Vuela

Chapter 2

Like it isn't for any other kid, being stuck in the grounded status is absolutely no fun for Vuela. However, she can only imagine her punishment being just as or more depressing for others who are actually old enough to know right from wrong. She can't imagine being eighteen years old in a few years and stuck behind bars with even stronger and more stubborn criminals.

For the whole day, she's stuck trying to entertain herself without the pure excitement of her sailboard, which will be out of commission for God knows how long. She tries to fix her rocket shoes, but she can't go out to get the parts she needs to complete the repairs. She scrolls through her collection of vintage video games that used to belong to her father and manages to beat all ten games he ever owned. Vuela even goes as far as digging through her closet to fool around with her old galaxy simulator test game that she received as a Christmas present when she was eight years old. She plays that five times until she's bored out of her wits. Who knows that eleven hours of being trapped above the store can kill someone's fun until they have to suffer that same grounding routine over and over again?

For years, Max hasn't been able to buy all the things the other kids get for Christmas and birthday gifts, so Vuela only gets things she needs, which are stuffed in the back of her closet, some never even worn out in public to avoid the embarrassment she would get from people staring at her. Being spotted in a crowd is the last thing she wants as she lives her life as a "normal" teenager.

The last thing that shuts Vuela's frustrated brain off from the rest of her troubles is opening her favorite childhood book, The Legend of Rodrigo San Martín, one of the last books to be printed without film installed into the pages, making them thick and annoying to turn.

Of course, reading the book brings back the good memories rather than haunting ones. When she and Maxime were children, while their father was still alive, he used to read the kids the San Martín tale right before he left for a business flight. The treasure hunter's sly temperament and determination attracted Vuela to the legends of treasure hunting. Maybe one day, she can do the same thing. As a fifteen-year-old, the only thing the legend brings is memories of her favorite man who has been ripped away from his daughter.

Sebastian Hawkins had not been a perfect man by any means of the word, but that didn't stop him from completing and receiving many life accomplishments. He is still considered one of the greatest natural journalists in the journalism industry on the west side of the planet. He's remembered as a full family man, loving his lady and child until the tragic day his only wife died from an accident while going to work when Maxime was seven years old. During one of his business trips, as a constant way to forget the tragedy, he got together with an escort, which was supposed to be long forgotten. However, when Sebastian found out Vuela had been conceived, the option he had to make things right was to raise Max's half-sister as if she was his wife's own child.

The meeting with her biological mother Vuela can pull from memory is after her dad's funeral. The morning after the service, ten-year-old Vuela wakes up to eighteen-year-old Maxime fighting with a woman who isn't named throughout the entire exchange. She's a horrifying sight for the girl to see.

She's a homeless woman who has been gifted with middle class luxuries from God knows where. A tight polyester dress of a neon color wraps around her skin and bone body like a snake. Her feet are dressed in dirty, white pumps with yellow buckles strapping the top. Cheap rings decorate every single finger. Lastly, her face is covered in makeup that's been smeared by sweat. The fluid combines with her recently applied perfume, which fills the room with a dubious smell.

The woman turns to Vuela once, and the facial resemblance stuns the little girl the most. Those same green eyes. The same brown hair, which is full of tangles. The almost similar thin lips, which have been drenched in black lipstick, a popular color symbol for hookers. No words come out of the woman's mouth until she goes for the door and turns back to Max. "Send her to me when she's old enough to take my place."