A few days later, on her walk home from school. Belinda noticed police cars and other marked cars on her street from afar. She knew right away why they were there. As she continued to get closer, she could finally see that they were parked outside Miss Nancy’s house.
She felt uneasy at how quickly they found her; she thought it would take more time. She couldn’t even smell her when she walked past the house earlier that morning. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she approached one of the cops standing by his vehicle taking notes.
“Excuse me, officer, what’s happening?” Belinda asked.
“The resident of this house passed away. I can’t give out more details. I’m sorry,” the cop answered.
She slowly walked away, leaving the cop to finish his notes. He didn’t seem to pay attention to her anyway; she walked past him with ease.
At her house, her parents were staring out the window. Camille had called Antonio to leave work early; he had gotten home around noon. Camille thought it might have been a violent act. Miss Nancy was notorious for making enemies. While her assumptions were correct, Belinda couldn’t say otherwise.
Belinda went to her room, leaving her door cracked open, and dropped her backpack on her bed. She sang softly as she unpacked her homework.
“Pin Pon es un muñeco,
Macabro y pálido.
Se lava su carita,
Con sangre y ácido.
Pin Pon se desgarra el pelo,
Invocando un gran llanto,
Aunque se lo arranque todo,
Él no para aquí.”
Camille stood outside Belinda’s door, listening to the song. She could have sworn she had heard it before but couldn’t place where. The song made her feel uneasy. She realized that the song was in Spanish; she tried to memorize the lyrics quickly, but Belinda had already moved across the room.
Suddenly, the door swung open, and Belinda’s mother appeared, spying on her through the crack. Belinda’s facetensed with anger as she glared at her mother. Camille watched her, standing there frozen, unsure of what to do next.
“I didn’t mean to… never mind. Can you come downstairs? Your dad and I want to talk to you,” Camille said before walking back downstairs.
Moments later, Belinda made her way back downstairs and noticed her parents back on their usual spots on the couch; their routine annoyed her.
“We wanted to talk about Miss Nancy. As you already know, she passed away,” Camille said.
“How?” Belinda asked.
“Well, they don’t know. But what we do know is that no one broke into her home, and she most likely died of natural causes. Her window was open, and well, some animals got into the house and ate a lot of the evidence. We are not worried about someone doing things to people on our street though. The street is still safe,” Camille continued.
“Is it though?” Belinda asked with a smirk.
“What do you mean?” Antonio asked.
“You don’t think I know about the mansion?” Belinda replied.
“Go to your room!” Antonio yelled back at her, pointing upstairs with his shaking finger.
Belinda ran upstairs, both infuriated and relieved. She wasn’t ready to get caught, not yet at least. She still needed to finish her task. She didn’t have much time.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Camille turned to Antonio to ask him about his Spanish.
“You said that you never learned Spanish, right?” Camille asked.
“Yes, you know this. Why are you asking?” he replied.
