I go to open my mouth to say something but then there is the sound of little feet running into our—his bedroom, where I’m seated on his lap.
Before I can ask, Caleb is shifting to get out from under me, placing me gently on the bed and standing in time for a…child to round the corner.
“Daddy!” The little girl runs straight into Caleb’s arms and they hug.
I stand. My heart racing.
“Daddy?” They both turn to look at me with matching looks of amusement. The kid is probably no older than four and then she’s running in my direction, except I back away, and keep backing away, expecting to hit a wall but not finding one. And then the kid has its gangly arms wrapped around my legs.
“Hi, Mommy.”
THE FUCK?
I’m no one’s mom.
I look down to the girl, deep navy eyes paired with the most adorable mix of smooth caramel skin and light brown curls. She’s the kind of cute you want to squeeze, and my heart starts to slow as I feel Caleb’s finger on my cheek again.
Only, when I look up, he’s across the room.
“What—”
“Rosita!” My name is shouted by a voice I recognize instantly. I spin around, my feet tumbling on the edge of the roof—when did I get on a roof? I turn back, trying to find Caleb, trying to understand what the hell is going on. When I find him, he’s got the little girl crying in his arms. They stand in the stairwell, and the man holding the door from closing…
My father.
“Padré, what are you doing?”
“They don’t belong in our world, Rosita.”
“What—”
“You need to let them go!”
“No!” I can feel water falling down my face, my fingers reach up and I wipe, realizing I’m crying. “Padré, don’t do this.”
“If you won’t, I’ll be forced to do it for you.” He slams the door closed and gestures behind me. I spin again, stumbling but catching my footing before I fall. When I turn, my stomach nearly bottoms out.
Standing in a cage, hanging from a rope over a canyon, Caleb and the little girl.
“Mommy!” the girl screams, and Caleb just looks over at me, concern, sadness, and something like despair across his face as he holds the girl, attempting to soothe her. I don’t register the face of the girl. But something in my heart tells me she owns most of it.
“Say goodbye, Rosita.” My father’s words whisper close to my ear, and I watch as the cage drops and disappears into the fog below it. The only sound is the scream that burns and tears its way from my throat. I try to go to them, try to save them.
But my feet, they won’t move.
Why won’t they move?
A chain?
I follow the path with my eyes, watching it lead right to the hands of Mickey. He watches me with a saccharine smile, yanking on the chain tied to my ankles, pulling me back.
The air in my lungs dries up, my chest constricting, and I’m suffocating.
No. No! This can’t be happening, this can’t…NO!
Warm hands hold my face, thumbs swiping against my cheekbones, and I can hear the echo of Caleb’s call to me.
“Rosie.”
