Falling With Grace

My eyes burned, and my heart stammered a wild rhythm.

I couldn’t give him up…

He’d get me to disclose Andrés’ location, and then I’d end up cut into pieces, floating in the Gulf of Mexico as shark bait.

“I know where he is, and if you let me go, I’ll tell you.”

Javier sighed, and my chest seized, his head turning to the side as he glanced at the man beside him. “Shut her up.”

The man sitting beside me raised his meaty fist.

My arm flew up over my face as I cowered, sinking lower into my seat. “Okay. Okay. I’m sorry.”

Andrés flashes a menacing glare, his teeth bared as he hovers over me.

Wacheesh.

“Ahh.”

Hot, acidic pain lashes across my backside as he raises the whip for a second blow, my tears his trophy worn withpride.

A sob broke free, and a singular tear trailed down my cheek, curling under my chin before it dropped onto my shirt, dampening the bloodied fabric on my chest.

My breaths staggered as I glanced up.

Javier’s studious gaze traveled up and down my body, resting on my face. I jerked my attention to the man beside me, who sat with his fist frozen in the air as if some fantastical force halted his abuse, then looked back at Javier.

“I think you understand. Don’t you?” His lips twitched in a contemptuous smile, then flicked his gaze to the statue beside me and shook his head with a minute side-to-side motion.

I twitched out a nod as I lowered my hand to cover my mouth and stifle my cries.

The man steered the vehicle through the city as I watched out the window, cursing everyone going about their normal lives while mine scraped by in Hell.

A little girl walked beside her mother, her frilly flowered skirt swishing around her ankles, her socks bunched around her white tennis shoes. A man climbed into a car with a broad smile while he spoke to the woman getting in on the passenger side.

What are their lives like?

Do they know what goes on around them in this town?

Are they okay with it?

We drove to the city’s outskirts and took the two-lane Mexican Federal Highway south until the sky darkened again.

I stretched my legs, shifting to a position that wouldn’t put pressure on my filled bladder.

Pursing my lips, I rubbed my tongue along my teeth—a soothing technique Jorge taught me.

“Can you stop moving? You’re vibrating the car more than the holes in the road.”

I whimpered and stuck my thumbnail between my teeth. “I have to pee,” I whispered.

“Qué?” Javier said, “What did she say?”

“No sé,” the man beside me said with a shrug.

“I said, I have to pee.” My voice grew louder and cracked on the last note as though I were giving a speech in front of thousands of people.

“Hold it.”