Rey

Screaming and yelling. That was typically all anyone was ever bound to hear coming from the Mamani household.  The sound of dishes shattering against Marrakech walls and children crying in the wee hours of the night.  It was an understatement to say that the family was anything other than dysfunctional.

Moonlight poured into the windows of Reyna’s bedroom as she settled underneath the blankets with her stuffed animals. She could hear her mother going on one of her nightly rampages downstairs, fighting like cats and dogs with her father.  “Ay dios mio! Why are you always questioning me like I’m a fucking child, Fernando?where are you going, Josefina? Are you getting high on my supply?” Josefina mocked her husband. She curled her crimson manicure around a crystal drinking glass, lifting it to toss at her husband. Fernando tried to sway to the side, but he didn’t move out of the way in time. The hefty glass connected just above his eyebrow, leaving an angled laceration upon olive skin.

Blood dripped from his parted flesh like a laborer in a foundry. A harsh groan emerged from pursed lips as he swung around almost instantly, grabbing a kitchen towel from the sink. Moments like these weren’t uncommon in the least. Every fight ended physically for them; predominately Josefina being the aggressor. There was no gray area when it came to them. “Maybe, just maybe if you stopped acting like a fucking child…I wouldn’t have to treat you like one! We have children, Josefina. Yet you’re down here stuffing your nostrils with cocaína while they are under the same roof? Have you lost your goddamn mind?”  Fernando shouted. “Vete a la mierda, you pig. Vete a la mierda!” Josefina rolled her eyes. Picking up her razor blade from the kitchen counter,she began to chop up the cocaine until it turned into a very fine powder; spreading them into thin lines.

It was like a war zone in that house and the children could barely fall asleep because of it. Tossing the covers off and away from her petite form, Reyna slipped out of bed with her favorite stuffed animal clutched in between tiny fingers. Opening her bedroom door, she walked out and proceeded to take small - but careful steps down the staircase.  Once she made it to the final step, she peered around the corner, catching a glimpse of her mother tapping a compact straw against the counter. Inserting the straw high into her nasal passage, Josefina began to snort the fine power and Fernando tried his best to cover his wound. Gasping, Reyna ran into the kitchen just to make sure that both of them were alright. “Mamá…Papá, are you okay? You’re yelling again.” Reyna asked.

Undoubtedly high, Josefina looked at the child and rolled her eyes. Vexed that not only did she have to listen to her husband lecture her, but now she also had to put up with their meddling daughter. Snorting another line of coke, she slammed the straw down onto the quartzite counter and turned her head to the side. Chocolate hues gazed across her daughter’s soft countenance, but there was something about her face that agitated her. “Go back to bed, you little brat. We’re having an adult conversation. Unless you want to do a line with mommy, si?” Josefina chuckled as she waltzed over to Reyna, gripping her by the neat plait of her hair. Dragging her towards the counter, Fernando rushed over to pry Josefina’s hand away from her daughter’s hair - but it was to no avail.


“Stop babying her, Fernando. This is the fucking problem. If she’s grown enough to come down in the middle of the night to question adults, she can be treated like an adult.”


“Mamá!” That was the only word that spilled from Reyna’s parted lips before her mother pulled her up by the hair, setting her on the kitchen stool. Swiping her index finger within the pile of drugs that was scattered across the counter, she held it up to her daughters face; eyes almost bulging out of her head. “Sniff it, you little shit.” Josefina demanded. Reyna shook her head no, turning away so that the powder only swiped her cheek. She was scared, but who was she going to tell without the abuse getting worse?  Who was going to help her and her siblings without splitting them apart from this toxic household?


“I said to sniff it! Don’t make me tell you again.” Josefina raised her free hand, striking Reyna across the face with a damning force. She’d hit her so hard that the young girl fell from the counter top and onto the floor, provoking her father to completely take a stand. Dropping the bloodied tag onto the floor, Fernando wrapped his crimson stained hands around his wife’s neck, slamming her against the wall with brute force. Even then, his daughter cried out for him to stop hurting Josefina, even though she didn’t deserve that kind of compassion.  She just wanted a normal family. She just wanted to be…happy.