Jim and Migo

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The crunch of the worn cobblestone comforted Miguel as he walked past his childhood home. The old sliding door had been painted dark evergreen and actually looked quite nice compared to the scratched up black that it had been when he, Mama, and his brothers had lived here. Clothes hung from a line held by the two upstairs windows and the shutters had been painted green as well. The building, once a lighter yellow, was now a darker musty brown-orange; it went quite nicely with the green if you ignored the fact that it was only so due to the dirt and grime that had accumulated over the decade. The building next to his was where Jimena used to live. He remembered the countless nights they had spent throwing balled up papers of notes to one another when they couldn’t sleep. Jimena’s father, Coreo, was an angry man and he didn’t like Miguel speaking to her. He remembered that one of the last nights he saw her, Coreo found them passing notes about the feelings they had for each other. It was horrible listening to what happened after that. But what could he have done? He was only ten at the time and his older brothers, Ornelio and Kiko, physically wouldn’t let him leave. 

“You can’t help with this one Migo,” they said solemnly, “we want to help too, but in the end, she’s his daughter; no one can do anything.”

After that night, Miguel only saw Jimena at school, where they’d exchange solemn looks, but never dared to speak again. A few times she would not be there and would come in the next day, sporting black eyes and bruises across her face. She would walk funny, like it hurt to even move, but nobody saw anything because she always wore clothing that covered her entire body, even in summer, when temperatures would reach over a hundred. Eventually when Miguel was around fourteen, Coreo, realizing what his reputation had become, decided to move away, taking a silently crying Jimena with him.

Miguel kicked at some stones along the path, snapping out of his thoughts. He was twenty-five now and Jimena was two years older so she must have gotten out of the house ages ago. He knew what he had to do. He was going to find her.