SATIVA ✞ ON MY BLOCK [OSCAR DIAZ]

II. NINETEEN

"Let go of me!" Ximena jumped in the men's arms, kicking as they forced her to move forward, "Get off!"

A bag had quickly been put over her head when they took her, so her vision was just black. She could hear voices and laughs and muffled music, making her think that they were at some sort of house. The men let go of her roughly, throwing her down on wooden floors before slamming the door shut.

Ximena quickly took off the bag, looking around the room.

It was just a room.

The walls and floors were covered with black garbage bags so nothing would stain. Ximena been hyperventilating, gasping for breath as she backed herself against the wall, her eyes on the door. She frantically checked her pockets for her phone but the men had taken it. She had nothing with her, nothing to help her, nothing to protect her.

"Padre nuestro, que estás en el cielo. Santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu reino. Hágase tu voluntad en la tierra como en el cielo. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día. Perdona nuestras ofensas,
como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden. No nos dejes caer en tentación y líbranos del mal. Amén," the girl repeated to herself as she looked around the room.

She patted the floors, looking for anything that was loose. She stood up, going to the door. There was no handle from her side. She pride her fingers into the space where the door was placed, trying to dig it open but she knew it probably was locked from the outside. Ximena sighed, looking around at the covered floors. They were nailed down and glued to the surface of the wood. Ximena dropped to the floor, using his fingertips to unscrew one of the nails in the ground. Even though the rough metal hurt her skin, she used her might to try to unscrew it from the wood.

"Padre nuestro, que estás en el cielo. Santificado sea tu nombre. Venga tu reino. Hágase tu voluntad en la tierra como en el cielo. Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día. Perdona nuestras ofensas, como también nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden.No nos dejes caer en tentación y líbranos del mal. Amén."

The door made a loud, obnoxious creek as it opened up. Ximena jumped back, her spine against the wall as she watched a man enter the room. He was wearing a green pullover, black jeans and dark brown boots.

He was darkskin, average looking with a beard that grew all over his face. He stood in the doorway, looking down at the girl before chuckling.

"Calm down, mamacita," he laughed, holding out his hands. Ximena's heart stopped as he took a step into the room.

Behind her back she held the nail in the palm, gripping it tight. The man knelt down to the girl's height, his gold tooth making an appearance everytime he smiled. Ximena pushed herself back until she physically couldn't go back anymore.

"Ximena Marquez, 17, from Jalisco, Mexico. Committed to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Forensic psychology major for the class of 2023. You have one mother and one father, Pedro and Julissa, back in Mexico. You had one sister, Olivia. Oh, and your parents, they have a little puppy, Coco."

Ximena stayed quiet.

"Am I missing anything?" The man laughed, "I don't think I am. My guys do their research. And from their research, you are involved with the Santos, correct? Your boy? The head Santo of this neighborhood himself, Oscar Diaz. Can't blame him really, you are fine."

"What do you want?"

"What do we want? That is the question really, isn't it? Well, we want to teach the Santos a lesson. What happens when they mess with our money, with our crew. And what is that saying y'all say? The quickest way to get to a man is through his hyna?"

"He's not going to come, you know," Ximena shook her head, "Oscar hates me."

"Oh, we'll see about that. I figured we would give him until tomorrow to meet our demands before we start cutting up that very, very pretty face."