Page 114 of Sombra
Kim’sdazed eyes freeze open, and she steps back, reaching out for the door jamb to hold. She’s trembling, and her skin is so pale, I fear she’s going to faint. The noise that comes out of her mouth sounds like she’s drowningand can’t get a breath. Her jaw opens and closes. “Oh, God! Seriously, Sonia?” She turns and runs out the way she came.
I pull away from this snake in my bed and tear off after Kim in the dark night lit by the string of lights between the house and the windows of the buildings. I bellow, “Kim! Wait! Wait!”
Before I get to her, she’s collided into my mother, and they both hold eachother by the arms for a moment before releasing.
“Hostia,” says my mother, looking bewildered, then angry. “What is going on here? Why all the yelling?”
“I’m so sorry,” Kim breathes, holding her stomach. “I didn’t mean—” Then she sees me, and her anger explodes. “I can’t believe Sonia’s in your room! Naked! On your bed!”
Astonished, my mother turns to me. “Sonia is naked inyour house?”
My eyes roll to the heavens. “Madre, I don’t need you here. I need to talk to Kim.”
“Fine. Talk to her.” She steps back, but doesn’t leave.
Kim shivers in the cold, and I reach out to hold her, but she pulls away from me, muttering, “This is just too much.”
“I need you to go,” I say to my mother. “You’ve been nothing but against me and Kim. You can’t solvethis. I’ve made up my own mind to be with her.”
But Kim shakes her head.
“I know what’s best for you,” my mother starts, but Antonio and Guillermo come sprinting out of the house.
Fuck.
“No you don’t!” I tell my mother.
“What is going on?” Guillermo asks.
“Nada,” I say. Kim tries to get around my mom, and I run and square off to her, my eyes searchingfor hers. “It wasn’t what it looked like.”
She bursts into tears. “It looked really bad, Tavo. You have to see it from my point of view. I come here, and I learn that you’re supposed to marry her. I know you don’t want to, or say you don’t want to, but I’ve seen you kiss her. You admit you fucked her.” Antonio and my mother have a collective intake of breath while Guillermo looks pissed.“And right now I find you with her when she’s naked in your bed. You’re on top of her. We just talked about it. I believe you. I trust you. But this is … it’s too far, Tavo.”
“Kim, she was like that when I walked in there. I didn’t do anything.”
She nods, but Guillermo steps forward, his face full of fury and his hands in fists. “Wait, you were fucking Sonia again? You told me youdidn’t even like her,cojon.Me cago en la puta.”
Jesus, will this ever end?
“I didn’t. This is all a mistake,” I start, but my abuelo and Mari Carmen come walking briskly up.
No. Fuck, no.
“What’s all this racket?” my abuelo says. “Why is everyone yelling?”
Leche. No audience. Just get me with Kim. I need to be alone with Kim. I’m safe when I’m with Kim.
No such luck. Now everyone circles around us.
“You have to believe me,” I plead to Kim.
She bursts into tears. “I do. I did. I don’t know what is going on. I thought what we had was real.”
“It is real, amor.”
Kim shakes her head. “There’s so much going on here, I don’t know where to start.”
My mother gestures to Kim. “Why are you making such a scene?”
