Episode 5

People come and go, some carrying bags, others pulling carts with boxes, some children running in school uniforms, now I see everything better.

Women sweep the street and chat among themselves, others water the plants.

Not everything is as bad as I perceived it last night, perhaps the fact that I was scared altered my perception.

As we pass, people greet Loretta with great respect, even bowing to her.

One of them gives her a bun that she shares with me. The woman approaches her, taking her arm and whispering something in her ear, she just nods and gives thanks.

"She asks me to wait."

She comes out with a wheelchair and a worn coat, puts it on me and sits me in the chair, covering my legs with a blanket.

"Is something wrong?"

I ask nervously.

"They're still looking for you, there are more of them now, let's go."

She kneels near the brazier, those that are lit with charcoal, and paints my face, adjusts my hat, making sure that not a single strand of my hair is visible.

"Ready!"

The woman gives me glasses, those with a thick frame, it's broken in one lens and she walks away immediately, as if inspecting me.

If my appearance was already bad.

"That'll do!"

The woman walks away and continues her work sweeping the street.

"Chloe, the best way to hide is in plain sight, don't talk, I'll take care of it."

She pushes me down the street, the chair sways, its wheels are crooked, they squeak as we move forward. Two blocks further and we are face to face with James Rodolf and Frederick organizing a group of two by two to look for me, there are more than 10 apart from the traitors.

We continue on our way, I'm holding on tightly to the armrests, nervous.

Loretta presses my shoulder and I relax.

"Hey old woman! Do you have something to tell me?"

James comes in our direction raising his voice.

"No, I think you fell in love with me, that's why you're looking for me. Good looking." She winks and dances a kiss in the air-. This body not only has wrinkles, it also has experiences and can teach you a thousand things in bed that a young girl I doubt knows.

She smiles nervously.

James grabs her arm forcefully and shakes her, I try to get up, but she pulls him and kisses him, laughing even more.

The boy wipes his mouth with both hands and spits annoyed, tries to hit her.

A group of people has gathered with bottles, rocks, bats. A furious mob has gathered with threatening looks.

"Get out of here or we'll kill you!"

"Don't bother anyone!"

The search party and their 3 suited men have been gathered by the neighbors here in front of us.

"We'll kill you! No one will find your bodies."

James tries to take his gun, with a blow they disarm him, the leader of the area.

They are invading their territory.

The neighbors disarm them and beat them mercilessly, the boys only moan in pain.

"Enough!"

Exclaims Loretta. The beaters stop in their tracks.

"Yesterday after I saw you I found the girl."

"Oh, oh, oh. Will you hand her over to me?"

I apply more force in my grip on the wheelchair, I feel like my heart wants to jump out of my mouth, paralyzed I only manage to look at the floor.

"She was running, when she reached Avenida Tres Poniente, she was run over, I think she died instantly. The car that ran her over fled. The forensic police picked her up around 6, she was lying there for hours, if you want you can go and see, the pool of blood is still there."

Get out of here! or I'm not responsible.

They take them by their arms to their cars and little by little they retreat.

"You can't keep the toys! Children."

She adds more calmly extending her hands.

On Chloe's legs they deposit the weapons that are being handed to her, the woman who provided the chair removes the magazines, they put everything in a bag of dirty cloth.

The crowd finishes dispersing, she has ordered with authority.

She continues pushing the wheelchair, the echo of the squeaking bouncing off the walls.

We arrive at a community dining room set up in a warehouse.

I was really surprised.

There are several long tables with chairs, almost all occupied by the neighbors, some of whom we had recently seen.

They shared food with laughter.

In the back there are tables with various dishes: juice, fruit, hot cakes, sweet bread, milk, coffee, molletes, sincronizadas and sandwiches.

"What do you feel like having for breakfast?"

She asks me with a wide smile.

"Juice, hot cakes with cajeta and a little fruit, please."

She takes what I asked for and one the same for her.

Two boys who were next to us help us taking our plates to the table.

"Don't get up yet, you're carrying a good load."

She smiles at me sideways.

We settle in enjoying, it was really delicious, it had been weeks since I had breakfast so much and so varied.

My captors fed me once, I guess around noon. Soup or chicken and bottled water that I learned to ration. The garbage accumulated because they gave it to me in disposable, with these sometimes I tried to cover myself.

A little boy starts singing taking me out of my thoughts. His voice is like that of angels, I can't describe the sensation that listening to him produced, it was a sung prayer thanking for the food.

When they finished their food they cleaned their place, washed their plates, glasses; what they had occupied.

Loretta washed ours.

We left the place and moved forward without hurry.

The rickety chair kept squeaking and I felt like a warm energy was growing in my heart.

I closed my eyes feeling the movement, I prayed that my little one is well. I thanked for coinciding with Loretta, the neighbors, the food, the life; above all I prayed that he would give me the strength, the intelligence, the means to recover my son.

Punishing Grace and Joseph was already planning it.

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