La Diabla | Oscar Diaz

La Diabla - Chapter Eight

Sabina looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, the water in the shower running. She smiled softly at her reflection, then grabbed a piece of tissue paper, wiping the lipgloss off. That was when she began to frown, the cut on her lip becoming visible again. Then she began to remove the shirt Olivia gifted her, letting it drop to the floor. Her body was badly bruised with green and yellow bruises, the rest being purple. She turned to the side, observing her rib cage. The stitches had dissolved, but you could see her rib cage from all the meal skipping she had been doing. Sabina touched the tattoo on her skin, she didn't remember it looking so evil and sad. It looked misplaced, like it didn't belong on her.

After that she let her jean shorts fall down her legs. It was the damage that wasn't visible that made her begin to sob. The mental scarring she had from the beating and what those men did to her was worse than any bruising or cut. She lost her baby, her family and her home.

Her sobbing increased as she tugged on her hair, sliding down the wall. She brought her knees into her chest, her hands intertwined with large chunks of her hair and she hit her head against the wall, sobbing and gasping for air.

"Sabina?" Oscar knocked, "everything okay in there?" Her panic attack continued, she wasn't able to gasp enough air to make out words. "Sabina talk to me." He knocked again, "come on."

She continued gasping for air as she sobbed, her head dropping in between her knees.  "I'm coming in."

The door opened and he saw her on the floor, the water in the tub almost overflowing. He ran to it, turning it off as he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Come on." He went to reach for her but she shook her head, not wanting to be touched. "It's okay." He sighed, sitting next to her. "Come here, you're okay. I'm not gonna hurt you." He reached for her again, this time she let him, and he placed her in his lap, setting his jaw on top of her head. He rocked them as she tried to calm down, her breathing finally hitting an equal rhythm.

"You okay?" He kissed her head mindlessly, he didn't know he was doing it until he had already done it.

She didn't say anything as she shuddered in his arms, her eyes puffy as she shut them.

He sighed, standing up slowly and helped her do so as well. "You wanna try that again?"

She wiped her face, taking in a sharp breath, it burned her chest to breathe. But she nodded, swallowing.

"Good." He said, "I'll sit outside." Sabina nodded again, and he stepped away, shutting the door behind him. "Don't lock it."

Yet again she nodded, he always told her not to lock the door and to not worry about anybody walking in because no body's allowed in the house. Those were the kind of safety precautions he had to take with her. It felt as if he had a kid in the house.

Oscar sat against the door, sighing.

"Everything okay homie?" Cesar walked in through the front door, setting his backpack down on the coffee table.

He nodded, "yeah, she's just showering."

"So why are you sitting there?" Cesar chuckled.

"I don't know." He huffed, "she's unstable. But I'm not leaving her side."

"Her side?" He crossed his arms, walking over to him. "I'm sure she can take a ten minute shower without you."

"That's the thing." Oscar opened his palm, shaking his head. "She can't."

So Cesar sat on the floor across from him to keep him company. "Well, tell me about it."

He raised his eyebrows. He didn't even know where to start. "She gets these crazy anxiety attacks, sometimes I don't even know what to do to help her." Cesar hummed, nodding and he continued. "She's just a kid and I wouldn't know how to react if something like that happened to you."

"A kid?" Cesar raised an eyebrow, "do you even know her age?"

Oscar shook his head, "she can't be much older than you."

"Well," he shrugged, "she told Olivia she was nineteen, but we're not sure if she was being honest or not."

Oscar scratched his neck, right under his Santos tattoo. "What do you think?"

"I don't know man." He mumbled, "Dario's like twenty-seven no?"

"I don't know." Oscar said, "don't bring that shit up around her."

Cesar furrowed his eyebrows, "do you know something?"

He sighed, pursing his lips before scooting closer to Cesar. "When I talked to Jonah he said she had gotten pregnant by another some guy from another gang, and that she wanted an abortion." Cesar's lips parted, surprised. "I don't know if to believe him or wait until she's ready to tell me the truth."

From inside the bathroom, Sabina listened. She knew it would come up eventually, and even though she was pregnant when it happened, that rumor was far from the truth.