Chapter 5: Santa Muerte

Axel comes home before his father, afraid to run into him downstairs, and immediately goes to his room. As the boy falls onto the bed, Rene rushes into the room with a backpack almost the same size as the girl herself. Spreading his books on the floor, she sits on the shabby rug by the bed.

"You have your own room. Why are you always hanging around here?" The boy sighs and, turning on his stomach, looks down at the girl fiddling with textbooks.

"I'm bored alone," Rene states as if nothing had happened.

"You know, you're impenetrable," Axel smiles and reaches up to the child's head, ruffling her dark hair.

"How is father's car?" The girl displays words in the notebook.

"Still there," the boy laughs. "I'm chasing you. I'm being rude to you, but you still drag along after me and as if you don't notice a single word of mine."

"Because I love you," the child mutters.

"You are a fool, that's why," Axel snarls and turns away to hide his smile. Axel puts headphones in his ears. Having already forgotten that his sister is swarming on the floor nearby, he sings along to the local rapper. Suddenly the door swings open, and the father appears on the threshold.

"Rene, go to your room. I need to talk to your brother," the man says sternly and waits patiently while the little one reluctantly collects her books in her backpack. Rene, looking back at her brother, walks over to her room. Axel smiles at her, knowing full well that the child is used to Axel's eternal scandals with his father. Axel's smile shows Rene that there is nothing to worry about and that everything will be fine. The girl believes him.

"I'm listening," Do comes to the bed and sits down on it.

"You're not listening to me," Axel sits down and puts his phone away, "but yeah, Leo wanted to give Chana flowers, but this scum set its mongrels on him ..."

"Leo is an idiot!" exclaims the father. "The same as you and as the oldest, but not intelligently developed Aken!"

"Don't insult my friends!" The teenager growls.

"I'm tired of them," Do massages his temples with his fingertips. "You always get into trouble and mostly because of them, and instead of solving my own affairs, I have to mess with a bunch of children who think they are musketeers."

"Father, we have not done anything wrong!"

"You are my son, and your problems are my problems, but I no longer intend to solve their problems," the man says seriously.

"They put a gun to the guy's head, who just gave her flowers!" Axel screams.

"I don't care!" Do rises to his feet. "This was the last warning. Once again, I will receive a call about your problems, and I will not interrupt them."

"Don't worry, you won't get it! I'll be able to solve my own problems myself, including the cartel," Axel says firmly.

Do walks away, and Axel angrily throws the pillow aside. He stares at Rene, who's standing in the doorway with her beloved toy in her arms.

"I'll sleep in your room ..."

"Get out," the boy growls, and the child, biting her upper lip so as not to cry, goes out the door.

Axel is lousy, but not from his father's words, which in no way will change his relationship with friends, but from the fact that he offended the child again. Axel didn't want to yell at Rene. Still, his anger is directly proportional to his rage at Inna and, therefore, on Rene. He pulls on his sweatshirt and, opening the window, climbs onto the tiny windowsill.

Axel is torn from the hourly desire to finally achieve something, become independent in the end, and prove to his father that he is not a child for a long time and can take responsibility for both his words and actions. But he has to endure for a while.

Days give way to months, and the growing boy has not achieved much change in his life. He refuses to listen to adults, even Lea, who insists that they are still children and have everything ahead of them. They are not children. Children do not live in the eternal fear of not getting home, do not meet almost every morning with the news of another murder, and obviously do not lose their friends, neighbors, and classmates so early. Axel grew up a long time ago, and he doesn't care that he is now stuck in the body of a thirteen-year-old boy. He will not give up; he will show the whole A-Card, and possibly all six territories, that you can live differently.

Axel closes the window and jumps down to the wardrobe. At the bottom of the closet are stacks of books he took from his old neighbor's house after his death. These books talk about the past, about the once-great states, about the law and the police, which protected citizens and acted as a guarantee of society. Axel will continue to fight, but he will do everything to prevent the next generation of children from going through such a hell.

The next morning, Rene is led to school by a security guard. Axel does not leave the house and even skips school. He sends Aken a text message that he will come in after lunch, takes breakfast to his room, and continues to hang around.

Towards lunchtime, Axel hears Inna's worried voice from below and what appears to be Rene's crying voice. The boy immediately rushes out of bed and runs downstairs. Rene is standing in the middle of the kitchen with a backpack at her feet, the girl's jacket stained with something, and she is crying out loud. Inna tries to pull off her dirty coat, continuing to scold her, but the child bursts into tears again.

"What happened?" Axel approaches the girl trying to sound calm.

"None of your business," Rene roars.

"How do you talk to your brother?" Inna frowns.

"He doesn't care. He doesn't love me," the girl howls.

"If I ask, then it does matter for me," Axel is leaning against the tabletop, angry that Inna is in the room and she cannot comfort the little one.

"I didn't want to fight," Rene sobs, "but Will pushed me and poured his yogurt over me."

"Why didn't you want to fight?" Axel walks closer.

"And rightly so, girls shouldn't fight," Inna says sternly.

"Should girls die on these streets?" Axel yells at her and squats in front of the kid. "Why didn't you fight?" He shakes her by the shoulders, frightening.

"He's a boy, and he's bigger," Rene sniffs.

"I see," Axel gets to his feet and walks to the refrigerator. "Don't cry, change your clothes, and tomorrow you'll find him at school." He takes a bottle of yogurt out of the fridge, "and pour it on him."

"I didn't let you raise my daughter," Inna says, displeased.

"If she cannot stand up for herself, then she will be devoured," Axel looks at the woman closely. "Do you want your child to grow up getting slapped? Or do you want some guy to treat her the same tomorrow as your ex-husband?" The teenager asks sarcastically.

"Don't you dare," Inna hisses, but Axel loses interest in her.

"Rene, don't care if it's a boy or girl," the boy says to his sister again, "pour this yogurt on them."

"And if he hits me?" The younger one asks, sobbing.

"You hit him back," Axel says firmly.

"I'm afraid."

"You have nothing to fear, he'll hit you once, and I'll hit him ten times," Axel smiles. "Good?"

The child nods timidly. Axel leaves for Aken's place while Inna pushes her daughter into the bathroom.

Rene slept poorly and fought Will all night in her sleep. In the morning, the girl even refused breakfast and silently looked out the window of her father's car on the way to school. Rene is scared. She's terrified of being hit, but she can't disappoint Axel. Rene can't let him doubt her. She tightens her grip on the yogurt bottle and walks with firm steps to the end of the corridor, where her classmates, including Will, are standing.

Rene will pour yogurt on him, and even if the guy beats her, Axel will be proud of her. A couple of steps before the guy, Rene unscrews the lid and raises the bottle as Will's downcast gaze mutters in front of everyone, "Sorry. I apologize for yesterday." The little boy takes the bottle from the confused girl and, under the shocked glances of his classmates, pours its contents onto his head.

All the remaining two lessons pass in a daze, Rene continually looking at her watch. She can't wait to tell Axel about her little victory. There was no limit to the girl's happiness when she ran out of school, instead of the guard or father sees Axel coming after her.

"And poured it on his head," Rene tells her brother in a hurry as they walk home. "He was scared of me! I scolded him yesterday, said that he looks like a Godzilla. He, apparently, got cold feet while I walked to him. I was furious."

"Of course," Axel smiles. "They are not always afraid of fists; he felt the strength in you and surrendered himself. Well done, I'm proud that you still went to take revenge."

"Are you proud of me?" the girl glows with happiness and asks for a hand.

"I shouldn't be proud," Axel puts on her backpack and lifts the girl into his arms. "Remember, neither gender nor size of the opponent is important; your confidence is important. Show them fear once, and they will push you around your whole life. This is the law of the streets."

Axel caught Will playing on the street last night and just said a few words to him.

Two years later.

"I put you a sandwich and fruit. Why do you need another one," Aken looks at Avi while wrapping cheese in a tortilla.

Avi is in first grade this year, and Aken picks his breakfast and takes him to school. Their mother now appears at home once a month.

"This is for Nunu," the child wraps the cake in foil.

"I'm sure your Nura's got food. You don't have to carry her a sandwich."

"She doesn't have it," the little boy puts the sandwich into the backpack. "She doesn't eat anything during breaks. She says she doesn't want to, but when I eat, she looks."

"I see," Aken puts on the kid's jacket and walks over to the refrigerator. "Then Nunu should have an apple," he throws the apple into his brother's backpack and, taking his hand, walks out.

Aken leaves the kid at the school entrance, and he goes to work. As always, Nura is waiting for her only friend on the porch. Nura hadn't thought until the last moment that she could go to school this year. She and her sister were not doing well. Mina suffered a back injury at work, so she does not take a full shift. Money is very tight. All summer, the siblings ate sweet tea with flatbreads, corn, and fried onions, into which they broke an egg only "on holidays." Only the skin and bones of the already slender baby are seen. They call her "Santa Muerte" (Holy Death) at school because of the painful complexion.

But one evening, Mina came home with a brand new backpack full of office supplies and a blue suit, announcing that Nura would go to school. The child does not care where such generous gifts come from; the main thing is that she has beautiful new things and can go to school. Only now, Mina often stays late at work, and Nura has to figure out what to eat, and go to school alone, which is an hour's drive from their home. Nura could be standing at the gate to the school, but she's afraid.

She remembers the boy who bought her candy. The first time she saw him leading Avi under the arm, she almost choked with delight. Aken is the name of the good boy from the store. Every morning, Nura, standing on the porch, surreptitiously watches him accompany his brother. Since that meeting in the store, she never spoke to him, did not stand close, but secretly adores him and dreams of once again saying thanks for the sweets.

"Waited for a long time?" Avi runs up to her.

"No," Nura lies, and they go inside. "Will your brother come for you?"

"You ask that every day," laughs Avi. "Of course he will. I won't go home alone. Do you want us to lead you home too? Aken is kind."

"No," the girl blurts out. "They'll come for me," she's lying again.

"By the way, he gave an apple for you," the Avi fumbles in his backpack.

"For me?" Nura instantly blushes.

"Yes, he said to give it to Nunu."

"Did he say my name?" the little girl looks at her friend with wide eyes.

"Why are you so surprised?" Avi doesn't understand.

"I'm not," Nura presses the apple to her chest, deciding to never eat it. "Your brother is a hero."

"He's like that," the little boy declares proudly.

"My hero," Nura adds quietly.

***

Aken is in the cartel now. Over the years, he participated in several assignments, proved his loyalty. He does not even tell his friends and hopes to get closer to Chan. Instead of a container, Aken now works in a vast parking lot where the cartel's cars are serviced and stayed. He works under the command of the thirty-year-old man Moses, but there is trust in the guy, and he gets a good income. Dev works for Aken as an errand boy, but this is enough to feed himself and his grandfather.

Until the day Axel turned fifteen, he took him to meet Chan as his follower serving the cartel. Axel resisted and forced his father to take Leo with them, who took such a step in secret from Lea. After that meeting, the guys walked around in prostration for a day. Firstly, the boys, who had to visit the main mansion, were impressed by the luxury hidden behind several meter-high concrete walls, and secondly, from the dialogue itself. Axel always knew what would be in the cartel, even expected it, secretly admiring his father and his strength, but what he heard that day terrified him.

"Protect at all costs," Chan said, stroking his chin with ring-studded fingers, demanding that he and the teenagers be left alone. "I say die, you die. I say kill, you kill. Being in a cartel is one thing; being my man is another. Your father is my man, and I expect the same loyalty from his son. Try to break my word, question my order, and if you don't manage to hide you or your family, you will regret that you were born. If I want to punish Do, I will punish you all. So is with you: if you fail, you will pay with families. Take an example from Do, be faithful dogs. Firstly, you will be trained, and then you will be tested. Everything else depends on verification. I do not need weaklings, and only as a sign of respect for your father, I talk to you personally."

The next six months passed in relative silence. The guys disappeared in the gym again, met after part-time jobs, and spent three times a week with Chan's people, who taught them how to shoot firearms and self-defense. Besides, under the guidance of Aken, the three boys learned to control themselves, which was hard to do for teenage boys.

The assignment from Chan came one morning in April. Axel and Leo, along with two other guys in their twenties, were to visit the huckster on the border with Sirius and pick up the stolen goods from him. Do talked to Axel, asked him to be careful, and apologized that he could not go with him. Otherwise, Chan would not forgive them for this.

Each of the guys was given a weapon. Although Axel didn't understand why they needed four barrels, he took the gun given that there is only one enemy.

It was a setup. Chan knew that they would be expected and gave them the struggle to survive. The guys left the car across the block and decided that one would knock on the door, and the other three would approach the house from different sides. They were awaited with cannons, and the shooter was not alone. The first shot took the life of the one who was just about to knock on the door. They were shooting from a large-caliber rifle, a bullet, passing through a wooden door, hit the guy in the neck. Axel remembers breaking down the door with his shoulder, panting at the smell of gunpowder and whispering gratitude to the non-stop shooting comrades who were distracting the shooters, sneaking inside. He remembers the splashes of blood on his hands, how he did not immediately realize that it was not him but the guy he had pushed out of the door. While they were shooting at Axel, Leo climbed through the window, distracted the men, hit one of them without even aiming. Leo, who was out of ammo, threw a chair at the man's reloading gun and then finished him off with a beer bottle that had been lying on the floor before. Axel grabbed the bags with trembling hands and couldn't remember how the three of them got to the car. The guys handed the goods over to Chan's place personally and, without hearing his praise, turned around and left the pub of the cartel owner.

As soon as Leo and Axel went outside, they immediately dispersed because even looking at each other was unbearable. Leo just walked towards Aken, his hands covered in darkened foreign blood. For the first time in his life, he tasted beer at a friend's and sat in his garage until the morning, staring at the fire. Aken announced that night that Leo was now officially a madman. After all, an average person will not climb into the very heart of Hell without cartridges in the store.

"Axel was in danger," Leo says quietly. "I could not stand and watch."

"A definitive answer," Aken nods and continues to stare at his friend.

"You're trying to calm me down," Leo mutters without looking up from the fire.

"I can feel your spirit."

"I'm trying, but I'm apparently failing," the younger sits closer.

"Your spirit is scared, and I understand how you feel."

"You never told us, but I know you killed," Leo reaches for the bottle.

"I killed with my hands. I can still feel it under my palms. Everything here is like in war. If you hadn't killed him, then now we would mourn you. I don't have to remind you of this," Aken says and gets up for the next bottle.

Axel immediately went home after Chan.

"My son almost died," Do shouted at Chan, afraid for his son. The first scandal with his boss.

"He didn't die. You should be proud of him."

"You shouldn't have done that to him. You swore to me that you found out and the huckster would be alone."

"But now your son is ready for anything," Chan said calmly. "Why did I have to make concessions to him? Just because you've been serving me for so many years? What's the keyword here? That's right! Service! So get out and don't show yourself in front of me until tomorrow."

Axel gets home, silently walks up to his room, and only falls face down on his bed. Lets go of himself, struggling to cry. He feels the tears collected in his throat choke him, but not even a tear comes out. He hits the pillow with his fists, hoping to burst into tears, to allow at least some of the pain to come out of him in tears—all in vain. No matter how much the boy blinks, playing a picture of bullets tearing the soft tissue, taking the life of a person, his tears only collect a lump in his throat.

Living in the city of death, on the same street with it, is tolerable. Living with her inside yourself is unbearable. Axel took someone's life for the first time, and even if it was self-defense, the fact that he is a murderer does not change. The thought that this death is only the first makes his gut freeze.

The door creaks open, letting in Rene, who walks over to the bed and climbs onto it.

"Don't chase me away," the little girl asks and holds out her hands to him. Rene doesn't know what happened, but she senses that something is terrible. This is the first time she sees Axel so broken.

Axel doesn't even think to send her away; he pulls her over and hugs her. Rene isn't just a source of warmth for him now. She is innocence itself, primordial purity, light breaking through the wreckage of a young man's life that had collapsed two hours ago. The girl is hurt by how she is squeezed. But she endures this pain to soothe the one that comes from her brother and swirls around him. She sees how Axel needs her, clings to him, strokes his back, and promises that she will not go anywhere.

They sit on his bed for twenty minutes, Rene puts her whole body into the arms, but the elder still trembles and doesn't let go of her for a second.

"Everything will be fine," the girl whispers.

"It's going to be different," Axel says, burying his face in Rene's shoulder.

Way more different...

* The title of the chapter is "Holly Death" (Spanish: Santa Muerte.)