California Dreamin

1

As the night approached the little town of El Paso, everything was quiet. It wasn't the type of town in which you could see friend groups hanging out very often.

So it was calm, except for the neighborhood Nina lived in. Every night she could hear the chaos coming from the Ramirez's place, every night she could hear the youngest Ramirez leaving his house and run away to hide from his father's anger. Nina knew his situation pretty well, as her father wasn't any different. She never ran away though, she never slept in a cemetery, she never hid.

It's not like she was brave, but she knew that if she tried, the consequences would have been even worse. At least the youngest Ramirez could run and hide and come back the day after, his father couldn't care less.

Nina instead would just go to her room and hide in her books. She liked romances. Her favorite one was Jane Eyre, as it was a bit sad and had some mystery, with a romantic ending.

But the so famous Charlotte Bronte's story was her favorite because she also loved the portrayal of a strong independent female protagonist addressing themes such as morality and class.

"No wander why Jane is the pioneer of feminism", she liked her and looked up to her. She believed in a woman's independence and despised lots of men because of their ideology. She didn't like rules and "what everybody wants", she didn't care.

Indeed one of the reasons she was beaten by her father was her personality, apart from his anger issues.

"You just know too much Katerina! You're not supposed to! You're a woman, act like one! Don't think!" he would usually scream at her.
It was like he hated that her daughter was smart enough not to want to be submitted to a man. He hated that she had a mind of her own. A brilliant mind.

She could run away like the youngest Ramirez but never come back instead, but everytime she thought about it, she would also think of her mother and how she could not leave her alone with her father and of course she would think about Ruth, she could not do that to her.

"What about Nancy too?" her best friend Nancy lived in the exact same neighborhood and had a strict family, not violent though. But hanging out with Nina was the only thing Nancy's parents would allow her to do.

"She only has me, she needs me". That's why she was still there.

And while she would think about all the people she couldn't let down, she would see the youngest Ramirez sneaking out and walking fast down the street. She never called him his name, she never called him at all, as they grew up ignoring each other. But even while talking about him with other people she would just refer to him as "the youngest Ramirez", although he was older than her.

She got away from the window and came back to her book, laying on her bed as she heard someone knocking on her door, it was Diego, her brother.

"Hey." He smiled to his sister while sitting on the bed next to her laying figure. Diego was the main victim of their father as he would often defend and protect Nina.

"I know you're mad, but one day all of this will cease to happen and you will be free and independent like you wish to, I promise."

"I don't understand why he is like this, why does he want me to be stupid?" She asked in a sort of frustrated tone. She didn't get it. A man of that generation would want his daughter to be happy and live better than them.

"Well it is what the society wants so-"

"I don't care what the society thinks or says or does or want, I want to be free from all of this." She interrupted him and spoke very firmly.

Her brother knew she had this hard-to-handle personality. It was impossible for a man to submit her and he liked it.

"Every night I see the youngest Ramirez going to sleep to the cemetery to avoid his dad and he can come back whenever he wants. I can't even imagine what would happen to me if I tried to do the same. But i think about it everyday." She admitted lowering her voice's volume afraid her father could hear her.

Diego caressed her head, saddened to see her sister in pain and not free to be herself and spoke.

"What does mama always tell you?"

She smiled while thinking of how strong and brave that woman was.
"We are women, our life and decisions are never easy."