I consider myself a hard worker.
I help my mom, and I buy things for myself that she can't give me. It's not because she doesn't want to, but simply because her nursing salary is barely enough to pay our rent, utilities, her car, and the necessities. We're a team.
Today, however, I don't want to go to work. I've thought of a hundred excuses, but the truth is that I need the money. Classes start on Monday, so these are my last days to work double shifts. When school starts, I'll only be able to work during the evenings and weekends.
It's been almost a week since I saw Ares. To be honest, I didn't expect to miss him. How could I? We only saw each other a few times. But I think I miss stalking him too. It was a weird hobby that gave me an adrenaline rush and now it's gone. I sigh, gather my things, and stuff them into my backpack. To say I've had a bad day is putting it mildly. I've been distracted and yawning constantly. My boss has already called me out three times, and we had to give a customer free fries because I mixed up his order.
I take off my Dream Burgers cap and put it in my locker. I consider changing my shirt, but I don't even bother. I'm too lazy to walk to the bathroom, so I'll do it when I get home.
"Bad day, huh?" Gabriel's voice makes me jump, and I hit my shoulder with the locker door.
"Jesus! You scared me."
"Sorry." Gabriel takes off his cap, letting his reddish hair escape and allowing me to see his face better. He has that kind of soft face that would make you fall at his feet if he were to make eyes at you. "So, I'm curious. Any reason as to why you gave a milk shake to someone who ordered an ice cream?"
"Oh, you saw that?"
"Everyone saw it. You were like on another planet." He opens his locker and takes out his things.
"It's so embarrassing."
"Relax, it's happened to me too." He gives me a meaningful look.
I look at him sadly. "Dani?"
"Yeah." He stares into his locker, deep in thought. "She and I are from different worlds. I'm just the pretty boy who works at Dream Burgers to her, nothing more."
"I'm sorry."
"Relax. I knew it wouldn't work, but I didn't expect to care about her so quickly."
Oh, believe me, I know about that. "I don't know what to tell you, Gabo."
"Tell me your story."
"My story?"
"Why are you so distracted today?"
I close my locker and put on my backpack. "I-I cut a person out of my life a little while ago, he . . ." I remember Ares's cold words. "He wasn't what I expected."
"Disappointment, huh? That hurts."
"A lot." I sling my backpack over my shoulder. "I have to go. Good night, Gabe."
"Good evening, Raquel Milk shake."
"Really?"
"It will be days before I forget about it."
I gave him the finger, and he acts surprised. "Bye, silly."
Walking home has never been as depressing as it is today. The sound of cars passing on the avenue is like white noise, and the orange glow of the street lamps illuminates the route precariously. It seems as if my surroundings have molded to my mood. It's almost midnight, but I'm not worried because crime is low in this area and my house isn't that far away.
However, due to laziness, I make a very bad decision.
I take a shortcut.
To get to my neighborhood faster, I decide to cross under a bridge to shorten the path. It's dark and lonely under there, and I don't take into account the men who rely on that darkness to get high or sell illegal substances. My feet freeze when I see three men under the bridge. With the darkness serving as camouflage, I don't see them until I'm almost in front of them.
"Do you want something, pretty girl?" one of them asks. His voice is deep, and he coughs a little.
My heart speeds up, and my hands sweat. "No, I don't. . . . No."
"Did you get lost?"
"I … I took the w-wrong way," I stutter, and one of them laughs.
"If you want to come through here, you have to give us something."
I shake my head. "No, I'm going the other way."
I'm about to turn and leave when my phone rings, breaking the silence. Frantically, I take it out of my pocket, silence the call, and put it away again, but it's too late.
"Oh, that phone looks nice, don't you think, John?"
"Yeah, that would be a good birthday present for my daughter."
I try to run, but one of them grabs my arm, dragging me into the darkness under the bridge. I scream as loud as I can, but he covers my mouth and holds me by the hair, keeping me still.
"Shh! Easy, pretty girl. We're not going to do anything to you, just give us the phone."
Tears fill my eyes. The man smells of alcohol and other chemicals I don't recognize.
"The phone. Now," demands another one of them, but I can't move. Fear has me paralyzed. I want to move my hand and take out my phone, but I can't.
The third man emerges from the shadows. He has a cigarette clamped between his teeth and a scar on his face. "It's in her pocket, hold her."
No, don't touch me!
I scream, but the sound is muted by the hands of the man holding me. The one with the scar approaches me and puts his hand in the pocket of my pants, licking his lips. I want to vomit.
Please help me.
He pulls out my phone and examines it. "Nice, and it looks as good as new, it'll be a good gift for your daughter." He passes it to the other man, but his disturbing eyes never leave my face. "You're very pretty."
"Shall we let her go? We already have the phone," asks the one holding me.
"Yeah, John, that's enough."
John looks at me and his eyes lower to my body.
No, please don't.
The one holding me lets me go, but John grabs me and pulls me backward toward him, covering my mouth again. I can't breathe properly, and I can't move.
Help!
"John, she's probably my daughter's age."
"Shut up, assholes!" His shout echoes in my ear. "Get out of here."
"But . . ."
"Get out of here!"
The two men exchange glances, and I plead with them with my eyes, but they leave.
No. God, please don't.
John drags me under the bridge, and I start kicking and fighting desperately. He grabs me by the hair and turns me toward him. "Cooperate, I don't want to hurt you more than necessary. But if you scream, it's going to go real bad for you, pretty girl."
As soon as he releases my mouth, I scream. "Help me! Please—"
He hits me. I didn't even see him raise his hand. I only feel the strong impact on my right cheek. I've never been hit before; I've never felt such strong, sudden pain. It throws me off balance and sends me to the ground. Everything spins, and my right ear throbs. I can taste blood in my mouth.
"Is anyone there?" I hear a voice from the bridge above, and it sounds like God. "What's going on?"
John panics and runs away, and I crawl to sit up. "Help! Down here!" My voice sounds weak. The whole right side of my face throbs.
"Oh God!" It's a man's voice. In a few seconds that feel like an eternity, he appears in front of me. "Oh my God, are you okay?"
I can't talk, I have a lump in my throat. I just want to go home. I just want to be safe. He kneels in front of me.
"God, are you all right?"
I manage to nod my head.
"Should I call the police? Can you walk?"
With his help, I get up, and we move away from that hellish darkness.
Mom . . .
House.
Safe.
That's all my brain can think of when the man lends me his phone. With trembling fingers, I dial the only number I know: my mother's. But she doesn't answer, and my heart sinks in my chest. Tears blur my vision.
"Do you want me to call the police?
No, I don't want cops, I don't want questions. I just want to go home where I'm safe and where no one can hurt me. But I don't have the courage to walk alone, not again, and I don't want to ask this stranger to walk with me. And then I remember that my mother's phone number was the only one I knew until recently. Until Ares started texting me.
At this point I don't care what he and I have agreed, I just need someone to take me home. This call is my only salvation, and if Ares doesn't answer, I don't know what I'll do.
On the third ring, I hear his voice.
"Hello?"
The lump in my throat makes it almost impossible for me to say anything. "Hello, Ares."
"Who is it?"
"It's . . . Raquel." My voice breaks. I have tears falling from my eyes. "I . . ."
"Raquel? Are you okay? Are you crying?"
"No, well, yes . . . I . . ."
"For God's sake, Raquel, tell me what's wrong."
I can't talk, I can only cry. For some strange reason hearing his voice has made me burst into tears. The guy takes the phone from me.
"Hi, I'm the phone's owner. The girl was attacked under a bridge." There's a pause. "We're at the park on Fourth Avenue, in front of the construction building. Okay, all right." He hangs up.
I'm just a sea of tears. The man touches my shoulder.
"He'll be here in a few minutes. Calm down, breathe."
The minutes fly by. Like I said, my neighborhood isn't far, but I didn't expect to see Ares running toward us. He's wearing gray pajama pants and a T-shirt of the same color, and his hair is a mess. His beautiful eyes meet mine, and the concern on his face disarms me. I stand up to walk toward him. Ares doesn't say anything but quickly embraces me, smelling of soap, and in this moment of safety, of reassurance, I am safe. He leans back and holds my face.
"Are you okay?" I nod faintly and his finger brushes against my busted lip. "What the hell happened?"
"I don't want to talk. I just want to go home."
Ares doesn't push me to say more. He looks at the man to one side of us. "I'll take care of it; you can go. Thank you very much."
"You're welcome. Take care of yourselves."
We're left alone, and Ares lets go of me, turns around, and leans forward to offer me his back.
I look at him strangely. "What are you doing?"
He gives me a smile over his shoulder. "Taking you home."
Carefully, I climb onto his back and he carries me easily, as if I weighed nothing. I rest my head on one of his shoulders. My face is still throbbing with pain, and tears flood my eyes as I think about what just happened, but I feel safe.
In the arms of the idiot who broke my heart, I feel safe.
The silence between us isn't uncomfortable, it's just silence. The sky is clear, the streets are quieter now, and the orange streetlights are still there as if nothing has happened.
We arrive at my house, and Ares puts me down. My mom is at work, so he comes in with me. I go up to my room while he looks for ice in the kitchen. Rocky greets me enthusiastically, and I manage to rub his head a little before sending him to sit in the corner of the room. I take off my backpack and sit on my bed.
Ares appears with a plastic bag full of ice and sits down next to me. "This will help." He presses the bag against my face, and I let out a groan of pain.
"I'm sorry," I say quietly.
Ares frowns. "Why?"
"For calling you, I know that . . ."
"No," he interrupts me. "Don't even think about it. Never hesitate to call me if you're in trouble, ever, understood?"
"Understood."
"Now lie down, you need to rest, tomorrow will be another day." I obey him and lie down, holding the ice pack against my cheek. He covers me with blankets and I just watch him. I've forgotten how cute he is.
I missed you.
I think about it, but I don't say it. Ares seems to be getting ready to leave, and the panic of being alone overcomes me. I sit up. "Ares . . ."
Those blue eyes look at me, waiting, and I don't know how to ask him to stay. How can I ask him to stay when a week ago I asked him to leave and never come back? But I don't want to be alone. I can't be alone tonight. He seems to read my mind.
"Do you want me to stay?"
"You don't have to if you don't want to, I'll be fine, I—"
He doesn't let me finish, throwing himself on the opposite side of the bed. Before I can speak, he puts an arm around my waist and pulls me close to him, hugging me from behind affectionately.
"You're safe, Raquel," he murmurs. "Sleep. I won't leave you alone."
I put the ice pack on the bedside table and close my eyes. "Do you promise?"
"Yes. I won't leave. Not this time."
Sleepiness comes over me, and I fall between that state of consciousness and unconsciousness. "I missed you, Greek God."
I feel a kiss on the back of my head and then a quiet whisper.
"Me too, Witch, me too."