Dario

Chapter 1

There was silence. Then there was a scream. Glass and ceramic could be heard shattering from the outside of a small white and grey house. Gunshots blasted three times, followed by a man's scream. Then everything fell into silence once more.

Inside a child's bedroom, a woman dragged herself across the floor with long heavy breaths and her body trembling in pain and terror. One hand held the wound punctured just above her left ribcage while her other hand helped her drag herself towards the blue closet door. Blood stained her mouth and yellow blouse. Sweat beaded her brow. Her body felt like it was on fire and each movement she made was so much more painful.

But she needed to hurry. She needed to make sure her baby was still alive. To make sure he wasn't slaughtered or shot to death. If he was, she would never forgive herself.

When she unlatched the closet door, there he was. Sitting in the closet. Wearing his blue PJs with pictures of green dinosaurs. And drinking his juice from his sippy cup. The little boy looked up at his mother. Tears welled in her eyes and she let out a deep sigh, relieved that her baby was unharmed.

"Dario," she sobbed.

She crawled towards the boy and struggled to sit up as she held him to her chest.

"Mi bebé," she cried while cradling him. "My baby."

~

A Month Later

Lara Pacheco was locking up the classroom's metal door while her four-year-old son Dario stood next to her, holding his Monchichi toy close to his chest. Lara was thirty-one years old with black hair tied up in a bun and wearing a pink flowery blouse with black trousers. She would always wear her hair up, not because she needed to look professional during her first week working at the Felix Cordova Davila School. But because it was hot as hell, even for a November afternoon.

Dario dropped his doll, but quickly picked it up and hugged it. Dario was small, with chubby cheeks, grey eyes, and frizzy brown hair. His adorable face would, unfortunately, attract his grandmother to pinch his cheeks, something that he always hated. Yet, he was looking forward to seeing her and his uncles.

So was Lara.

"All right. I think we're done here." She put the classroom's key around her neck. It was a pink lanyard she purchased at a Hot Topic so she wouldn't lose them as she did on her first day, having it left attached to the keyhole.

Dario clapped. "Yayyy."

"You hungry?"

"Yes," he said. "Are we going out tonight, mommy?"

"Yes, we are. In fact, we're going to have a big feast with Grandma Evangeline, and your uncles Kelvin and Aaron."

"Yayyy."

The sound of crunching and something being rolled around the grounds outside of the classroom made Lara turn her head around. A little startled.

Across the kindergarten's small playground, at the other side of the fence, an older man in a blue jumpsuit with long grey hair and a darker blue baseball cap, was pushing the wheeled trash can down the concrete hall towards one of the school bathrooms.

Lara sighed in relief. It was just the school janitor, Mr Pastrana.

Mr Pastrana spotted Lara and waved hello to her. "Good afternoon, Miss Pacheco."

Lara bowed her head and gave him a small smile. "Good afternoon, Mr Pastrana."

"You stayed late?"

"Yes. Um, I had to grade a few exams. Just finished up."