LULLABY

Camila stared back at the woman looking at her in the mirror.  Round ebony eyes, high cheekbones, a prominent jaw-line that adds an aristocratic touch to an otherwise very feminine and soft Hispanic face.  The woman's black wavy hair cascades over shoulders and falls down to cover the mounds of her endowed breasts.  She slowly brushes her hair and glances at the small clock propped at the dresser top.  "What could be taking him so long?" her mind flies, a faint smile on her full lips.  She thinks of Enrique.  Enrique, the only man she will ever love with complete abandon.  Enrique who gives her everything any woman needs,  all her desires; who pleasures her to great heights, not any man she ever had, have brought her to.  To have Enrique with her for a lifetime is her only happiness.  Camila looks at the woman in the mirror.  She sees an undeniable veil of sadness clouding her black eyes.  Ironically, the depth of sentiment is overshadowed by the tingling in her body.  She needs him tonight and the longer the minutes pass, the more she aches for him.

Enrique paces on the wide balcony of his bedroom.  He drags a cigarette and nervously peeks at the woman in bed.  His impatience building up every minute, the stirring in his groins were getting furious.  It happens every time he will go to Camila; the thought of her soft body wakens his manhood instinctively.   He observes the woman's breathing intently, the regular pace of the wheezing sound meant she was fast asleep.  He stubs his cigarette and walks soundlessly into the bedroom.  He gives one more glance at the woman, then carefully walked out of the door.


Camila was lying in bed over the covers.  She is completely naked.  She imagines how Enrique feels inside her.   She lets out a small gasp, closes her eyes and starts pleasuring herself.  The door opens without a sound.  Camila unknowingly continued moaning softly at her self-indulgence, she didn't notice the man standing by the door.
Enrique watches Camila with a wide grin on his face and a full erection.  He quickly undresses, careful not to make a sound, and crept towards the bed noiselessly.  He jumped her, covering her mouth with kisses to stifle her from screaming.  She kissed him back, passionately, her body heat increasing and wraps her legs around his naked body.  She grabs at his tool right away as he touches her wetness, he cooed, "You are a very naughty girl, Camila, were you thinking of me?"
She tugged at his hard dick, stroked it and said, "No.  I was thinking of him."  They giggled and went back kissing torridly, hungrily, their hands busy groping and fondling each other.  Enrique worked his kisses down from Camila's lips, jaw, chin, neck.  He cupped both her breasts, squeezed them together and buried his face between them. He alternately sucked on her nipples, making sloshing sounds like he is lapping a lemon rind, she hushed him,  "Sssshh, you are making too much noise."
He snickered, "Am I?" and went down to spread her legs, licked her and pushed two fingers inside her.  Her feet flexed and her muscles tensed.  She clenches her fist and bites it.  She tried to stop herself from screaming.  She grabbed onto Enrique's unruly, wavy hair and pushed his face into her.  He looked at at her, his eyes teasing, his tongue vigorously wagging on her clit, her body shook violently as she dripped all over his face.  Enrique shifts and lies on his back gently pushing Camila's head down to his crotch.  He was so hard his balls ached, his length touching past his navel. She went down and worked him.  He exclaimed, "Hijo de puta, Camila, eres tan muy caliente, you suck so good!" She stops and hissed between gritted teeth, "Que bruto Enrique, you make more noise and I am going to bite your fucking head off."  Enrique pleaded, "No por favor Camila, don't stop.  She is fast asleep.  She would never hear us.  Por favor..." and he slightly pushes her head down again.  Camila resisted once more.    "She is paralyzed Enrique, not deaf, loco!"

Enrique grabs Camila's hips and flips her over abruptly (he's 6'2" height and stocky frame was no match with her svelte 5'3" figure).  He roughly spread her butt cheeks, pulls her hair and pushes his swelling dick into her.  She completely loses it and shrieks.  He gets more excited and hammers faster, his groaning getting louder.  "I want to hear you Camila, do you want me to fuck you? Dime, do you like my hard banging? Eh?  Do you like my hard, big cock inside you? DIME!"  He barked.  "Si, si, me gusta mucho Enrique" she said under her breath. 
He bellowed, louder this time, "Dime Camila, I can not hear you!"  He pounds her harder and bores a finger into her anus.  She started wailing and cawing, "Si Enrique, oh mi Dios, yes, yes, yesss, ohhh fuck me.  Fuck me hard Enrique.  Harder! Faster!"  She screeched.  They hump and grind, harder and faster, their loud voices echoed on the walls, forgetting where they are, who they are.  She groaned, he growled, they cursed, they called each other's names.  The dirty talk and the squawking didn't stop; the bed springs chimed in, the head boards repetitively banged on the wall disruptive of the tranquillity of the night.


In the other room, the woman's breathing apparatus made irregular wheezing sounds.  Her vitals going in peaks and valleys.  Monica lies awake, unmoving, still.  Monica's complete paralysis was a result of a medical error of her anaesthesiologist during childbirth.  She lost her baby too, in the process.  That was two years ago.  She did not regain most of her faculties, unfortunately, her auditory sense is intact.  Enrique had hired Camila to be Monica's full-time Nurse and she took residence in their own house.  Monica always knew that Enrique and Camila are lovers.  Every single day, she prays and asks God, why she is still alive.  She believes in her heart that it would have been more peaceful and acceptable for all had she just died in the operating table with her baby.

Monica stares blankly at the night sky through the open balcony.  There are no stars.  She hears the sound of risqué sex in the other room.  Quiet tears stream down her cheeks, she badly wants to wipe them off, but she can't.  She closed her eyes and more tears gush out.  She shuts her mind and sings in her head; "Hush little baby don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird ..."

The Story of Claudia

Her head bowed, a long black lace veil covered her head, a beaded rosary clasped in her hands.  Once again, Claudia is in Church, a daily routine since she was 8 years old when she lost her father.  Raised as a devout Roman Catholic, she only knows one solution to all her problems.  Pray.

The day she married Javier, in a small ceremony attended only by four other people they considered as their mutual friends, it was raining very hard.  It is a sign of blessings and this pleased Claudia immensely.  A good omen.  She glowed and smiled.
And yet, here she is again, back on her knees, praying, pleading to God to tell her what to do with her life.  Seven years with Javier is Claudia's living hell.  She was only 17 years old, she fell in love and  truly believed that the man she married was her knight in shining armor. 
It did not take long for Javier to show his true colors; she was so forlorn  to find out that he drank excessively, soy un bastardo perezoso (is a lazy bastard), a wife beater, a sex addict and could not keep a job.  
Now, she is back where she started.  Claudia and Javier moved back to live with her mother, together with their daughter, Angelina who is a year and a half years old.  
Claudia's mother, Rosario, on the other hand;  has moved from one man to the next as soon as Claudia's father died.  Rosario is still relatively young and quite good looking like her daughter.  At 44 years old, they look more like sisters and people they meet say that all the time.  It makes Claudia feel uneasy, but her mother would always delightfully giggle about it. 
Rosario is now with Lucas, who must be the 5th or 6th man after Claudia's father.  But they are all the same.  They leave her when they have had enough of her.
Claudia can never understand in her simple mind how to reconcile what her mother tells her about faith in God and being prayerful, with her mother's seeming promiscuousness.  Like Claudia, Rosario prays everyday and keeps an altar by her bedside, a crucifix and a small statue of the Virgen Dolorosa or the Nuestra Señora de los Dolores.  She flatly explains that the men were gifts from God.  God has sent this men to her to love and in turn,  they take care of her, make her happy and keep her company until she dies.  
Claudia prays that someday she may understand and forgive her mother's indiscretions, because deep in her heart, she is disgusted by her behavior. Claudia truly fears that she will be struck by lightning if she ever tells anyone about her feelings.  Several times, she has tried to confess to Father Francisco her evil thoughts about her mother, but she was just too scared she will not be forgiven, so she kept it to herself.  She believes if she can pray the rosary three times a day, then she has served her penance well.  She also prays to her brother Angelo, who died when he was 5 years old due to pneumonia.  Claudia barely remembers him, she was much too young to understand what happened, the memory is a blur, she was barely 2 years old then. She believes that Angelo is an angel in heaven and is watching over her every day.
Two hours have passed and Claudia is still kneeling, quiet in her prayers.  This time she prays that whatever it is that those good-for-nothing neighbors whisper in her ears are not true.  Ever since they moved back to stay with her mother, the rumors began spreading across the small urban poor village they live in.  Word has it that Rosario and Javier have been cheating on Claudia and Lucas behind their backs.  Claudia does not know if Lucas has heard about this, and she refuses to be the person to bring it up with him.  They barely know each other, and there was something about him that did not feel right to her.  He was quite odd and different.  The few encounters they have would be when he comes to the house whenever he chooses, goes straight to the her mother's room and never comes out.  Her mother serves him food in the room.  Whatever it is that they do, and however the noise churns her gut upside down, Claudia pretends she does not hear.  Instead, every time Lucas is with her mother, she hums softly a lullaby to put her daughter to sleep.  Often, she falls asleep with tears in her eyes.
She prays for the  salvation of their souls.  In spite of what he is, Claudia knows she loves Javier, after all, he is the only man in her life and the father of her child.  It has been years since they made love.  But she welcomes this as Claudia has never felt good about having sex.  She feels dirty about it.  She believes it is too sinful an act, but obliges Javier dutifully when he insisted.  And this was also the best way for him not to beat her up.  The people in the village call Javier a "pendejo", a "verga", a good for nothing hijo de puta.  Claudia thinks that is not fair at all for them to judge her husband.   She prays that God should forgive them all.
After close to three hours, Claudia slowly stands up, feels the small needle pricks on her legs and walks over to the altar to light a candle.  She whispers a silent wish.  She makes the sign of the cross, genuflects and leaves the Church.
Claudia walks slowly back home, clasping a brown bag of canned goods, bread and milk for Angelina.  She earned a few pesetas doing laundry work  for Mrs. Chavez. She was about to knock when she realized she had food with her and walked to the back door instead that leads directly to the small kitchen and dining area.
As she moved inside, she quickly started fixing the food she has bought and was about to call Angelina, when she heard soft muffled voices.  She stood still.  Her heart was beating so fast and her head was spinning around thinking there could be some stranger in their house.  "Angelina!", she shouted in her head.  She grabbed the nearest knife, and walked towards the sounds.  She could hardly control her shaking but Claudia tried to steady herself, silently inching her way into the small room that was the makeshift Living Room area, and then she saw Angelina fast asleep in her cuna.   Claudia sighed.  
She could still hear the voices.  A man and a woman, the woman, she is laughing quietly.  And its coming from her mother's bedroom.  "Ah, Lucas", she thought, "he's here early today".
She was about to turn around and walk back to the kitchen when she heard her mother moan, "Oh Javier ... Javier, cojeme!"  
Tears welled in Claudia's eyes, her hand gripping the knife's handle tighter you could see the white in her knuckles ... then she heard Javier's voice, "Que son tan deliciosos Rosario .... uhhhmmm, tu coño esta muy dulce."


Claudia turns around, with her arm holding the knife raised above her head, her eyes glassy and filled with tears, she runs to the room and screams. A primal scream, guttural  - thick, grating,  like a wild animal growling.


Outside the house you hear a baby's loud bawling, like she had just been awakened from a very bad dream.