Chupacabra | 18+ | ✔️

▪︎■ 27 ■▪︎

▪︎■ Ainara Moreno ■▪︎

Erlina clinged onto me while crying for hours. She refused to leave the living room, so we slept on the couch. Or at least we tried to. Both of us ended up laying there with open eyes. Eventually I cuddled with her and tried to comfort her.

"I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so, so sorry you have to live through all of this. How do you feel? Do you want to talk?"

She shook her head. I felt so helpless. I wanted nothing else than to take all her pain and make it my own to carry. I couldn't. Unfortunately, that wasn't how it worked.

"Okay," I whispered and continued to brush through her soft hair. There was nothing else I could do other then to kiss the top of her head and stay with her. It was quiet except for the sobs that literally pierced through my heart. With every sniffle and whimper I felt more hatred inside my guts. A force that was directed at Jiménez. I would make him suffer. Would make him scream and cry for twice the hours my daughter had wasted on this piece of shit. I may have deserved the things that happened to me and all the pain. I wasn't any better than these men, I deserved the abuse. My daughter was innocent.

"I want to go home." That was the only thing she said.
"I want that too but I'm afraid we'll have to stay here for a while..."

I took a look at the clock. It was late at night, if not early morning. 3 am.

"Try to sleep a little, okay? I'll stay here, baby." I held her closer and my grip on her was tighter then before, signaling her I was there for her.

"Not tired. Can I have warm milk?"

"Sure, mija... I'll go get you some. Wait here, okay?"

She panicked and grabbed my arm with her little hand. "No! Don't go."

"Do you want to come with me?" I asked, understanding her needs.

She simply nodded and sniffed while having trouble breathing normally after crying so hard.

"Come here then. Hold tight."

Her hands sneaked around my neck and she clinged onto me like a little sloth.

I stood up from the couch and used my phone as a flashlight. The house had an easy room layout due to the many doorless rooms that were only seperated through walls, so I had few problems finding the kitchen.

It was a beautiful kitchen, dark with minimalistic decoration. I sat Elia down onto a counter and searched for the fridge. The light of it shone through the darkness when I found and opened it's door. When taking the milk and further searching for a mug I tried to be as quiet as I could to avoid waking up the owner of the house.

My thoughts drifted off to him.

Is he even sleeping right now? Maybe he's able to sleep tonight... If so, I will better not wake him up when he gets too little rest anyway. Why do I care though? He held a gun to my face and threatened us. Do I even have a right to be angry? I did him wrong in many ways. Even lead him on when I knew I was lying this whole time. He lets you stay even now. Even after betraying you. He took care of you, listened to you, we almost died together... There was trust. Definitely. A bond that formed between us through all of the stress and anger. Maybe I'm wrong, though... Almost killing me is one thing, Erlina is another. I draw the line there.