Escaped (The Beginning)

Chapter 1
Run. Run. My legs are faster than my brain, they are already half way down the road by the time my mind catches up, throwing up dirt and rocks from the unpaved roads of Columbus. The only thing I can think about is getting away, going home and getting safe. Stupid Jess. Stupid, dumb, immature Jess. He is one of my best friends, but he is always getting us in trouble. He just can’t keep his mouth shut. As I run, I try not to think about what he said, but of keeping my legs moving as fast as possible. My shirt is clinging to my skin, and my hair is matted down to my scalp. The hot New Mexico sun is relentless, making it even harder to keep going. By the time I get the little house into my sight, I am about to pass out. I run in and slam the door, locking it. I methodically go through the house and lock everything, then grab the little ball of fur at my heels and fly into the bath tub, closing the curtain behind me. Silence. Indigo is shaking so bad I think he’s going to seize. But the little cocker spaniel is tough, and he keeps it together. He should get used to this, if I’m going to continue being friends with Jess. I try not to think about what happened, but it’s the only thing I can focus on. Jess being a complete ass, provoking the gang as usual. The Islanos gang is one of the worst gangs to mess with, so of course Jess would go there. Making fun of the leader and the groupies, he just wouldn’t stop, and they got pissed. So here I am, hiding from them. Lovely.
After what seems like an hour, I get up and look outside. Nothing. The Islanos either didn’t follow me, or they didn’t care about a stupid little teenage girl. I look in the mirror. My midnight hair is a complete mess, flying at every angle out of my ponytail. My tanned skin is shiny with sweat, and still red from the run. My freckles are even darker than usual. And of course, my gray eyes are a dark stormy shade that only comes out when I’m pissed. I start to smooth back my hair into another ponytail when my cell rings. I look at the caller ID, its Jess. I flip it open and prepare myself to scream at him. “You little-!”
“Chill! I’m sorry and I’m fine.” A pause. He’s waiting for me to answer, but I just sit quiet, waiting for the begging. “Jules. Jules! Please forgive me. You know I didn’t want you to get in trouble. Right? You know that, right? Jules. Please! Come on. I thought we were friends.”
“We are friends. But I can’t believe you were so stupid! You could’ve gotten us killed. Killed! You know the Islanos will rip us to shreds if they get the chance! We are eternally screwed.” I flip my phone shut, fuming. He’ll be here in about five minutes, if I’m lucky. Typical Jess.
Jess isn’t my only friend, though. He and I are just two of our group of five. He will probably have the other three, Emilio, Ailen, and Ria. Since Columbus is so close to the Mexican border, most of the names are Spanish, and the main language is Spanish. And of course, we have Mexican gangs. You can’t be an official gang until you’re eighteen, so all the kids just hang in groups until we can be official. Ria and I want to be the Linguistas, but Emilio, Jess, and Ailen think it’s too girly. But that’s a conversation for another time. Right now I have to get ready for the group to come over.
Fifteen minutes later, I hear a knock on the door, and then the door opening. “We’re here!” Emilio shouts. I hear them cross the living room and enter the kitchen, where I’m getting drinks for everyone. “I don’t know where Jess is, though.” As I hand one to Ria, she gives me a once-over.
“You okay?” She asks.
“Yeah, I’m fine. But I wonder where Jess is?” I look around, and everyone shrugs. Obviously, no one really cares.
“Chill girl,” Emilio says. “He didn’t do nothin’ too bad. He’ll be fine.” I sit down at the table, then get up again and start pacing. Now I’m really thinking about what could have happened to Jess. If he was as fast as me, which I know he is, he should have been here by now. He sounded fine on the phone, but that was over fifteen minutes ago.
“I think something’s up.” I look at Ailen, Jess’ best friend. They’re practically attached at the hip, so it would stand to reason that Ailen would have a feeling if everything was okay.
“What are you looking at me for? I don’t know where he is. He’s probably just messing with you, and he’s succeeding.” Ailen goes and sits down at the table, tapping his fingers nervously. Now that I’ve brought it up, everyone looks kind of uptight. So I sit down and wait with Ailen.


Thirty minutes later, we hear the front door open. I jump up and run to the living room, expecting the worst. “Jess! What the hell happened?”
“I’m fine.” He’s obviously not fine. His hair and face are dirty, and his clothes are ripped. Plus, he has cuts all over him. “It’s nothing. It just looks bad.” He runs a hand through his hair, and inspects his now-bloodied hand and makes a face.
“Come on, we need to clean you up! You’re a mess!” I grab his hand and drag him to the bathroom and crack open the first-aid kit. “Now tell me what happened, and don’t leave anything out or I will punch you.”
He grins at me and starts in on his story. “Well, after you left, I started running home. Of course, I wasn’t fast enough, because the Islanos caught up with me pretty damn fast. The fat one grabbed me and threw me into the middle of their circle, and they started kicking and punching me. I tried to get away, but that just made them angrier, and they got even more aggressive. When they were done, they threw a pebble at my head and ran away. So I got up and came here. So I’m fine. No big deal.” He shrugs, and flinches as I put antiseptic on a couple of his cuts. “Can you be a little gentler?”
“But I thought you were fine!” I tease. “And I’m pretty sure they threw a rock, not a pebble. Your head is really bloody. “I see his face cringing in pain, and I try to be more gentle. “So they beat you up?”
“I think the kicking and throwing things classifies as beating up.” He shrugs again, and then tries to adjust himself on the edge of the tub. He flinches, so I decide to check his ribs. I press me fingers just barely against his side, and he screams in pain. “Jesus Christ, Jules! Stop it!” He smacks my hand away, and then starts to stand up.
“Jess! Stop being so macho and sit down! We need to get you to Deming. I think they broke your ribs.” He glares at me, and then agrees to go. When I go into the kitchen to tell everyone, they all look at me.
“So? How is he?” Emilio stands up from the table and walks towards me. “Do I need to bring him to the hospital?”
I nod and fill them in. “The Islanos beat him up, and I think his ribs are broken. I just barely touched them and he screamed, but I’m sure you heard that. Emilio, can you take him?” Emilio nods and goes to the bathroom. We hear more screaming and some inappropriate phrases from Jess, and then the front door opening and closing.
“Alright,” I say. “Let’s get down to business. Jess was an idiot, and although he’s hurt, he does need to be punished. I think that we should expel him from the group for two weeks. Any objections?” I look around and see that there are none. I nod and say, “Then it’s agreed. Since Emilio isn’t here, Jess is expelled for now.”
“Damn, that was harsh.” Ailen stands up from where he’s been sitting at the table and starts pacing angrily. “Stupid Jess.”
“Look, he could have gotten us killed. As of right now, we don’t even know if they’re hunting for us or not. They already got Jess, so who knows if they’ll come after us?” I give Ailen an apologetic look, but he doesn’t pay any attention.
“Well now we have one less member for two weeks. How are we going to survive the weekends without him?” The weekends are the worst time for groups. All of the gangs are out and patrolling the neighborhoods, looking for any stray kids to pick on, and possibly kill if the kid is stupid enough and provokes them. That’s what happened to the sixth member of our group, Yasmine. She was going to the store to get her mom something for dinner that night when she was jumped and killed. They traced a fingerprint back to Joon, the leader of the Marx gang. After Joon was sentenced for murder, the Marx gang broke up and the guys all moved to different states to get away. So now our group never goes out after dark, and we always pay respect to Yasmine on the anniversary of her death, May 13th.
“We just won’t go out at all, duh,” Ria said.
“Or we could tell Jess that he’s not expelled.” Ailen suggested. He usually only spoke to Jess, so of course he would want Jess back. “He didn’t get anyone hurt but himself. I better get going anyways. I won’t be around for the next two weeks much. I think I’ll go to El Paso. Bye.” Ailen left, obviously mad that we wouldn’t be soft on Jess. Whatever. He needs to grow up and understand that Jess is an eternal screw-up.
“El Paso? Really?” Ria rolled her eyes. “He is such a wimp. Hey, Jules, you wanna go to El Paso? Ooh, we could shop and stay in a nice hotel-“
“Ria. If you didn’t notice, we don’t have the money to go to El Paso. We also don’t have a ride. Like our parents would let us go to Texas for a week alone? Yeah right.” I walked to the living room and sat down on the old couch. I started messing with the holes in the fabric and tried to reason with her. “And do you really want to be in the same town as a mad Ailen? I know I don’t. We’ll be fine here with Emilio and Jess.” I watched as she plopped down next to me on the couch and started playing with the frayed edge of a hole.
“I actually do want to be in the same town as Ailen. You know how I feel about him.” She got that dreamy look on her face that she always gets when she talks about Ailen. The girl was lovesick. Not that I’m jealous or anything. I’m not. I just wish that I had an Ailen. “You know what, Jules? I think you and Jess should be a couple. You two are perfect for each other!”
“You’re funny, Ria. Really funny.” I didn’t even want to think about it. Me and Jess? Yeah, right. I can’t even stand being in the same room with him for more than five minutes. Well, except to patch him up.
“Alright, deny it. But just you watch, the two of you will end up together.”
If only she knew how wonderfully wrong she was.


Chapter 2
Sometimes, I really hate living in New Mexico. It’s so hot. Too hot. I’m wearing my usual jean shorts and cami, and I’m still burning hot. Emilio and Ria are sweating buckets too. We decided to go for a walk and see if we could find anything to do, but there isn’t much. Columbus is just too small, and Deming is just too far away.
I was dreaming about living in El Paso when Emilio speaks up. “Um, guys, I think we should turn around.” I look around, but I can’t see anything that would make him nervous.
“Emilio, stop messing around. It’s too hot.” Then I see what’s making him nervous and my stomach twists into knots. It’s the Islanos!
“Oh my god you guys! Who are the beating on?” Ria starts to run forward, but not before Emilio picks her up and turns her around. “Emilio! I just wanna see who’s getting killed!” Ria turns around again, but Emilio blocks her way.
“Ria. If you don’t remember, the Islanos are hot on our trail. If you go near them, they will see us and stop killing whoever that is, and start killing us!” Emilio starts running, and I follow close behind. My long, tan legs are built for escaping, but Ria, who is the shortest person I know, is having difficulty keeping up. Emilio looks back and notices how far behind she is. “Keep up! If they see us, we’re dead meat!” He starts sprinting faster, and I kick it up a notch. I feel like I’m flying, but I’m also scared to death. I hear Ria panting behind me, but I’m sure she will be fine.
Soon enough, Emilio’s house is in our sight, and we run even faster. Emilio gets there first, and opens the door for me and Ria. Once we are all inside, we run around and lock everything. Emilio yells for us to go to the basement, and that he would be there in a second. So Ria and I ran into the basement, and she immediately plopped down on the old couch, exhausted.
“Ugh. I am so ridiculously tired!” Ria threw her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. “Wake me up when it’s safe to go out.” And with that, Ria checked out.
“Alright, I’ve got the book.” Emilio came charging down the stairs, almost tripping at the bottom. “This book is going to save our asses. My brothers wrote this for me before they moved out, and it should tell us everything we need to know about how to apologize to gangs that hate us.” He sat down next to me on the floor and handed me the book. I opened it to the first page and started reading.
“Alright Emilio, we figured you would need this. So you got in trouble, huh? Not surprising when you hang out with Jess. So here’s what you do. If you’re in trouble with a gang, which we’re sure you are, just apologize. Go up to them when they aren’t overly pissed, and just tell them you’re sorry, Jess is a retard, and ask if you’re cool. Easy enough bro?” I laughed at this last sentence. “Wow, Emilio! Your brothers really thought Jess was gonna screw up!” I close the book and drop it on the floor next to me.
Emilio looks at me, completely serious. “Jules, they were right. But what if the Islanos don’t accept our apology? What if Tobias and Toro were wrong?” He throws his head dramatically into his hands.
“Emilio. Please. It’s going to be fine!” Ria moves off the couch and leans against Emilio. I find this a little weird, but don’t say anything. “Come on. Stop worrying.” Emilio turns his head toward her, and I look away. His eyes are burning into hers, and it feels like a private moment. I’m confused. How did this happen? Weren’t we just talking about being in trouble? Since when are Emilio and Ria in love? Or together? Are they together? My mind is whirling around when Emilio speaks again.
“I think it’s safe. You two should get going.” He gets up and heads upstairs, probably to his room. I look at Ria, but she ducks her head so I can’t see her expression, so I start up the stairs and head for the door. I need to think about this. Emilio and Ria? Ria and Emilio?
“Jules!” Ria comes running toward me, and stops at my side. “You going home?”
“Nah. I’m think I’m just going to walk around for a little bit.” I can tell Ria’s waiting for an invitation to tag along, but she’s not getting one. I just need to think for a little bit.
Ria finally speaks after a few awkward moments. “Alright. I guess I’ll go home. Or maybe I’ll visit Jess. See ya later.” She walks out the door and heads north, towards Jess’ house. Does the girl really need another boyfriend?
I start walking south, and walk straight across Arizona Drive, and into the desert towards Mexico. I just can’t wrap my head around Ria and Emilio together. I get that people can be with whoever they want, but the groups and gangs are just so structured here. You are told who you are going to be with for the rest of your life when you’re five. Everyone just always assumed that I was going to be with Jess, but I don’t think so. I’ve never been able to see how anyone could be with someone they don’t even love. And I thought Ria was in love with Ailen. Well, at least that’s what she said. I guess I can’t trust her anymore on matters of her heart. And Emilio. What excuse did he have? I thought he was still getting over Yasmine.
Yasmine and Emilio were considered soul mates when they were seven. They started dating when they were eleven, and Yasmine died when she was fourteen. How could Emilio be over her so fast? They were always together, and after she died he was crushed and didn’t come out for weeks. When he finally left his house, he kept saying that he could never love anyone else, over and over and over again. So it stands to reason that he shouldn’t be snuggling up with Ria. I let out an exasperated sigh and look ahead.
That’s when I notice him.



Chapter 3
He’s scrawny, way too thin to be healthy. I can see that he’s walking with the unmistakable saunter of a teenage boy, but he’s tilted to one side with the pack he’s carrying. When he notices me staring, he stops and stares right back. He’s still too far away to make out his features, but I can see that he has long stringy black hair, and the dark tan skin of a Mexican. I take a step forward, trying to urge him come to me. He cocks his head, and I take another step closer. When he doesn’t get the hint, I just start walking toward him, taking my time, trying to appraise him. He could be a part of the Islanos, and this could just be an elaborate scheme to kill me, or he could just be an escaped Mexican on his way north. Either way, I keep walking until I’m a good three feet away. We just stand there for a minute before I speak up.
“Hi.”
He looks startled, then replies, “Hi.” He seems startled at how hoarse his voice is, and he tries to clear his throat a couple of times before turning red from embarrassment. “Sorry.”
I give him a confused look. “About what? You didn’t step on my foot or anything, did you?” I inspect my foot, trying to lighten him up. He just looks at me, confused. “Okay. Anyways, I’m Jules. What’s your name?” I offer my hand to him, trying to show him that he can trust me. He takes the hook and introduces himself.
“I’m Raúl.” He takes my hand and shakes it, and fire runs up my arm. I jerk my hand back, and he looks offended.
“Um, sorry. So are you from Mexico?” My question is straight-forward, but he doesn’t seem to mind.
“Yeah. Are you going to report me?” He looks down at his feet, waiting for my answer. I can’t really understand why, but I don’t want to report him. He looks about sixteen, but I can’t be sure. He has a really thick Mexican accent, and is hair is unruly and hanging in his almost-black eyes, with dark tan skin smeared with dirt and sweat. But despite that, he’s really good looking.
“No. Do you have anywhere to go? Anyplace to stay?”
“Um, I was just planning on sleeping in the dirt.” He gave me a half smile, as if this was funny.
The thought that had been forming in my head for the past five minutes finally rose to the surface. “Well, you can stay with my mom and I. We have a room in the basement designed to house runaways. Unless you’re, like, a serial killer or something. Then you can’t stay.” I laughed and watched to see his reaction. I’m always careful around strangers, especially ones from Mexico. Even though I almost completely trust him, it’s still not enough for me to be completely at ease.
“No, I haven’t killed anyone lately. But are you sure your mom would be okay with this? It’s really last minute.”
“Yeah, she’ll be fine. My mom’s cool-she doesn’t freak out like normal moms.” It’s true. I’ll bring Raúl home, and she won’t think twice about it. If anything, she’ll show him the door to the basement.