All of her life, Maria Alvarez has been sure of three things.
1.) The Lord God will protect and guide her thought all of the trials of life.
2.) Vampires are soulless husks of their former selves, little more than animated bodies feedi...
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Maria and Carmen spent around a week putting their stories together, checking over each other's work as they went along. For the most part, Carmen did all of the typing, as Maria had no clue how to use a keyboard, and the going was slow for her.
Maria did her best to outline everything about the compounds that could possibly be considered bad by outsiders; the isolation, the poor quality of the food, the constant physical labor. All of the terrible things that were drilled into her brain, day after agonizing day.
It had all seemed so righteous at the time, but being on the outside looking in, it was hard to believe that people who had claimed to love her had treated her so badly.
As they worked, her thoughts turned to her family, and the things they were probably saying about her at this very moment. It made her chest clench, and she couldn't help the frown that grew on her face.
Carmen's dark eyes darted over to her, away from the computer screen and the email to Bite Magazine she was typing up.
"You okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, I guess." She said with a shrug, "I was just thinking about my family. My mom's probably never going to talk to me again after this."
"Are you two close?" Carmen asked.
"I guess not, especially recently anyway," Maria said. "They didn't let me talk to anyone while I was at the compound unless they came to visiting sessions, so I only ever saw her like once a year."
"Don't worry, I'm not close to my parents either." Carmen said.
"Doesn't it ever make you sad?" Maria asked.
Carmen grimaced and turned her attention back to the computer.
"Of course it does." She said. "But I've had over a decade to mourn over it. There's no reason, at this point, for me to dwell on something I'll never have."
It hurt Maria to think about, but that meant it was probably something she herself would also never have. Would it take her ten years to grieve the loss of every friend and family member she had before?
She felt her throat burn. She grabbed a hold of Carmen's arm, and leaned her head against her shoulder. As she started to cry, Carmen reached up and wordlessly ran her fingers through her hair.
"I know it sucks, but that's life." She said after a while. "The good news is, you come to realize you don't need your blood relatives. You can go on. You can choose your family."
Maria nodded as she brought up Her sleeve to dry off her face.
