LADY ROUGE

When living life glitter and glam, we are willing to sacrifice everything to get what we want. However, what are we willing to do to get the basic survival needs as humans? These are the questions Alicia Sanchez asks herself daily.

In 1983 a Greyhound bus was somewhere in Midland, Kentucky, traveling on I-75 heading north. Several hours ago, the bus left Miami, Florida, to head to Detroit, Michigan’s final destination. It was late in the year, November, and it was almost Thanksgiving. Most people are on the bus to visit their relatives for the holidays. However, one particular woman sits in the back of the coach and has other reasons for leaving the place that was her first stop in the US during the Cuban migration. Her name is Alicia Sanchez. Alicia Sanchez had dark silky, wavy hair, cinnamon-toned skin color, and dark lips. She was a well-blossomed flower of a well-mixed African, Spanish, and Taino ancestry, which appeared in her features.

Alicia sits in the window seat, wedged between a fat middle-aged white guy wearing a white shirt with pink flamenco patterns. If it were not for her petiteness, she would have been crushed. In Miami, the man sweated uncontrollably and had a peculiar smell that overweight people had if they did not keep their hygiene. She kept her head fixed on the open night road, thinking about the life she left behind.

1975

Cienfuegos Cuba

Alicia thought about growing up in Cienfuegos, Cuba, while on her journey. Cienfuegos is a beautiful small town that resides in the bay of Cienfuegos. The city of Cienfuegos was not like its other major cities. Cienfuegos was a little quiet town where everyone knew each other and kept to themselves. For Alicia growing up in Cienfuegos, there was nothing quiet about her home. Alicia was 14 at the time. Alicia lived inside a colonial-style house painted with pastel paint that chipped off the walls. Alicia lived with her mother (Marisol), her father (Fernando), and her seven-year sister (Yasmin).

Alicia grew up in a house where she witnessed her mother beaten daily when her father came home. Fernando was a military officer quickly rising through the ranks at the local army base. He was Lt. who responsible for policing the town. Fernando was understaffed, with few resources to do his job. Fernando was stressed, and he took his frustration out on Miranda. Miranda was a beautiful woman with mocha skin and curly hair, which Alicia and Yasmin inherited from her mother. However, the bruises n her face and swollen lip prevented Marisol’s beauty from being displayed.

When Miranda went to the market to shop, Marisol attempted to cover her scars with makeup like any other abused woman. Alicia helped her most of the time, which developed her passion for cosmetology. Even sewing her mother’s ripped closed after Fernando attacked Marisol gave her another passion for sewing.

1978

Alicia and Yasmin’s life changed for the worse. Fernando had a long day and is a body filled with cheap Cuban rum. Marisol just finished cooking dinner and set the table. Everyone waited for hours for Fernando to arrive. When he finally came home, he staggered to the table and plopped down in his seat with the rum bottle in his hand. He started eating Arroz con frijoles and pollo loco. He immediately spat it out.

“Aye! The food is cold!” Fernando said with a vile tone.

“I am sorry, love, but I tried to keep it warm,” Marisol replied, trembling with fear.

“You are useless. I don’t know why I married such a useless woman.” Fernando replied. Alicia and Yasmin looked down at their plates in fear. Marisol turned her head and started crying.

“Why do you treat me this way? Why in front of our kids.”

“You don’t ask me questions. I pay the bills here. If I say you are useless, that is all you need to know. You can’t cook, you can’t clean right! You can’t even fuck! I need a more useful woman, especially in bed!” Fernando replied. He looked at Alicia with lust in his eyes. Fernando was a scumbag who had watched Alicia for weeks as her body started filling out into her womanhood attributes. At times, he watched Alicia while getting dressed and made sexual comments that followed with the groping. He went too far and became lower than shitty sewer water.

He demanded Alicia go to her room. Alicia hesitated at first until he laid an open palm on her cheek. Alicia quickly got up and went to her room. Marisol looked at Alicia with wailing tears as he knew what Fernando wanted with her. Fernando followed as he took a swig of the rum. When Fernando closed the door, Marisol’s tears of anguish became tears of rage. She clenched a knife in her hands and told Yasmin to stay in her seat. Marisol immediately darted for Alicia’s bedroom door. She rushed in as Fernando unbuckled his pants with Alicia sitting on the bed with a fearful unnerving look.

“BASTARDO! NO,” Marisol shieked in horror. Marisol rushed towards Fernando, wielding the knife frantically.

Fernando threw his hand up, catching a deep gash on his forearm. Marisol was tempted to slice Fernando again, but he grabbed her wrist, preventing the blade from cutting his flesh. Overpowering Marisol, he pushed her back, causing her to stumble, hitting the back of her head against the corner of the dresser. Marisol lay lifeless with her eyes wide open and a pool of blood leaking onto the worn wooden baseboards. Alicia ran to her mother’s body and grabbed her frantically.

“Mama! Mama!” Alicia cried out in tears as her mother did not respond. Fernando looked at both women with a tired look of regret. He felt grief, but it was not enough to penetrate the rum in his bloodstream.

Fernando spent a few nights in prison. Alicia and Yasmin spent a few days in a Catholic orphanage. They felt safe until there Fernando came to retrieve them both. Fernando was demoted to a first-class offer and stripped from his high ranking in commanding his subordinates. The general covered up Fernando’s crime as his superiors downgraded it from murder to drunken public disturbance. He wrote of Marisol’s attack as self-defense but gave Fernando a strong warning to clean up his act. His commanding officer could not afford to lose any officers as he needed all his soldiers to police the streets.

Alicia and Yasmin spent a few nights in a Catholic border school, where they felt safe. However, their refuge did not last long. Fernando came for them and took them home. Since that day, Alicia inherited her mother’s curse in receiving Fernando’s wrath and sexual abuse.

In 1982

When Alicia turned 18 finally sought to escape her father. Castro was sending any political prisoners, criminals, and Cuban citizens he dimmed unworthy to maintain their Cuban citizenship. Alicia took Yasmin along for the boat ride; however, her father working the port as part of his daily patrol, saw his girls and detained them.

Fernando demanded his Yasmin and Alicia be released from his custody. The commanding officer released Yasmin to his care; however, Alicia was free to make her decision to leave the country. She was nineteen years old and was considered an adult, capable of moving away from her father’s control.