La Diabla | Oscar Diaz

La Diabla - Chapter One

The sound of shoes hitting the floor was deafening. The sirens got closer, Sabina looked around for a second, cursing repeatedly as she thought. Her first thought was the big green dumpster a couple of feet away, but that was way too easy. That would be the first place they looked.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." She panted, but her feet didn't stop, she ran down the empty ally, dodging trash cans and dogs along the way until she jumped a fence and ducked down, pulling her hood over her head as she pulled her knees into her chest.

"Hey!" She looked up at the boy calling her over from the open window, "hurry, get in here!" Sabina didn't think twice about getting up and sprinting toward the window, jumping in. She landed on the hard floor with a groan, clutching her side. Her ribs were definitely broken and that fall confirmed it. The light in the bedroom turned on and a kid with curly hair stood, swallowing nervously. "Hi."

She sat up, dragging her self against the wall, under the window. "Thank you," she breathed out, "thank you so much, mijo."

He walked toward her, squatting down. "Do you need help? Like an ambulance o—"

"No!" He looked at her cautiously, beginning to stand up. "I mean no," she shook her head softly, "I'm fine, I'm– I'm Sabina."

"Sabina." He held his hand out to help her stand up, "I'm Ruby." She refused his hand, given the fact some of her fingers were broken and she couldn't feel them or her entire hands from the frostbite she was getting. Ruby's hand fell to his side after he cleared his throat awkwardly, "I'll get you some water okay?"

She thanked him many times as he walked out, holding her bleeding side. Her ribs, her fingers, and the gash in the side of her stomach made her eyes water, but she bit her lip to stop from crying, drowning out the pain. Soon, Ruby returned with a first-aid kit, and a bunch of bandages.

"I thought you were gonna.."

"I changed my mind." He set the items on his bed, opening the box and pulling those things out as well. "You need help, I can tell."

"Is it that obvious?" She tried to stand but she couldn't, her legs were weak from the police chase she had recently been in.

He nodded, "very much so." She leaned her head back against the wall, taking in a deep, deep breath. Ruby sat criss-cross in front of her, taking her hands and wiping her bloody knuckles with an alcohol wipe. "Wanna talk about it?" He picked up a new one every time the one he was using became too bloody. "Because you're beat up pretty bad, and just by looking at you, I'm pretty sure you have a few broken bones."

"It's not that bad." She assured him, "I just—"

"Ruby?" A female voice erupted from the other side of his bedroom door, two knocks following it. "Who are you talking to in there?"

"Um," he thought quickly, "that's my friend Olivia, she can't know you're here, she'll tell my mom."

"I–"

"I'm on the phone!" He stammered, "go away please!"

She mumbled something incoherent, but after that her footsteps descended down the hallway.

"I got DP'd." She swallowed, "my boyfriend–ex, ex boyfriend." She sighed, "he had me jumped."

Ruby's mouth parted slightly as he looked up to her bruised face, "they were going to kill you, weren't they?"

Sabina nodded, "but I escaped."

"Good." He said, "you're too pretty to be dead."

"Gee, thanks." She chuckled, stopping when her body began to ache from the sudden movement.

"So I'm guessing you have no where to go?"

She shook her head softly, licking her chapped lips, "I've been walking the streets for four days, the police saw me and they tried to pick me up. That's why I was running."

"And what about your family? Your parents?"

"My dad." She shrugged sadly, "my dad was all I had. He was the one who told my ex it was okay to have me displaced."

"Damn." Ruby mumbled, wrapping her hands in the bandages, placing pink band-aids on the cuts and scratches all over her body. "Do you have anything.. you know?" He motioned around her torso, trying not to be awkward.

"I uh.." she lifted her sweater, showing her bruised body, the gash bleeding all over the side. It was small but deep cut under the large tattoo of La Santa Muerte, they had tried to remove it, to leave her bleeding out.

He gasped, "oh my god."

"They tried to take my placa." She said, "I was a Diabla."