Chapter 27
“Leo, I thought you’d be at work by now.” Mamá’s voice sounded just as surprised as Leo’s.
“You caught me as I was about to walk out. Why don’t you walk with me?” Leo tried to block the entrance of the door to keep their mother from entering.
“Pues, I figured you were super busy with work, and I didn’t want Esmie to miss the Downtown Internship Fair, so I came to make sure she went,” Mamá stated matter-of-factly while she tried to peer around Leo’s much taller but lankier frame.
“But the long days ended yesterday. I got a reprieve today to take her.” Leo put his arm against the door frame.
Esmie’s head swiveled searching for a place to hide.
If she tried to sneak past Leo toward the bedroom or bathroom, Mamá would most definitely see her.
She could hide in the kitchen. Samson would just have to move out of the way.
Esmie ducked behind the couch, waving her arms to get his attention as he stood frozen at the entrance to the kitchen still holding the plate.
Eventually he noticed her mouthing for him to move. His eyebrows hitched up, then he set the plate down as quietly as possible and crept out of the entrance toward the living room. Esmie crouched low, peeking around the couch to see if she could move from her hiding place.
“But you said you were going in right now.” Esmie could hear Mamá becoming agitated which wasn’t a good sign.
“I-I was but just to get something real quick and then come back in time to take Esmie myself. You didn’t have to come all this way; I got it.” Leo placed a hand on their mother’s shoulder to steer her out. She shrugged him off.
“Good, then we can all go as a family,” Mamá said before she ducked under Leo’s arm, entering the foyer area and surveying the small apartment with a keen eye. Esmie hissed under her breath. Getting to the kitchen was impossible now. “Who are you?”
Samson licked his lips, his eyes darting from Mamá to Leo to Esmie then brought his eyes back to Mamá. He pointed at his chest. “Me?”
Mamá released an exasperated breath and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes you. Who are you? Are you the owner of these apartments? Because you need to talk to your doorman. He just let me up, without me showing my ID or anything. Just took my word I was Leo’s mother.”
“Mamá, this is Samson. He’s my roommate. And a colleague.” Leo interjected, forcing his way in front of Mamá again. Esmie dared herself not to breathe as Mamá’s ears were as keen as her eyes.
“Your roommate?” Mamá’s eyes narrowed, roving up and down Samson while she assessed him. Samson lifted his shoulders then stepped forward extending his hand.
“Buenos dias, Se?ora Morales. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Your son Leo is a fine young man, and my best friend since moving to Andloor. He heard I was searching for an apartment and was having a hard go at it, so he offered to let me stay here until I found something. In return, he can borrow my car whenever he needs to, and I of course help with utilities.”
“What happened to your car?” Mamá’s head swiveled back to Leo. Samson grimaced.
“I thought I told you. I sold it to set aside money for a house en Las Afueras someday.”
“They aren’t called that anymore.” Mamá snapped looking around as if the Andloor Capitol police would come by and arrest Leo.
“You know what I mean. Having Samson here is helping me save money so I can move closer to home and not be downtown anymore.” This seemed to pacify Mamá as she gave an approving nod.
“I always told you it is better to live en Las…The Suburbs. I don’t know why you decided to move away.
You could have saved money at home too, you know.
” Leo pursed his lips at Mamá’s scolding.
It was futile to argue with her, especially when she was proven right.
“I’m just glad you came to your senses and won’t raise a family downtown.
And you.” She diverted her attention back to Samson.
“You said you moved here. From where?” Mamá missed nothing.
“From a place very far away.” Samson gulped when Mamá stood by waiting for her answer.
Emsie’s ears perked up as well as she also wanted to know the answer.
“But since living here in Andloor and having Leo show me so much, especially about Las Afueras—I mean The Suburbs, I too am saving my money to buy a house there, so I don’t have to raise a family here. ”
“Que bueno. It is very smart of you. So, you want to raise a family? You have a girlfriend?”
“Mamá.” Leo hissed. She ignored him, hardening her stance by spreading her legs further and straightening her shoulders. Although she was more than a foot shorter than Samson, her presence made her seem eight feet tall.
“No, technically not, but I do have someone in mind.” Samson’s jaw flexed as he matched Mamá’s intense gaze.
Esmie gasped, staring up at his side profile.
The admission to her Mamá was the most any man had ever even dared to admit to her.
Leo didn’t even tell Mamá of his intentions with the girls he briefly dated.
Between Samson’s earlier question and stating to her Mamá his intentions, the air felt like it had fled the room, leaving only Esmie’s raw emotions on display.
“Esmie?” Mamá asked.
“What?” Leo and Samson responded at the same time. Did Mamá know Samson meant her? Even Leo didn’t know about them.
“Nena, what are you doing on the floor like that?” Mamá scolded. Esmie’s face turned to her mother’s, her eyes wide with fear. She willed herself to hide the purple on her face. “?Que es eso en tú cara?!”
Crap. No luck. Esmie slowly stood but before she could fully straighten, Mamá yanked her up the rest of the way, then pulled Esmie’s face down to her level to inspect the purple.
She rubbed the area hard near Esmie’s temple, to see if it would come off.
When it didn’t, she took a step back, her light brown eyes roving over Esmie’s face trying to make sense of what was happening.
“Mamá, I can explain.”
“Is it a tattoo?”
“No.”
“Is it the dye stuff some of the women use? You know, the one that goes on your hands.”
“Henna?” Leo offered.
“Sí, eso.”
“No, Mamá.”
“Did someone hurt you? Did they hit you?” Mamá searched the apartment as if the culprit would step out. Her eyes landed on Samson who put his hands up.
“Mamá, just listen!” Esmie stomped her foot.
Mamá brought her attention back to Esmie.
Esmie let out a breath. “I went to Nightcrawler last week to see the group Maldado. I know you told me not to go but Mindy got tickets, and you know how much I love them, so I went. Unfortunately, the place was raided by police. Don’t worry, we didn’t get caught, but when I was running, I slipped on some glass someone had spilled on the floor in the alley.
I pricked my eye, and this happened.” Esmie pointed at her face.
“So, you didn’t have pink eye the day you went to the internship fair at school?”
“No. Well, at the time I didn’t know what it was. When I went to school, I ran into Leo who saw my face. He rushed me to his lab, and he and Samson treated me to stop it from spreading.”
“It’s called purple glass.” Leo interjected shooting Esmie a pity look.
“It’s a drug Andloor Capitol created. I think someone was distributing it at the club, which is why it was there to begin with.
I needed to bring Esmie here because otherwise she would have died.
The properties of purple glass have a high amount of radiation in it.
Samson helped me and we administered a cure to Esmie before she got worse. ”
“Have you shown any powers?” Mamá asked calmly. Esmie sputtered on her words. How did Mamá know about glass having powers? Mamá’s calm demeanor was more frightening than if she exploded in anger. Esmie almost wished for anger instead. She nodded, lifting the coffee table, then turning on the tv.
“How did you know Esmie would show powers?” Leo crossed his arms, staring at their mother with the same incredulous look Esmie probably had on her face too.
Mamá sighed. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about your Papi and me.
When we lived in downtown Andloor, when you were small, we owned a company that worked with Andloor Capitol.
We were there when glass was created. It was some contest a young kid won who didn’t know any better.
They took advantage of him and stole his idea, worked on it for years until it became what it is today.
While Papi and I didn’t agree with it, they continued anyway.
There was always talk of them creating more potent ones.
Ones which would give the user many powers.
Papi and I left before it came to fruition.
We had hoped to spare you both from exposure to this, but I see we failed. ”
Esmie’s mouth opened and closed, unsure of what to say.
Her parents were always worried about downtown Andloor, and this was a small piece as to why.
Hiding it never did anything to help. It only fueled her and Leo’s curiosity.
Having open, honest conversations would have helped put an end to their confusion, especially Esmie’s desires.
“Why didn’t you tell us anything? You just blindly wanted us to comply without understanding why. What else are you not telling us?”