Main Dishes

Locker 214. Nothing else. No name. No explanation. Not a single extra word. I stayed pressed against the parking lot wall, still wearing the cleaning lady’s vest, feeling the cold air seep into my bones. Inside the airport, they were still there. My father with his four men. Searching for me as if I weren’t…

Valeria didn’t remember afterward if the 911 operator had told her to breathe or if her own body had commanded it just to keep from fainting. The only thing she knew clearly was Renata’s voice in the back seat, tiny and trembling, asking with a thin thread of air: “Mommy… did I do something bad?”…

Dave laughed. A dry, empty, cruel laugh. “Call your father?” he spat, stepping closer while I lay on the floor, one hand clutching my belly and the other smeared with blood. “That filthy small-town mechanic? For what? So he can come cry with you?” Mrs. Higgins let out a sharp cackle from the table. “Oh,…

Lucas’s laughter continued for a few more seconds, but to me, it had already changed shape. Before, it was the laughter of the man I had cared for, defended, and carried for five years. Now, it was the exact sound of a door closing forever. I stood motionless behind the pillar, the bag of bread…

Three days later, the phone vibrated again. It was 3:07 a.m. This time it didn’t ring. It only vibrated on the nightstand as if something, on the other side, didn’t want to wake the whole house. I was already sitting up in bed before looking at it. I hadn’t slept well since that night. My…

And then, the sergeant called me inside. He didn’t let Peter enter. Mrs. Sophia took him to her porch with a glass of milk and his drawing clutched in his hands, as he didn’t understand why his mother had the face of someone who had just been hollowed out from within. I crossed the gate…