Upside Down

El Desayuno

The Breakfast

The living room was full of tension that was almost suffocating for everyone, especially for Paloma because everything that had happened minutes ago was her fault. If she had been honest to herself and the people around her, no one would have been hurt or left in the dark as they were. She lied to everyone, she told her daughter and husband that Martin had walked out on her because he couldn't handle being responsible. And she lied to Martin about how she left because she wanted a better life, something he couldn't give her. It was partly true, but it was also because she was pregnant and wanted a better life for her baby.

"We need to talk about me living here, in Freeridge." Valeria said calmly containing her emotions by holding her dad's hand to keep physical contact so the surreal emotion she felt would go away.

"What? No! Absolutely not!" Paloma said staring at her daughter in shock. Why would she give up their beautiful home in the suburbs to come and live in the ghetto.

"I need to, how else am I going to get to know my own father? A father whom I never got to be with because of you." Valeria hissed towards her mother. She had never been betrayed like she was all these 17 years. She told herself she was going to contain all of her anger towards her mother within but once she opened her mouth, the plan went out the window.

"I left so you would never have to come back! I'm not going to allow you to move here for some man." Paloma accused her daughter of being irrational of wanting to move to a dangerous such as Freeridge for the very man she decided to leave that day. She didn't want her daughter to go through a toxic environment such as the one she went through when she was a child. She married a man with money so she could live in a safe neighborhood that never had crime occurring within it.

"That man, is my father. A father I grew up believing never wanted me. That I was a mistake, a burden, something not worth being with. You made me believe that he didn't want me." Valeria screamed back with fresh tears prickling her chocolate brown eyes that mirrored her father's. Her mother knew how much Valeria felt about being told she was the reason why her parents split up and blamed herself everyday since she was 11.

"You were a mistake!" Paloma screamed intending to harm Martin because she wanted him to know that their entire relationship was a phase she went through, or as she was trying to convince herself.

But her words were interpreted differently and damaged her own daughter by her outburst.

"Valeria, I didn't-" Paloma began once she saw the hurt run through her daughters face.

"No, I get it. I was the baby you didn't want, someone who was a hassle, a problem, an encumbrance." Valeria's lip trembled and by that point she didn't care about her tears because her mother's words cut deeper than knives. Never had her mother said anything that horrendous to her, even if she was beyond angry.

Everyone felt the pain she felt in the second by the tone she used to speak. It was horrible for your own mother, the woman that carried you for nine months in her womb, was connected to you in more ways that anyone could comprehend, was telling you that you're the source of their problems. You're the reason why they are unhappy in their life, by your mere existence.

Octavio simply shook his head while looking at her in the eye from the words she had spoken. No child deserved to be on the receiving end of that sentence. Their mother also tended to have an explosive nature when she was angry and screamed out things that she later regretted.

"Your mom is trying to say, that you weren't planned. You were simply a surprise. But that doesn't mean she loves you any less." Rafael explained trying to decrease the amount of tension in the small room. He knew what Paloma was trying to say but the execution of her words were anything but flawless and comprehensive.