very filling. Also...being without my man is hard. I don't have much of an appetite."

"Bitch, you gotta eat! It's part of survival!" Camilla points out.

"I know, I do...I just...sometimes I feel hopeless...forever on the run, putting myself and my niñas through this bullshit. It has to end sometime, don't it? Fucking pendejo coward won't show his feo face so I can kill him! I should've poisoned him or somethin' before escaping...but I was a wimp."

"Well, you was afraid, yeah, but you was maybe worried it wouldn't work?" Cindy asks.

"Mm-hm, that's gotta be it. Hey, can we switch topics to something not so somber?"

"So...who are y'all's fave residents so far?" Camilla wants to know. "Mine is Chester Bell! He tells the best stories about his niece Wanda and her boyfriend Scott O'Neill!"

Cindy grins. "Yo, for me, it's Sid Cohen! Man, he cool."

Blanca thinks for a second. "I'd say Jimmy Cavanaugh. Pobrecita ain't got no family, but she always talks about a Jack. Maybe her husband who died. Her daughter left for Sweden and never returned...I'm assuming her name was Roberta, since she calls the blonde nurses that a lot. She's sixty-five years old with a serious case of dementia. I found her wandering around and just brought her into Levine Home for the Aged. She keeps saying she's twenty-three and broke out of prison."

"I thought you didn't wanna talk about upsetting shit!" Camilla says.

"Well...it's sad, sí, pero I'm just answering your question. She loved swimming when she was young. She jumped off her bed in the middle of the night, thinking the floor was a pool."

"Damn..." Cindy shakes her head. "Hope we never get like dat."

"They do say being homeless makes you develop mental problems, but I'm really working hard to keep myself sane. Dementia, though...it's just one of those things you can't help when you get old. Like, you could be a housie your whole life and surrounded by familia y amigos, but still be unlucky enough to have the disease once you reach a certain age. Too much stress would definitely contribute to it, though. I'm already depressed. I dunno how you two are okay with this horrible situation."

"We're used to it and we've learned to adapt," Camilla informs her. "You ain't been around long. Not even a month yet!"

"I guess I'm still waiting for reality to sink in. Mi novio or mis amigas could still find us someday, but I don't want 'em to see us lookin' like we just stepped out of a garbage dump."

"You don't, y'all just so thin I can see some of y'all's bones, and no offense, but that's some freaky shit," Cindy says. "Seriously, attend way more food banks and stuff yourselves silly!"

"We went to one last night. It was okay, just a bit crowded. It's harder than you think..."

"Yeah, it gets full, but you gotta know what time they open for each meal every day. Even if there's too many people and there's a long line, stay in it until you reach the front or when it closes. Stash some food from dinner and save it for the next morning and afternoon, so you have breakfast and lunch to pack for work. Find half-eaten containers of food in the trash-"

Blanca wrinkles her nose. "Ugh!"

"Yo, I'm for real!" Camilla insists. "People throw large amounts of food away all the time, either by mistake or on purpose! Once, there was an whole piece of pizza someone left at a bus stop. Like, not even touched and inside its cardboard box. It was amazing. Sure, it wasn't piping hot and fresh, not even warm, but it still tasted good and didn't make me sick."

"Yeah, I found a mini chocolate cake that some fool dropped on the subway. I ate that thing in seconds and licked the frosting on the plastic that was covering it! Like, who the fuck cares...we hungry! We're people too, we gotta eat," Cindy mutters.

Blanca enters the building first and lets them in after her. "Yeah, but over Maritza's dead body would I be that disgusting. Plus, imagine all the animals that may have marked la comida as their territory. That's why she or I buy our dinner when we can at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Safeway, Stop and Shop, and the Dollar Tree."

"Do what you want...just tryin' to make this vida easier for you," Camilla murmurs as she and Cindy walk away.

Blanca eyes a nurse wheeling a cart of pudding and Jell-O down the hallway and her belly rumbles. She rubs her stomach and jumps when her fingertips ghost along her protruding ribs. She'd only been able to eat a small yogurt for her first meal of the day, whereas Maritza and Raiza had breakfast burritos. Raiza had dropped hers by accident before Blanca had even started, so she gave the little girl her own breakfast burrito and another banana that she was going to munch upon. She'd given a loaf of bread she'd gotten from Safeway to someone in a much worse state than her and she thought she could make it until the end of the day, but she'd clearly overestimated herself. She closes her eyes and sways a bit, but forces herself to stay upright and not faint. She reopens her eyes as she clutches the desk and then signs in for her shift.

"Soleia, are you okay?" Ms. Wernick asks.

"Mm-hm."

When her lunch break rolls around, she makes sure nobody is looking and takes a few pudding and Jell-O cups from the food storage closet in one of the two kitchens. She plucks a spoon from a drawer. There's such an endless supply of all three items that it isn't noticeable. She sneaks them into the bathroom and eats the snacks there. Afterward, she uses a fountain to refill her plastic water bottle and guzzles it down. Her hunger pains and nausea from dehydration are starting to go away a bit.

"Ruff, ruff!" Pennsatucky holds her hands up like paws while kneeling in front of Coates and panting as if she's a dog. "Rrrrrruff!"

"Good Doggett," he says, patting her head as she licks his face. "Wait 'til you see the costume I got you!"

Maritza turns away from them uncomfortably. "That's gross!" she hisses. "It's like bestiality, only she ain't a real animal."

"Yeah, they're roleplaying, but that is a god-awful kink he's got. It's only 'cause of her real last name," Nicky whispers as she slides her hand into Shani's.

"They let her have it?"

Shani nods. "She's everyone's favorite, especially Coates...but it's probably just because Doggett relates to his creepy fetish. Nichols, Abboud, Spencer, and Soso don't cut it."

"They ask if I'm feeling so-so to get a rise outta me, but it ain't gonna work!" Brook says.

"Hellman flushes every single nickel I've gotten down the toilet and then pretends to kill me so he can say he needs to get rid of all the nickels. These assholes are sick," Nicky chimes in bitterly.

"Ugh...speaking of which, Humps is a cannibal. He started sucking my period blood and said he wanted to eat me alive the next time they had a cookout," Maritza tells them, feeling queasy as she says it. "I informed him that I had people who cared about me and he'd have cops lookin' for him, but he just snickered and said he'd bring parts of my dead body to my mami so she'd know he's not someone to fuck around with."

"Ew..." the older women say in unison.

"This cunt is mine!" Humps announces and Maritza nearly jumps out of her skin as he approaches her while licking his lips. "There's a fine gentleman in the other room who wants to see ya."

Maritza nods solemnly. "Yes, sir..." She stands up, squeezes her friends' hands, and leaves them to follow Humps to her next customer. Dixon joins them and his large shape looms over Maritza. "Oh, hello. Will you be joining...?" She really hopes not; the last time a much bigger guy went into her, it was incredibly painful.

"No, just wanted to see you both fucking. I've got a thing for little colored girls being subservient to their big white masters. This dude's grandfather was a slave owner and taught him all kinds of cool shit about how Caucasians are the most powerful and greatest race in the world."

She gulps. She hates racist assholes and this pig really seems like Dean. Dixon rubs himself and she averts her gaze.

"What are you waiting for? Get in there!" Humps pushes her forward with his baton, but she doesn't even stumble. "Mr. Harding, hey." He waves at a white boy not much older than Maritza, who has a scraggly mustache and beard and a full head of brown hair. He's in a black suit and tie.

"I told you time and time again, call me Anders, man. I ain't old like you yet."

Humps sniggers and they bump fists in greeting. "Here's the spic I told you about."

Anders' beady eyes slither up and down Maritza's body and he smirks. "Damn, she's exotic. Can she obey commands, too?"

"Yes," Maritza answers him, even though he isn't speaking to her directly. She peels off her maid outfit and lingerie seductively.

"Hey, bitch, don't talk unless I ask you a question!" he snarls. She rolls her eyes and puts her hands up in mock surrender. Humps exits and locks both her and Dixon in there with Anders. "You know that you belong to me now, right?" She nods quietly. "Therefore, you will perform a housewife's duties. Clean my house, make my meals, and take care of the son you're gonna give me."

"You wanna live in the early nineteen-hundreds, huh? Why don't you go fight in a war and die?" she shoots back.

He slaps her so hard that she falls to her elbows and knees, quivering and shielding her face from more blows. "You dare to talk back to your master?" He's about to swing his foot into her side, but she quickly grabs his unmoving ankle and makes him lose his balance, giving her a chance to jump up to a standing position as he crumples to the ground, stunned.

"I ain't below you," she insists firmly.

"You don't get it!" Anders snarls, standing back up. He drags her to the bed by her hair and chains her to the bedposts, face down. She struggles, but it's no use. Her wrists and ankles hurt from the strain she's putting on them. "Stay still! You can cry and scream all you want, it makes me hard, and the more you do it, you'll earn so much cash!" Out of the corner of her eye, she can see him inspecting a riding crop and then shaking his head. "This ain't too big for that loose pussy, but I don't wanna get your dirty blood all over my equipment. Hmm..." He pulls a whip out of his bag and she flinches, remembering witnessing Dean using one on Blanca several times. She squeezes her eyes shut as he raises it in the air. "Aww, what are you scared of? Each one gets you a hundred dollars." She gasps sharply as he delivers the first stinging strike against her back. Tears well up and she cries silently as she pictures the various welts that he's creating on her already fragile skin.

"Look at this occult shit!" Dean kicks a few candles over and stomps on an Ouija board.

"Dad, stop it! Don't break it..."

"Get this out of your room and head immediately!" he scolds her.

She shrinks back from him as he storms closer. "Mom doesn't mind..."

Dean scoffs. "Of course not. She's a sinning Atheist!"

"Um…why do we go to church if you start being mean to Mama the second we get home…scarin' her and shit? It's the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches us."

"She pissed me off! She's always doing something to hurt me…I'm a good Christian man, but I'm allowed to be upset, right?"

Maritza nods. "Yeah, but what happened?"

"She yelled at a good friend of mine and embarrassed me. She woke you girls up, and I'm very sorry about that. Has she apologized yet?"

"Like a million times…but I don't think her intention was to humiliate you, she was trying to defend herself against that skeevy buddy of yours. That's what she told me…"

"It's not true." Dean guffaws. "You believed her?! Naive little girl, huh? Listen to me, you're thirteen years old and it's high time I give you this small piece of advice. When you get married, you make sure you respect and obey your husband and be a much better wife to him than your mother is to me. Alright? Don't cause him to strike you as a punishment, that's not what makes a healthy relationship. If you follow his orders and you're quiet and let him talk most of the time, he'll be in a great mood and not want to hurt you."

Maritza rubs her forehead in confusion. "What if I want to say something, though? Like it's an emergency and I gotta speak first…"

"Let him be in charge of whether or not you both need immediate help. As a woman, you are inferior to every man you come across. Especially since you're not purely white…Mexicans are maids, anyway. Know your place and stay in it, young lady." He points at her. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," she mumbles.

She lets out a loud shriek of agony and points her toes, trying to get them free from the cuffs, but it's no use. "Dixon, I beg you, don't let him kill me..." she wails. "Por favor, nooooo..." Her sobs and pleas are muffled in the pillow and she tries to raise her head, but Anders pushes it back down. "Ow!" she squeaks every time she's slashed. She's sweating and shivering at the same time.

"Hey, Anders! Ain't you just supposed to screw her and be done with it? I know she was disrespectful, but we can't have any casualties here, we'd be sued!"

Maritza's breathing is shaky when Anders finally pauses. She jolts when he reaches his hands under her to grab her breasts and jiggle them. "Relax, big man! I'm about to sodomize her. I was just getting my anger out first. Now she knows what to do next time!" Through her blurred vision, Maritza can see Anders tearing off his clothes. He has a giant tattoo of the confederate flag on his chest. She squirms when he gets on top of her and anally rapes her.

After this, she's so sore that she can't get up for a while. Even though she's now unchained, she doesn't move a muscle. She just clutches the wad of money in her hand, curls up, and drifts off, despite fighting sleep. Someone will wake her eventually, anyway. They know she has a mom and sister who believe she's only working as a maid until eight or nine at night.

"Look, Mama, a pretty rainbow butterfly!"

"¿Dónde? No hay mariposas en invierno..."

Where? There are no butterflies in winter...

"¡No, mira!" Raiza points upwards. A neon sign is flashing above them and sure enough, there's a butterfly beside it. They're both bundled up. Raiza is wearing a pink, puffy, hooded jacket over a few thermal tops, a fuchsia beanie, purple pants, messy gray sneakers, and orange gloves while Blanca has on a black peacoat, two long-sleeved blue shirts, loose-fitting jeans, and her UGG boots. They're walking to the local laundromat since Raiza has stained her favorite yellow dress and matching tights with ketchup from their late lunch at some diner. Blanca had finally scrounged up enough money for warm jeans instead of the raggedy skirt she'd been wearing outside of work. Unfortunately, someone had stolen her cart while she was at work, so she has to hunt around for a new one. All of their belongings are getting heavy in her arms.

Blanca leads Raiza along since the small child seems to be stopped in her tracks. "Oh, sí, that's an advertisement for the Butterfly Studio Salon. Since the sun is going nighty-night, they need to have it lit up to attract customers!"

"Okay! I wanna get ice cream! It's over there!" Raiza gestures at Baskin Robbins across the street. "Quiero masa de galleta y helado de menta oreo."

I want cookie dough and mint oreo ice cream

"Ahora no, nena, we gotta wait for Maritza to bring home dinner! You don't want to spoil your appetite...besides, we just ate!"

Not now, baby

Raiza whines a bit and tugs on Blanca's hand, but she doesn't budge. "Pero, Mami...lo quiero..."

But mommy, I want it...

"No, I can't afford it!" Blanca insists. "Lo siento...mira, amorcita." She shows Raiza her thin, almost empty wallet. "I only have enough to wash your vestido y medias."

dress and tights

She pouts as they go into the laundromat. "Okay..."

As Maritza stirs from her nap, Hellman whistles and licks his upper lip. "Damn, looks like Anders did a number on you! How do you manage to piss somebody off that badly?"

"Uh..." Maritza groans in pain when he hits her bottom harshly. "Ouch!" She shudders uncomfortably at his boner and cringes when he whips out his baton.

"I've always wanted to smack that ass! Put your finger in your mouth and get in a seductive pose, that'll really turn me on!" She does as he demands, afraid he could beat her with his nightstick. "Ohhh, yeah!" After taking pictures of her, Hellman holds her wrists together tightly above her head and sexually assaults her as she stares up at the ceiling, her eyes blank. She bursts into helpless cries of anguish again. She can't even kick him off of her since he's sitting on her legs. Whatever powers she has inside of her, they're not working today.

"It'll be about forty minutes," Blanca informs her daughter after putting the laundry in the washer. "Raiza, ¿dónde estás?" She searches for Raiza, thinking maybe the little girl is hiding somewhere. "Raiza?" she calls out again, but in a louder voice. There's still no answer and she's seriously getting worried. She goes up to the attendant, who's engrossed in some novel. "Hey!" The guy looks up. "Did you even notice my little one run off?"

"Oh, she did? Sorry, I'm not a babysitter...I just saw you both come in."

"I know, you useless idiot," Blanca mutters.

"There's no need to be rude!"

Panic and dread fill her entire being and her heart nearly stops when she looks outside and sees no sign of her youngest baby. "Ay dios mío, qué mierda...Raaaaaaiiiizaaaaaa!" she screams, wildly looking around for her. She races behind the building, but doesn't spot Raiza. "Oh, shit...I only let go of her hand for a second to put her clothes in..."

She had wanted to get some ice cream...but it's so far away, she couldn't have...someone's probably taken her...

Blanca shrieks out loud and presses her hands to her head as her heart hammers rapidly in her chest. It's getting increasingly dark as the seconds pass her by. Raiza can't possibly find her way anywhere, only shadows and things closest to the streetlights and lit-up signs. She's so tiny and she's gotten lost before. Blanca curses herself for ever taking her eyes off Raiza.

This would never have happened to Diablo, Maritza, or any of their friends. They're all wrong; she's a lousy mother.

Car horns keep honking on the street as Blanca staggers around, terrified to death for what may have happened. There aren't a lot of people out and Raiza went missing not too long ago, but whoever passed her probably didn't even spare her a second glance, otherwise they would've taken her right back to Blanca. If they have her, they're gone now.

"Excuse me! Ma'am, have-have you seen my daughter, she's about this high..." Blanca holds her hand three feet above the ground while sniffling. "She was with me, but she disappeared a second later...she has a pink jacket and purple pants on..."

"I'm so sorry, no...good luck in finding her!" The woman walks away.

"Sir! Excuse me, sir!" He's dressed in a business suit and a briefcase. He turns, looking obviously annoyed. "You...you haven't spotted a shrimp of a girl, right, she's-"

"I heard what you said to that lady, you're as loud as the subway! If you're irresponsible enough to lose your kid, it's no wonder why you're homeless. Taking up room on our sidewalks, letting your brat run amuck, not even being able to hold down a job...Jesus fucking Christ, you're pathetic!" He spits at the ground and storms off.

"Yeah, tell her, Pete!" Blanca thinks that's Bill Chapman.

She swallows hard, wipes away tears from her eyes, and takes a deep, trembling breath. "Fuck you, assholes!"

"Hey, shut up, you're disrupting the peace!" a female voice yells at her from a distance.

Tires screech on the pavement and Blanca looks up suddenly. A car's headlights shine on a tiny figure wearing pink and purple as the person inside jerks to a stop and swerves to miss whoever's in the middle of the road. It almost causes a collision. Blanca jumps, realizing there's a little tyke in serious danger.

Shock and horror fill her veins as she recognizes the mini human being wading through traffic as hers.

Thank you for reading and reviewing, A Star In My Universe and Juliette45!