Note: Use formal vocabulary so that you understand what the children mean, obviously in their conditions they would never speak that way.
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June 7, 2011
"Chamelecon neighborhood, San Pedro Sula, Honduras"
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The sun was high, the wind whistled as it brushed through the trees, and the heat made your skin burn.
On a dirt street with a multitude of stones and potholes in it, a girl was running.
"Stop!"
Behind her was a brown-skinned boy wearing loose clothing, a backwards-facing cap, and sneakers.
Beside him were two other children in similar clothing.
The three of them were running after the girl, although more than running, it seemed that they intentionally kept a small distance from her.
The girl didn't know this, so using all the strength her little legs could give her she pushed herself forward.
For a time the pursuit was stalemate, but suddenly the girl tripped over a stone and fell hard to the ground.
Seeing that the eyebrows of the boy in front of her twitched and a small look of panic flashed in her eyes.
Though when she became aware of it, she immediately hid it.
"Oh..."
The girl turned around and began to caress her right knee, it seems that with her he cushioned the impact.
The children then arrived and surrounded her.
"Ha, useless!"
Said one of them.
"You have nowhere to run!"
Said the other while he picked up a stone.
The girl just patted her knee without looking at the children.
"Unfortunate"
The leading boy approached and with her right hand took the girl's dress and forced her to look at it.
The girl looked into the boy's eyes without fear, just with a hint of mockery.
Noticing that, the boy got angry and roared.
"I just wanted you to be my woman! Can't you do something so simple?"
For such a young boy to talk about having a wife... due to his age it's obvious that he doesn't understand what he says, apparently he heard it from an adult.
The girl turned her eyes to the other side and smiled.
"I don't want to!"
she said cheekily.
"Idiot! You know you can only be with me!"
The boy said insistently as he squeezed the girl's dress.
"I don't care! I'll choose the man I want to be with"
Saying that, the girl forced herself out of the boy's grasp.
"Damned"
The boy who had taken the stone reached back and threw it at the girl.
With a thud, the stone hit the girl's abdomen and she groaned.
The leading boy immediately stepped back and started to walk away, with an order he told the others to follow him.
"Silly!"
"They will kill you"
The children said as they left.
The leading boy turned his head slightly and looked at the girl for the last time.
Beautiful shoulder-length orange hair, a simple faded orange one-piece dress that fell from her shoulders to just below her knees, she wore no shoes, and she had fair skin, which was rare, for in this place the vast majority are brown.
Her body was a little short for her age and she was slim, but that couldn't matter less, as her enormous beauty attracted children and adults alike.
Seeing that the children were leaving, the girl shook her dress a little and, with a wry smile, she began to walk.
She advanced on the dirt road while she looked to the sides.
To the right there was a house made of earth and mud with a tin roof, it was small and had a maximum of 2 rooms.
To the left was a brick house with a tile roof, this one was a little better, as it had a large patio and several rooms.
It was a big difference despite being in the same place.
Despite this, the girl did not care, because she, and all the residents, were used to seeing this disparity in the quality of life.
She walked through the streets while from time to time she met the odd person.
Most people knew her so they weren't so blinded by her beauty.
Still, they looked at her with admiration and envy despite everything.
Some even had the idea of making something of her, but remembering the children who were after her that idea went with the wind.
The girl may or may not know it, but the interest of those children, or more specifically, of that child kept her safe in this dangerous place.
At one point I came to a large puddle of mud that covered the entire street.
Without stopping, the girl went around the puddle and advanced, although being so big she couldn't go around it completely and her feet ended up muddy.
Well, it's nothing out of the ordinary, after all her feet were already dirty to the top, a little more or a little less doesn't matter much.
The girl continued walking until she reached her destination.
A small house made of mud and with a wooden roof, it had at most 2 rooms and no garden.
The girl walked around the house until she got behind it.
Behind her she found what appeared to be a small wood-burning stove, a hammock propped up to the ceiling, a bathroom surrounded by clapboards, and assorted items piled on the wall.
The girl saw that and then walked towards the door, then reached into a small hole on the side and opened the door.
The hot air locked in hit the girl's face, so she squinted at her.
After that, she entered and left the door free, so it closed by gravity.
She went inside, there was almost nothing, just a small metal table, an armchair armed with two boards and two tires, and a small wooden piece of furniture.
The floor was dirt and the walls were worn.
The girl walked towards a curtain on the right side that served as a door and stepped over it.
On the other side was a small mattress on the floor and a metal cabinet to one side.
The girl moved to the closet and took out an old newspaper, a water-soaked notebook, and a small pencil.
With a smile, the girl came out again and threw herself against the hammock.
She enjoyed the feeling of being in the hammock for a moment and then she started her period.
In it they talked about the news from several weeks ago, but that wasn't the important thing, the important thing was...
"J-Young's... Life was... Saved..."
With difficulty the girl began to read little by little until she smiled and said.
"The young man's life was saved!"
With that said she began to write in her notebook her complete sentence.
"Life... I am alive... Young... Someone with little age... Saved... Saved... Agh"
The girl began to think until she remembered.
"What is not going to die anymore!"
With her discovery, he began to write down the meaning of each word with crooked handwriting.
When she finished with that she went to the next sentence.
"Government...Does...What C-Can..."
The girl continued to write the sentences in her notebook, each one more difficult than the last.
In that she found a sentence that caught her attention.
"The... Wedding... Came out..."
After reading the complete sentence she did not understand very well, but seeing the image of a woman in a long, beautiful white dress and with a smile on her face made her dream.
What if she was that woman?
She closed her eyes and thought about how she would look in that dress.
The long orange hair behind her being blown by the wind, her body turning around as she wore her dress, a beautiful smile on her face that expressed the happiness she felt.
Just thinking about it made the girl smile unconsciously.
After a while she came out of her stupor and continued studying.
As she did so images of what she saw in the morning came to her head.
Several children with blue pants or skirts, white shirts and black shoes.
All of them with a backpack with a different design and marching together towards a building called a school.
The girl could only see them from afar, she did not count on the possibility of going there.
Since she first saw them she wanted her to always go there and make friends.
But when she asked her mom it's just under her head and she slowly denied it.
The girl may still be very young, but she understood that her chances and those of other children were different.
Still... She wanted to be like them.
So a few weeks ago, when she saw one of the boys drop a newspaper, she picked it up as he left and brought it home.
When she showed it to her mom and told her that she wanted to learn to read, she taught her the basic letters and some words.
At first the girl understood practically nothing, but as the days went by she began to grasp things at an impressive speed for her age.
It is possible that if she had not been born here...
The girl continued to study until she was able to learn how to spell various new words.
She may not know the meaning of most of it, but with the context given by others she could more or less understand the meaning of it.
But she'll still ask her mother when she's back just to be sure.
Thus the hours passed until the sun began to set.
Knowing that in no time her mother would be back, the girl jumped out of the hammock and headed for the wood stove.
She took a piece of pine wood and with a machete began to cut it.
The piece of wood was small and easy to cut, so with a little effort the girl managed to split the wood into several pieces.
When finished she took the wood and put it inside the stove.
Finished that she took a box of matches that was near her and took one out.
Careful that the wind doesn't blow she pulled her body against hers and struck the match.
Hoping that it won't go out, she approached a small, thin piece of wood and waited for it to light up.
It didn't take long for the piece of wood to catch fire, so she quickly stuffed it into the stove, right under the larger pieces.
Slowly the piece of wood began to set fire to the rest of the wood.
The girl took the notebook that she had left in the hammock and used it as a fan, thus she provided oxygen to the fire so that it burned with intensity.
She continued like this for a while until the wood burned evenly and showed no sign of going out anytime soon.
With everything ready, the girl entered the house and took out an iron frying pan along with a bag of rice.
They did not have a refrigerator so they could not keep things that needed refrigeration to stay fresh.
But thanks to the girl's mother, she could eat onion, avocado, beans and other things once a week, since her mother saved to buy them.
The minutes began to run and the bored girl began to see the fire.
With a random movement that was guided by the wind, the fire undulated periodically.
The beautiful orange color danced joyfully and sporadically
Seeing that made the girl take her hair and compared it to the color of fire.
They were a similar color, but the fire was obviously brighter.
The girl thought that she wanted to be like fire, carefree and bright, both day and night.
As she wandered, footsteps were heard.
"Mother!"
The girl turned around and waited for her mother to arrive.
"Hi Laura, let me introduce you to..."
"Hi little girl"
A tall man with tattoos all over his body greeted Laura with a smile.
Laura noticed that the man had quality clothing, something that she and her mother had never worn.
Knowing that she had to be polite, Laura gave a big, beautiful smile and said.
"Hi sir!"