Page 15 of Punished

I’ve spent the entire week doing clinic work and studying for upcoming tests. Thankfully, after the clown incident, I didn’t see Adrian again. It's midnight and my eyes are heavy. The lines on my textbook are starting to blur. Don Cheetos is meowing, and I hear the tv on in the living room. When I walk in, I see Alma is fast asleep on the couch, so I cover her with a blanket and head back to my room and lie down.

I decide to look for the profile Adrian had set up. I go through Osiel’s page and smile when I find it. There are no pictures, but his profile picture is one of him in some black shades with a smile. He had an authentic smile when he showed it. Full lips and perfectly straight teeth. There is a nagging part of me that wonders if he is even single. Thalia hasn’t mentioned anything.

That insecure part of me decides tonight, of all nights, to look up Diana’s profile. Her username isfuturemissmendezxo.Gag. Her entire identity is her relationship with Bryan. All her pictures, an online shrine of the two of them. Each one with a paragraph-long caption, talking about how perfect he is and how happy she is.

I have seen most of these pictures before. It is usually my go to activity to stalk her during my downward spirals. I can’t very well master self-sabotage if I don’t compare myself to the girl who both my exes favored after being with me. While healthy women sought therapies or get revenge bodies, I just dig a bigger hole for myself to hide in.

Diana is girly and flirty and fun. At least, her Instagram page tells that story. There is not one single picture on her page where she doesn’t have her hair curled and her face fully glammed. I look down at the Tapatio stain on my scrubs and groan. I wouldn’t date me either. I’m about to look up makeup tutorials when an incoming call comes through. I read the name GAEL. It’s Doctor Aguilar’s personal number.

“Gael?” I whisper. Calling him by his first name outside of the formalities always feels weird, but he had insisted I stop calling him by his title outside of the hospital.

“Mireya. Hey. I am on my way to the hotel. Something’scome up. Can I pick you up?” Alma and I usually share a car, and Gael lives close by, so he usually just picks me up when he is called out in the middle of the night like this.

“I’ll be outside.” I know this routine well. I grab my medical supplies, throw on a new shirt, and slip on my Vans. I text Alma, in case she wakes up and I’m not there. She is convinced there’s something more to my relationship with Gael, and I let her imagination run wild so I can avoid her questioning. When I get outside, I see him waiting for me at the curb.

“This is going to be different than what you’re used to seeing. I want to prepare you before we get there.” I already figured as much since we were going to the hotel. Usually, we are called directly to Patricio’s estate, or Conejo’s ranch, when there is a medical emergency. Something about tonight feels off, and I’m not sure I am prepared for what is coming.

When we get to the hotel, I see Thalia pacing the front entrance.

She rushes towards us. “Thank you both for coming.” There is panic in her eyes, and I can see the blood stains on her clothes.

“What’s going on?” I ask her, as we follow her through the quiet lobby and into the elevator. Gael had told me about the women they rescued. I couldn’t imagine whatshe had been exposed to prior to seeing us. Her eyes are red and puffy. When she goes to speak, her voice cracks. She gives Gael and me a brief summary of the events that had happened earlier that night. I am barely able to keep up after she mentions Soledad.

I shake my head in disbelief. I had known Adrian’s mother. When they first moved to the neighborhood, my mom had befriended her. They would go on nightly walks, often dragging me and Adrian along with them. That was how I met Adrian. He hadn’t acknowledged me much on those walks, but he always seemed protective over his mother. When we did become closer, I rarely saw her and he rarely mentioned her. Never once did he tell me she struggled with an addiction.

“Patricio has been looking for her for the last few years, since he found Adrian in jail,” she explains. “I need to warn you before we go in there, Mireya. She’s not okay. And Adrian is murderous right now. Don’t take anything personal.”

“Mireya, I want you to follow my lead,” Gael says. His voice is softer. He’s speaking to me as a friend, not as my superior. “I have dealt with these scenarios before, and if you feel like it’s too much, let me know right away, and I will have someone take you home.”

When we get up to Adrian’s penthouse, Thalia opensthe door. Patricio is still in his work clothes; his hair is disheveled and his tie is loose around his neck. He stands as soon as we approach him.

“Thank you both for coming on such short notice.”

Adrian is pacing behind the couch, and my eyes move from him to the woman lying on the couch, covered in a blanket. Her eyes are blank as she stares off into the distance. She has lighter, softer features compared to Adrian. Adrian and Thalia look a lot alike, but there are similar features he shares with his mother, too. Those same features are now marked with dirt. Her hair is tangled, her eyes red and swollen like she hasn’t slept in days. Not the same beautiful woman I remember. She looks broken and lost. My heart aches at the sight of her.

When she sees us enter, she sits up and looks around. Adrian’s eyes meet mine, and the rage consuming him is visible in the glare.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” He looks at Patricio, who frowns at him.

“Calm down,Adriano.Mireya is at the top of her class in nursing school, and Doctor Aguilar will only work in her company. We need to work in silence, and a trip to the hospital could jeopardize your mother’s safety.” His tone is calm and firm. I look to Gael.

“I can leave.”

“If she leaves, then I leave,” Gael says to Adrian. Gael has dealt with Adrian’s type before. Anytime he is disrespected, he pulls back immediately. He has gained respect amongst the Consuelos, and he is a necessity in their dark world of violence.

Fury burns in Adrian’s eyes. He won’t back down from Gael–I can see it–but then he looks to his mother. He begins speaking in Spanish, as if trying to call her back to reality. Back to him.

“Soledad, do you remember Constance?” Patricio asks, and her lifeless eyes meet mine as she nods. “This is her daughter, Mireya. She’s going to help you to the back room to examine you, and then we will clean you up. Thalia, can you get her some clothes?”

I grab my supplies and do a basic assessment, trying to be gentle as my hand goes over every bruise and wound. My heart breaks, and I want to cry, but I keep it together. I can’t even begin to imagine what this woman has been through. I stay professional, knowing it will build trust with her for when we need to move to the bigger inspections. I ask everyone to leave as Gael instructs me on how to do a rape examination. I hold back my tears as I follow his every instruction.

Her soul is wounded–I feel it–the same way my own has been wounded. The work I’ve done with Gaelhas never been this intense. We mostly deal with bullet wounds, or broken bones, but this is different. As soon as I’m done, Gael takes the samples he needs to make sure she doesn’t have any STDs or an unwanted pregnancy. She trembles under my touch.

“Breathe, Soledad. It’s just me. It’s Mireya. You are here, in this moment; you are safe, and you are cared for,” I say and repeat the mantra over and over to remind her that we are in the present, to remind her that she is safe. Something I learned from an empath lecture one of my teachers gave my first year of nursing school.

Sometimes, it just took a kind voice, a mantra, or affirmation to ground you. Words that provided you with a small light in the dark tunnel of your mind. Right now, it is just me and her in this room. A nurse and a patient. The markings of her drug use run along her arms and toes. I touch each one, as if some healing power will radiate out of me. As if I can take the pain away from her. Eventually, she looks up to give me a broken smile.

I walk her into the living room and sit next to her and hold her hand. Adrian never takes his eyes off us. When Thalia returns with some clothes, I ask Patricio to help me get her into the bathroom. He goes to pick Soledad up off the couch.

---