Karmic Vengeance

Part 1

"Demonio maldito,"1 his Abuela had whispered under her breath during the Cinco de Mayo, when his family had traveled from California to Mexico to keep her company. Alvar's misfortune had always been a stress on his parents and it hurt to know it; that was why he did all he could to help others.

Mama had just told Abuela about Alvar's latest troubles. It wasn't like he'd actually done anything bad but somehow things just went wrong for him. He'd been arrested the previous week, for being caught at the mall because one of his friends had stolen some shoes at Journeys and had ditched him. However, that hadn't been the only incident. Lately all the small things had gotten worse when he'd turned sixteen last summer. The occurrences before had only been slightly major, like when he'd seen a dog chasing a kid and thrown a rock at it, hitting it on the head. The dog had turned and chased him. He'd gotten a huge bite on his leg that had to be stitched, as well as getting three rabie shots in the ass; his friends had a huge laugh because of that.

Yet, now he'd been arrested two times for cases of murder over the past two months. The first had been so unanticipated that it still brought shivers down his back. Alvar had helped an old lady cross the street; she'd looked to be about in her mid-sixties, when she'd accidently dropped her purse and he'd picked it up for her, she had been a bit edgy but he'd assumed it was because of her old age. Alvar had no way of knowing that her bag held a pistol and that she would kill fourteen people at the local theater a block away. He'd been arrested because he'd been seen handing her the purse. After that his parents never allowed him to walk down that street again.

The second occurrence the police had arrested him for suspicion of murdering his friend Stacy Lucy Brook, whom they had found in the river below a bridge. That previous night, she'd wanted to walk him home but they'd went their separate ways on the Berkeley Marina Overpass. She'd just broken up with her boyfriend and was taking it hard so he never gave a second thought about giving her company. Stacy had asked many odd questions about relationships that he didn't know exactly how to answer since he'd been bad with them to begin with.

Alvar had been put in juvie for a week. His father, who was a big politician got one of the best lawyers and managed to proclaim his innocence. Alvar had lost a great friend, but his parents were only concerned with his tarnished record.

Now Alvar was in probation and had to attend character education sessions every Friday for the remainder of his sophomore year. He tried to forget all the recent incidents but his Abuela loved to talk about it every chance she could, talking about how he'd always been "unnino con problemas," a troubled child. His entire childhood was a lucid nightmare of constant injuries and embarrassments he didn't want to recall, but now they were getting quite serious; it scared him to think what would come next. He already had a record that tainted his fathers name and hurt his mama's health. His mama couldn't even properly look at him anymore without sniffling.

"No llores hija,"2 his Abuela patted his mama's hands whenever she'd start crying. Alvar couldn't stand it; he should be the one comforted. He was scared to death. He'd known early on that he was alone with his troubles; his mama treated him like the plague, careful not to anger and hesitant to talk to, while his father never ceased to show his disappointment, lecturing Alvar about morality.

"Trouble won't come your way if you don't look for it," his father loved repeating to him every now and then, incase Alvar forget.

"I'm trying to do good things, pa, it's not like I go looking for bad things to come my way!" he'd yelled back once.

"Stop. Just stop then, don't do ANYTHING for a change," his father growled.

"I can't just stop! If someone needs help, I HELP THEM!"