Yellow Notice - 2. Chapter 2: The Alcado Family

June 19, 2016: Present Day

Domestic violence. The two ominous words feel like a dark smudge on my soul. I should have never been surprised, after all violence between spouses or lovers is the most frequently encountered violence by the police. It’s all in the statistics and it is a tale as old as time. The one you love suddenly becomes the one you fear. And yet you stay, frozen, immobile: the perfect victim. As my body sways back and forth on the bus I try to remember how exactly I became that very something that I used to say with almost a distaste in my mouth: a victim. It’s hard to pinpoint where on the map, where in the trajectory of our relationship, I reached the point in which I turned from spouse to punching bag. There isn’t one singular moment that I can point to and say, “Here… here is where I knew that my husband was a monster.” It wasn’t like he woke up one day and became that almost cartoonish TV version of a drunk abusive husband. No, he was far too sophisticated for that. His abuse started out subtle, innocent enough that I wrote it off. His abuse was underhanded, so that everyone missed it, even me.

The most surprising fact about it all was that I was actually surprised. That I couldn’t believe this could happen to me. Did I think I was special? Or perhaps I thought that people who fell into the domestic abuse cycle were weak. Either way, even in my state of desperate degradation I didn’t miss the irony of it all. I thought I was above it, that I wouldn’t let anyone ever hurt me. Yet I did, over and over again. Until he not only hurt me, he killed everything that was inside of me.

Luis gazes at me in a way only a person who loves you can look at you. His warm dark golden eyes filled with worry. The bus noisily comes to a stop, and I look to him for answers. He grabs my hand and gets up. I follow his lead. We get off in the cover of darkness, which I’m desperately thankful for.

“Where does your friend live?” I ask.

“It’s a long walk,” Luis replies and then suddenly stops. He looks at me as if weighing if he should say something or not. “This ‘friend’ of mine, he’s not exactly a friend. But his house is probably the safest house in all of Spain. That’s the only reason I am taking you there, do you understand?” he asks with the utmost seriousness. I nod my head.

We walk for what feels like an eternity, until we hit a small road leading into the woods.

“Your friend lives in the woods?”

“He doesn’t just live here. He owns the woods,” Luis replies, none too happy. We continue our ascend until I finally make out a huge property far in the distance past the last line of trees. As we get closer, I see two men standing outside, guarding.

“What is this place?” I grab at Luis’ arm.

“You’ll be safe here” he assures me, but I do not feel assured. The huge villa looms over us like a sinister castle. We walk up to the gate just as two burly Rottweilers come bustling forward, their jaws agape with unknown fury. Their spit chucking raving barks leaving even dog lovers like me scared. But Luis ignores them and waits for the men to come forward.

“Estoy aquí para ver a Roberto,” says Luis. The men laugh.

“And who the fuck are you?” one of them replies in English.

“Tell him my name is Luis and that I was a friend of Hernando.” The second Luis drops that name the two men stop with their jeering laughs and inspect Luis with a new alertness.

Finally the shorter of the two says “Okay pendejo,” and walks back towards the large mahogany doors. The other man stays and watches us curiously. I squeeze Luis’ hand harder than I aim to, and he looks over at me trying to muster a smile, but he falls short and looks back at the gate as if trying to distract himself. Finally, the short man comes back and opens the gate for us.

“Mr. Alcado will see you now,” he says and we walk past him and stop at the door. “After me,” he barks at Luis, and we make our way in. The house is enormous and filled to the brink with antique furniture. Beautiful golden mirrors hang on the walls, and I stop as I see my reflection in one of them. All I see staring back at me is a face completely devoid of hope. I bite my lip and feel Luis’ hand on my arm “let’s keep moving.”

Finally, we reach a room where a smartly dressed man stands in the middle of a stylish red rug, holding a saucer of tea and staring in the direction of the door, as if waiting for us.

“Thank you Paz,” the man says to the short guy who brought us in. The guy nods his head and retreats back through the door.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” he says, smiling sarcastically at Luis.

“Amado, still here, still looking after your Captain I see,” Luis says, not breaking eye contact.

“Forever faithful, mi hermano. Loyalty is a rare thing,” he says, the smile slowly fading from his face. Luis remains silent. “What brings you back?”

“We need a place to stay,” Luis replies. The man glances over at me, as if noticing me for the first time. There is no smile on his face.

“Surely your free-spirited ways haven’t left you so poor that you can’t afford a hotel,” Amado retorts.

“Let me rephrase, we need a safe place to stay,” Luis says with a hardened expression.

“Safe? And so you thought you’d pop back in after all these years and we’ll grant you protection?”

“Let me speak to him,” Luis says, anger seeping into his voice.

“If it were up to me, I’d feed you to those puppies outside. However, luckily for you, the Captain wants to see you,” Amado says as his upper lip twists in distaste.

“Fantastic, where is he?” Luis asks cutting to the chase.

“Follow me,” the man says, and we walk through one more room that leads to a huge veranda which overlooks the woods, where an older bald man is sitting in a chair, a blanket over his legs, in front of a table with small plates of different desserts and fruits.

Amado walks up to the man, gently places a hand on his shoulder and says, “Here he is, Captain.” The bald man turns around and stands.

“Luis, what a pleasure to see you mi amigo,” he says and gives Luis a full hug.

“Captain, this is my partner, Luke.”

The bald man looks at me, his bright sparkly eyes thinking through the glasses. He smiles.

“Hello there,” he says shaking my cold hand with his warm one. “Please, sit down,” he motions toward a chair and I sit. “Amado, bring us two more chairs for you and Luis.” Amado moves quickly and grabs two chairs from the adjacent room, then brings them back onto the veranda. He places one on the right side of the Captain, and the other on the left. They sit down.

“Would you like anything to drink?” the bald man asks me. “We have juice, tea, soda, coffee,”

“Just water please,” I reply. Amado gets up and comes back with a glass and a pitcher of water. He pours me a glass and places it in front of me. “Please help yourself to anything you’d like,” the Captain says gesturing toward the little dessert platters.

“Amado, get us some Tequila, we have to celebrate the return of our old friend,” he says smiling at Luis. Luis gently smiles back, yet I feel the air is fraught with tension. Amado returns with a bottle of expensive looking tequila and four shot glasses. He pours the drinks and the Captain says “salut” before we all wash them down in one go.

“Mmm, that is good tequila,” he marvels looking at the shot glass in between his short, well-manicured fingers.

“How have you been padrino?” Luis asks the man. Amado stands up and begins cutting a croissant sitting in front of the Captain, in half. He then pats the man’s shoulder in a strangely endearing way and sits back down.

“I’m alive, I’m healthy, God has been good to me Luis. God has always looked out for me. Even when the men of this world disappointed me, the man up above has never failed me. Life is as good as ever.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Luis replies. The Captain turns his attention to me.

“Tell me about this handsome man, how did you meet?”

“We met at the museum.”

“A museum! How romantic. You were always a romantic boy, I remember well.” Amado snickers.

“And did you fall for his utterly fascinating way of viewing the world through rose colored glasses, my friend? What was it about Luis that drew you in?” he asks putting me on the spot.

“He’s an amazing guy, a very amazing guy,” I mumble, Luis smiles kindly.

“Yes, yes he is. Luis has always been an amazing guy,” the Captain replies, and I don’t sense any sarcasm in his voice.

“What brings you in, at this hour?” the Captain asks.

“We’re looking for a safe place to stay at for a little while. I hate to ask, but this is the safest one I could think of.”

“And what is it that you need protection from?”

“It’s been a long day, if you don’t mind, perhaps we could explain tomorrow?” Luis asks. The Captain stares at him for a minute.

“Of course, you must be exhausted. Amado tells me you came by foot. That’s quite a hike. Please, rest up, eat up, and we’ll speak tomorrow.”

We say our goodbyes and Amado walks us through what feels like a hundred corridors and rooms, until we reach a guest bedroom the size of 3 of our old apartments put together. Decadent mirrors line the walls, the guest bed is made out of heavy wood. Luis closes the door behind us and looks into my eyes.

“Please, not today,” I say. I don’t know how I’m going to explain any of this to him. He looks disappointed, but nods.

“Tomorrow then,” he says, and I agree. Maybe come morning time I’ll know what words to use to explain to Luis that I’ve basically sentenced both of us to a life on the run, and that there would be no turning back now.