"Carmen"

....Carmen felt the darkness engulfing her, and tried to hold her place in the light.  She could not get from under Erica, her head trapped under Erica's head as she registered each blow that Pedro pounded into Erica's face.  Carmen screamed and screamed Pedro's name, begging him to stop beating Erica, begging him to listen to her.  Begging him to hear that he was hurting Carmen too, as Erica's pain echoed through Carmen's skull.  The light moved further and further into shadows, as Carmen began to loose the battle to stay conscious.  And just as the last pin size beam of light faded, Carmen saw the shadow of a raised bat above Erica, behind Pedro.  In her darkness, she just barely registered the swing of that bat, and then Pedro fell on top of Erica, on top of her, knocking out her breath in one large explosion.

Carmen fought under Erica's and Pedro's weight, her words fighting to be heard as they were pressed back into her chest and mouth. "Help me!  Help me!  I can't breathe!" Carmen tried to push her need for air out of her chest and through her teeth.  And then, finally, strong arms rolled Pedro from Erica's body, releasing Carmen. Carmen sat up, inhaling fresh air deep into her lungs.  She could see that Celeste was sitting on the sidewalk, rocking Erica in her strong arms as Erica moaned in pain. Celeste was no longer holding the bat.  It lay on the sidewalk next to Pedro.  Carmen quickly kicked the bat with her feet, pushing it as far away from Pedro as she could.  Oxygen flooded her lungs, and her breathe was filled with fear as she looked back and forth between Pedro's limp body, and Erica's ruined face.  Erica's face was a mess. Blood and tears flowed from her mouth and nose, and bruises were rising in big hills and deep valleys on her cheeks, below her eyes, across her forehead and down the creases of her dimples onto her chin.

"Don't worry, sweet girl!"  Celeste's voice rocked and soothed Erica as her moans and tears began to subside.  Celeste's concerned eyes met Carmen's fear.  "Are you o.k.?" Celeste asked.  Carmen nodded as she scurried over to Celeste on her knees, and ran her hand over Erica's hair.  "You o.k., Erica?", Carmen kissed the top of Erica's head.  "Carmen!  Carmen!  Is he....dead?"  Erica's fear road her whispered question.  Carmen slowly crawled to where Pedro lay unconscious on the sidewalk.  A ribbon of blood ran like a river down from the rising wound on the back of his head, to a growing pool of red on the grey concrete.  Carmen cautiously reached for Pedro's hand, and felt for a pulse.

"Don't worry, sweet girl!"  Celeste said over and over again to the rhythm of her gentle rocking, Erica pressed deep into her chest.  The words were like a call without response, like the chorus of a hymn sung on Sunday mornings promising salvation. "Don't you worry about nothing, sweet girl!  He's never going to hurt you again!"