Chapter 1
Human beings are killers and selfish by nature.
“Why is it so noisy outside?”
Alma stood on her balcony, wearing an oversized t-shirt and underwear. She had a sleepy look on her face as she watched the heavy traffic below. The constant honking was driving her mad.
She woke up after a long night’s work.
She promised herself that she would be productive today, even after getting home at 3:30 am that day. It was hard to get up. Each time she tried, she buried her head in the pillow.
In Buenos Aires, it was 8 a.m.
Calle Florida was a trendy shopping spot downtown. Vendors spread out, and office buildings lined the street. By evening, the district came alive. Street performers, like tango singers and dancers, filled the area. Living statues and other acts attracted many foreign tourists and business travelers. Coffee shops started to fill up with people eager for their morning sustenance. Alma lived in a small, old apartment building near that area.
That day, the sun cast a warm glow over her small balcony.
She went inside and laid her face on the gray couch in the middle of the room. She was still exhausted from yesterday.
At last, she felt energized enough to get out of bed and head to the kitchen, or at least what she called a kitchen. It was a table, a small stove, some supplies, and a mini fridge. Realizing she only had two eggs and a tomato, she made herself some fried eggs mixed with unevenly cut tomatoes.
“I am not really that creative when it comes to food,” she thought to herself.
She grabbed a sad-looking piece of bread and looked at her phone while she ate.
Looking at the news, she read the first headline that popped up: “Young woman kidnapped in Flores around 10 pm.” There was a photo of the woman taken by security cameras showing the moment it happened. A tall, muscular man appeared from a black van, his face not visible, as he dragged her into the van with brutal force. She put her phone down and surfed through the channels to find something else to watch.
Alma was a young 20-year-old woman whose only wish in life was to live a comfortable and quiet life. She had long dark brown hair, almost black. Her skin was very pale and her body was slim, but she was stronger than she looked. She never thought of herself as attractive, but she often heard otherwise. She had this unexplained, unsettling, peculiar beauty that seemed to attract people’s attention.
After finishing eating, she took a quick shower. Alma got dressed in black leggings, a white t-shirt, a waist-length jean jacket, and not-so-white sneakers. Before leaving, she made sure she locked her door well. In the elevator, she met her neighbor, Mrs. Martinez. Mrs. Martinez was 87 years old and a widow. She was one of the three tenants in the building. The building was old, and few people showed interest in living there. Alma liked it that way.
“Good morning.” The elderly woman said with a raspy voice. Alma returned her greeting.
“Do you know who moved in next to you? Have you spoken to the person yet?” she asked with a sense of curiosity.
“No, I wasn’t even aware that someone was moving in.”
“Well, it was empty for a long time. The last man who was there left out of nowhere. So many people have already left...” Mrs. Martinez said.
Alma wasn’t in the mood for a conversation so early in the morning. Without noticing, she was tuning out the woman’s voice. She started thinking, why would anyone want to live in this dump of a building? It looked like it would fall apart soon. Many of the architectural and electrical systems were still intact from the 1960s. She was relieved that the city did not schedule the demolition of the building. Alma was sure that the very sketchy landlord engaged in drug-related activities. But she didn’t mind. The rent was cheap because nobody wanted to live in such low conditions. She felt surprised that the city hadn’t scheduled the demolition of the building, which left her to find another place to live. Even though it was in a quite good neighborhood, the building appeared hidden. She preferred it that way.
“Isn’t it?” Mrs. Martinez asked her. Alma broke from her bubble of thought. She forgot that Mrs. Martinez was there.
“What?” Alma asked, embarrassed.
“That the day is so sunny. I might get a tan just from walking.” The elderly lady said with a smile.
“Uh, yeah, so sunny,” Alma replied.
The woman would not stop talking. All Alma thought was how long the elevator ride was turning out to be. She lived on the third floor, but the elevator was old and slow. She didn’t want to sound rude, so she listened and nodded to anything she said. Finally, as soon as they both got off on the last floor, Mrs. Martinez made a gesture. She grabbed both of Alma’s hands; she could feel her cold hands and her skinny, bony, long fingers against hers.
“She bothers me daily with chores or complaining about something insignificant. Thank God she is the only one who lives here, apart from that crazy guy on the 2nd floor. He is never here, though. Or he rarely leaves his apartment.”
“Never stop being good, yes? Nowadays it’s much more difficult to be good than to be bad.”
“Yes, of course,” Alma responded with a smile.
“Did she figure out I was ignoring her?” he thought to herself.
As she stepped out of the building, the sun hit her face. Making her disoriented for a few seconds.
She was going to meet someone. While she walked, she saw many people rushing to go to work. One of them pushed Alma while trying to catch his bus. He missed it and cursed like a sailor as it drove away. She was soon distracted by the smell of breakfast food coming from restaurants that invaded her senses; it was a pleasant feeling.
After a few minutes of walking, she could see Mai sitting outside a small local café.
“Look who finally came.” Mai waved at her from her table.
“Hi Mai, did you already order?”
“Yeah, a coffee and a medialuna since you were taking your sweet time. Now that you’re here, I guess I’ll have a second one.”
“Don’t use me as an excuse to order another pastry.” Alma sat down, looking at Mai’s annoyed face. “Am I late? Didn’t we say 10:00?”
“No, I said 9:30.”
“Oh...sorry,” Alma apologized.
“Don’t worry about it. Hey! I have to tell you about the crazy night I had yesterday.”
Alma ordered a coffee for herself, and they both began to converse. Mai started to tell the anecdote while putting three packets of sugar in her black coffee.
Mailane, who hailed from Salvador, Bahia, had the nickname Mai. She spoke Spanish well. Sometimes, she mixed languages without noticing. Alma teased her about her peculiar accent. She had a dark skin complexion, and her hands were completely tattooed with mandalas and geometric designs. She had dyed her curly afro hair purple, which she was wearing in two buns, letting two dreadlocks fall beside her face, and had a nose piercing. Alma thought she looked super cool, not like her. She was pale and average-looking. Dull. The only good quality she thought she had was her eyes, which were a grayish green tone. They developed a close relationship shortly after meeting for the first time.
“Anyway enough about me...how was your night, Alma?” Mai asked as she took a bite off her second medialuna.
“It went well, I guess. I am just super tired,” Alma complained.
“Tell Adam to stop giving you so many assignments at once. Make yourself heard, girl!”
“I’ll try, But you know how he is” Alma chuckled.
They talked for a while, and later they both said their goodbyes.
Alma checked the time. It’s 12:20 p.m.
She headed back to her apartment, walking at a slow pace. She saw all these people walking past her; she started to contemplate what kind of lives each of them had and what stories and secrets they hid.
When she got home, she collapsed on the couch. ”I want to do absolutely nothing,” she said to herself. She closed her eyes, but the sound of her notifications jolted her awake. She stretched her arm to get to her phone placed on the coffee table. Her arm was too short to reach, so she let herself fall to the floor and grabbed it with difficulty.
“Be at the bar today at 8 o’clock,” read the text message.
“Mierda! I thought today I had the day off. He better pay me double.”
She once again collapsed on her couch twice in the same day. Only a few hours until 8 o’clock.
"It’s been a few months since I managed to move completely by myself, thanks to Adam. I need to get used to all this. It’s the first time I get to live alone. With all this freedom... I don’t know if I should feel free or scared. Either way, I need to get my life in order somehow.”
All the overthinking caused her to close her eyes and fall asleep on the couch while the TV was on. Not realizing it was 6:05. She was in a dark, quiet place now; it felt nice.
She opened her eyes.
7:35 PM.
“Fuck! I fell asleep!” Alma jumped from the couch. She got ready quickly and left the apartment in a hurry.
“Okay, so subway... then walking. That is about 20 minutes... I am so fucked.”
She stood on the subway platform, checking her watch. She shifted her weight from foot to foot. Many others waited around her. The digital sign read that the subway would arrive there in 5 minutes. Alma began to pick up the pace. She thought she was going to get there in time. The streets weren’t so crowded, and the sun was beginning to set in the distance. As she walked past an alley, she noticed that three young teenagers were surrounding someone. They later proceeded to shove this person, making him land on a pile of trash bags next to a dumpster.
This caught Alma’s attention and made her stop.
“Nice camera, buddy. Hope you don’t mind if we take it.” One of the teenagers teased him.
“He is so scared, he is not even putting up a fight,” the other mocked the targeted person.
“Hey, we won’t hurt you. Just give us your backpack.” The victim didn’t seem to comply. He just sat there between the bags of trash. She didn’t want to get involved. Alma could not see who was being attacked, but she knew it was a young man. He was about to get up when one of the thieves put his foot on his shoulder and pinned him down.
“What don’t you understand, idiot? Give me your backpack now!” One of them grabbed his things and tossed them onto the dirty floor. He picked up the fancy wallet and slipped it into his pocket. The victim gasped as they took their wallet and tried to reach it while he said a few words in a foreign language. But one of them punched him in the face, making him fall back and slam his body onto the floor.
“He seems to not understand, Paco. He really is a foreigner. “Alright, I’ll speak to him in a way everyone gets,” said the tall, skinny one. He pulled out a pocket knife and pressed it against his throat, demanding that he hand over all his belongings. Before the knife got too close, the thief could hear a cry of pain coming from behind him. He had no time to look back or react; everything happened too fast.”
“What a pathetic way to get away with stealing. Aren’t you boys supposed to be in school learning fractions or some shit?” she said as she held one of them by the wrist while his body hung motionless on the ground.
“This doesn’t concern you; move along, lady.”
“Just let that guy go. He doesn’t even look like he understands Spanish at all. We don’t want him to leave with a bad image of our country. Hooligans like you already give us a bad name.”
“You’re kidding, right? HAHA Go back to the kitchen or I’ll cut you open like the fat pig you are.” Said the teenager with the knife.
“Do it then.” She extended her arms wide open as she was inviting him to strike. He saw his friends lying on the floor in agony. He hesitated for a second. Alma stared at him with an expressionless face, which made his hands start to sweat. Still holding the camera, he decided to charge at her with his weapon, aiming for her face without knowing what might happen. Alma stepped right. Quickly, she grabbed his wrist, pushing his hand away from her face. Then, she shoved her elbow into him, knocking him out. He let go of the knife making it fall first before his body slammed against the hard concrete floor, also dropping the camera.
She took a few steps back.
The other two boys rushed for his friend and helped him up.
Limping, they managed to escape. Alma picked up the camera, noticing its high price. “This idiot is asking for trouble by walking with a camera in this part of the city,” she thought. Alma looked down at the young man who was still lying between the trash bags, flustered. She extended her hand in an offer to help him up. He accepted and got up. He was much taller than he looked. He smiled at her with affection and then bowed his head in her direction. His eyes widened and began to sparkle. He started talking with excitement in a language she did not understand. He seemed too happy despite the situation he had faced. And the teenagers did manage to steal his wallet and his backpack. Alma looked confused but glad things didn’t escalate too much. He took his phone out of his pocket. He opened the translator app and repeated himself. After a few seconds, his conversation was translated into Spanish. “Thank you so much for helping me. I’ve never experienced something like that. Thank you so much! I thought I was finished.” it read out loud.
“No worries, just be careful next time,” Alma replied. He translated it into his language.
“How did you manage to fight them? It’s embarrassing; I am not as brave as you.” He said in a shy tone. She could read on the translator that the words were being translated from Korean to Spanish.
“I am not really that brave... I am glad you didn’t get hurt.” As she spoke into his phone to translate, she checked the right corner of the phone and saw the time. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Alma was running super late.
“Fuck! I am so late! Be careful next time and don’t take that camera out so freely. Many would love to steal it,” she warned him before making a run for it. The stranger extended his arm to stop her. The man tried to exchange a few last words, but Alma had already fled the scene.
She started to run like there was no tomorrow.
“Fuck, I am so late! I’m in so much trouble...”
“Hope they don’t cut any of my body parts as punishment... Hahaha”
