Psychopomp: A Novella Read Online Free Page B

gracias a dios, you cleaned the bathrooms .” He started to turn away but then he thought better of it. His arm swung around, his open palm connecting with my cheek.
    I sank down to the floor as he stalked upstairs to clean the filth from beneath his fingernails. My eyes were dry, and not just because I refused to cry in front of Harkin. Anden had hit me many times before, so I was used to the quick, stinging pain and the bruises throbbing on my swollen face. He would apologize to me in a few days, like he always did.
    And I would forgive him. Or at least that was what he’d believe.
    Blanca came downstairs with the baby as I pulled myself up off the floor. She faced the kitchen and waited for Harkin to notice her.
    He shut off the faucet at last and turned, stopping short. “What’s that?”
    She smiled and blinked her long lashes. “Tu hija.”
    “What the hell?” He blinked in shock and confusion.
    “You were gone, so I couldn’t tell you.” Her eyes began to fill. “Are you mad?”
    “No—”
    Anden shot back down the stairs. I tensed, worried for Blanca. She was too soft to bear my brother’s wrath.
    Snarling, he jabbed a finger at her. “You got yourself knocked up and didn’t do a damn thing about it? Idiota. You think our resources aren’t strained enough? You’re feeding it from your rations. Don’t expect anyone else to help you!”
    “Hey,” Harkin said sharply. “We won’t. Come on, B.”
    They went upstairs together, Blanca sniffling. Ignoring me, Anden went out for liquor so he could celebrate having returned safely. He’d sold a catch, too, so poverty and starvation and death were thwarted once more.
    That night, I sat on the roof, listening to the blare of the TV. Occasionally Anden would shout out at it. The sea was black, the lights of the harbor like gems washed atop the water. The indistinct shapes of moored boats bobbed softly, masts striking up at the sky. To the east were the desalination plants, low and lit in acid-green.
    My chest filled with some emotion I couldn’t name. It was something I had felt many times in the past three years. For a moment, I had the feeling my life was going to change inexorably. I let out a long, soft sigh and bit my lip hard.
    Shimmying over the edge of the roof, I lowered myself until my toes touched the windowsill. I reached down to grab the top of the frame and bent myself inside my room, knees first. The sheer green curtains fluttered around me.
    Then I went to bed. Nothing ever changed.
     

5. el vestido
    The quiet morning belonged to me. I ate in front of the screen, which no one had turned off the night before. My eyes grew wide and hot as I watched the unimaginable horrors people endured and performed all over the world. Murders, abandonment, quests for eternal youth. The wars for rights to forests and newly-discovered aquifers overseas. Our tireless soldiers won battles effortlessly and without spilling a drop of their own blood.
    Unable to stand it, I shut off the screen. Everything I saw on it made me miss Mamá with startling ferocity, especially on a lonely morning like this. And then I’d hate her for leaving me in Anden’s care, at the mercy of the world.
    She was probably dead by now. I kept telling myself that.
    “Get over it,” Anden had said once when I’d tried to talk to him about how I felt. “She’s gone. Papá’s gone. If I ever wanted them back, it’s only so I wouldn’t be stuck with you .”
    “Thanks,” I’d muttered.
    “You should thank me more often with all I do for you.”
    Blanca said he was stressed and under pressure. That I should try not to be such a burden. But she didn’t understand how alone and unloved I felt.
    Pell came by, as she always did when she’d spotted his boat. “How’d it go?” she asked.
    “They had a nice catch,” I said. I left out the part where he’d hit me. The shiny bruise on my cheek spoke for itself.
    “I had a good night last night. Fifty credits.”
    I nodded. I