Oscar's ex girlfriend left his baby on porch overnight and he never heard from her after.
Oscar as a single dad and a father to his brother.
Credit:
*On My block characters are credited towards Netflix
*Several of the characters are name that I use...
I walk slowly with Anne cradled in my arms, pacing the quiet hallway of our home to soothe her restless teething cries. Her little fists clutch at my shirt as she fusses, but the warmth of her skin is a small comfort amid the storm brewing inside me. Please just be calm, baby girl. Please don't cry. I try to focus on her softness, the steady rhythm of her breathing, but my mind is elsewhere — spinning, dreading.
Suddenly, I hear firm footsteps approaching the door. I stop and open it to see Officer Menjivar standing there, his face tight and serious. What now? The cold knot tightens in my stomach before the words even come.
"How can I help you?" I ask, trying to keep my voice calm but inside, panic flares like a wildfire. Please don't say what I'm afraid you'll say.
He looks me square in the eyes. "Is your wife, Lucero Pineda, here?" His voice is low but urgent. "We need her to come down to the hospital to identify three bodies."
My heart jolts, like it's been punched in the chest. No, this can't be real. Not her parents. Not Abuelita. Lucero steps beside me, her brow furrowing, confusion and fear flashing across her face. "Three bodies? Who? Why?"
The officer sighs deeply, exhaustion and sympathy weighing in his voice. "I'm sorry, ma'am. We believe your parents and grandmother were killed in a car accident on their way home from your brother-in-law's house. The driver was drunk... and didn't see them."
For a moment, the world narrows to the officer's words, cold and unyielding. I want to scream. I want to break something. How do I protect her from this? How do I keep my family from breaking apart? I pull out my phone with shaky hands, fingers trembling as I text Flaca and Oscar, "We'll both be there as soon as we drop the kids off at my brother's." Every second feels heavy with dread. I close the door slowly, turn to Lucero, and pull her close, my body trembling as I try to be strong—for Anne, for the kids, for her. But inside, a storm of helplessness and fear crashes through me. I don't know how to be the rock she needs right now. But I have to try.
Lucero POV
My hands won't stop shaking as Cesar and I pull up to my brother's house to drop off the kids. The car feels suffocating—like the air itself is thick with the weight of what we've just been told. I can't breathe. How do I even say this to Tía Geny? To the rest of my family? Cesar wraps his arms around me tightly, tears slipping down his cheeks. "They say a drunk driver never saw them... Cesar, how am I going to tell Tía Geny and the rest of the family?"
His voice breaks as he holds me, but before I can answer, Mario appears at the back door. His face is grave but tender as he pulls me close, kissing my head. "Prima, Mom and Dad are on their way. They're coming with you both to identify the bodies."
I swallow hard, my throat raw. God, please don't let me break here. I have to be strong. "Mario... who do I have left besides the Diaz family? I lost my sister... and now my parents and abuela too." The words feel like knives, tearing through the fragile thread of hope I'd been clinging to. How can life be this cruel? The tears I've been holding back burn my eyes, but I bite down the sobs.
(About 20 minutes later, at the morgue)
The sterile cold air of the morgue presses down on me as we stand before the bodies. The smell of antiseptic mixes with a heavy silence. My eyes burn, tears threatening to spill but I hold them back—until I look at Cesar, his face etched with grief mirroring my own. We're breaking together, but we have to stay upright. "That's my father," I say quietly, voice cracking. "He has my initials, my mom's, and my sister's tattooed on his shoulder. That's my mom—she has a birthmark on her lower back and a scar on her right side from when she had me."
Geny's hands tremble as she steps forward beside the officer. "That's my mother, María," she says, voice breaking. "If you look under her right eye, you'll see the scar from when she tried to help my son. And on her right pinky, she has all her grandchildren's initials—LD, LuD, RM, MM, JT..." Her words falter, swallowed by sobs. The initials hang in the air like a fragile, painful testament to everything lost.
We leave the morgue numb, each step heavier than the last. Outside, Oscar waits in the car. I slide into the seat beside him, collapsing into Cesar's arms. His hold is the only thing keeping me tethered, our bodies shaking—not just with sorrow, but with the raw shock of it all. How do you keep going when everything you loved is gone?
Flaca POV
Back at my place, the kids finally drift to sleep. Their soft breathing fills the quiet room, but my heart is too heavy for peace. I collapse onto the couch, the weight of grief crashing down like a wave I can't fight. Oscar sits beside me, his hand resting gently on my belly. I lean into him, tears falling freely onto his shoulder.
"Those three loved me like family," I whisper through the tears. "They never gave up on us. Abuelita checked on me every week... Our babies... they could have been in that car. They left here just moments before."
Oscar's fingers tighten around mine, a silent vow of strength. "It was the first thing I thought about when Cesar called. Abuelita was there for us from day one. For you. For Tony. I'm so worried about Lucero... She's lost her parents, her sister, and her grandmother."
I nod, voice barely more than a broken whisper. How do you comfort someone whose whole world has shattered? "I told Cesar they can stay as long as they need." My heart aches with the unspoken words—nothing will ever be the same. How do you live with that?
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