CHAPTER 2: PATERNAL RUPTURE
May 11th, 2017
The sky was gray. It wasn't raining, but it hurt just the same. I was with Hiena at the cemetery, even though Ana didn't have a grave. Just an empty plaque and our memories of her. We remembered the small things: how she laughed, how she hugged us when there was no food, how she played with that little car made of plastic bottles that Hiena now used.
"Do you think Ana is okay?" she asked me with that sweet little voice that still kept me going.
I wanted to tell her the truth. I wanted to scream that no, nothing was okay, that Ana probably didn't exist in this shitty world anymore.
But I didn't.
"Yes..." I lied with a smile. "She's in a better place."
On the way back home, Hiena fell asleep in my arms. But before crossing the last alley, we heard the noise.
Explosions. Screams. And fire.
I ran like never before, pressing her against my chest. We hid in an abandoned warehouse, with cracked walls and a floor covered in glass. Through a crack in the wall, I saw the scene: a man with powers -a supernatural- walking through gunfire. On his chest plate it read Zak, maybe that was his name.
Fire flowed from his arms like it was part of him.
The hitmen shot at him, but it was useless. One by one, they were burned alive. No mercy.
It was the first time I saw something like that. Not just a supernatural... but someone killing so naturally, like stepping on ants.
I said nothing. I just held Hiena tighter and covered her ears.
---
When it was all over, we went back. My soul shattered, and she just asked if she could play. In the kitchen, I tried to make something... but there was nothing. No rice, no noodles, not even salt.
Someone had been inside. The broken window said it all.
I went to my father's room looking for coins, something, anything.
But all I found were empty bottles and the stench of piss.
As a last resort, I opened an old jar in my room where I kept some savings.
Not enough for much, but enough for a decent meal for Hiena.
"Wanna go out and eat?" I asked her with a smile.
She nodded, excited.
We walked through the streets as if nothing was wrong. As if the world wasn't hell.
At the restaurant, we could only afford one plate.
We ordered it. Chicken.
Hiena ate like it was the last time. And as she chewed happily, she offered me a piece.
"Here, big brother, you eat too."
I wasn't hungry.
But I accepted.
Because it was our moment. A real one. A human one.
When we finished, I noticed she wrapped a chicken leg in a napkin.
"Taking it to go?" I asked.
"It's for dad. He must be hungry too."
Her innocence pierced my soul.
How could anyone still love that man?
---
When we got home, my father was lying on the floor. Drunk. As always.
"Where were you, hellspawn?" he shouted.
"We just went out to eat," I replied calmly.
Hiena walked up to him with a smile and the wrapped chicken leg in her hand.
"We missed you, dad. Here, this is for you..."
He shoved her violently. Her tiny body hit the floor.
"I don't need your garbage! I've had enough of you!"
Rage rose in me like boiling blood.
I rushed to her, held her, and stood between them.
"What's wrong with you?! She just wanted to share with you!"
My father laughed. A dry, disgusting laugh.
"She's useless to us now," he said.
He pulled out a wad of cash and let it fall to the floor.
"I sold her. Ten thousand dollars. To the highest bidder. Just like I did with that useless Ana."
I froze.
I couldn't move.
Couldn't think.
Only hold her. My little sister. My light. My last link to goodness.
And now to find out Ana didn't disappear by accident... This monster sold her.
And now Hiena too?
He was selling them like trash.
I didn't respond.
I didn't scream.
I just walked to the door with Hiena in my arms. I held her tighter than ever.
And I left.
No direction. No future.
Just her.
And a clear decision: Never go back to the monster I once called "dad."