“Fuck you, Jack!” I yelled with all my might, while the fists pummeled my face, my stomach, my chest. I hit the air to no avail, until I turned, convulsing, my vision tunneling.
Then I saw a light in front of me. Narrow at first, then growing wider. A man was approaching, and I panicked, tried to run back. “No, I can’t go. I can’t leave Grandma.”
But it felt as if I was in a treadmill, running but staying in place. The figure caught up to me and I recognized him. “Grandpa Julio?”
“I told you I’d be here if you needed me, remember?”
I move a few steps away from him. “I can’t go. Grandma Lita, she’s alone with Jack. I can’t die—”
Grandpa Julio walked closer. “Suzy, it’s ok. I’ll take care of it.”
I nodded, tears streaking down my cheeks. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you.”
Grandpa Julio hugged me, his familiar smell surrounding me. I closed my eyes and let him comfort me, like he did when I was a child.
When I opened them again, I was on the kitchen floor, still bound to the ground. I could still smell Jack’s cologne, feel his breath on my face, his hands around my neck. “Fat ass—" he started.
Then, suddenly, he wasn’t on top of me anymore. Something fell on the chair, hard, pushing it away. Grandpa Julio?
The chair floated in the air, and for a moment I thought Jack was going to throw it at me. Grandma Lita was still on the ground, unconscious. I rushed to her, pulling her frail body out of the way just as the chair hit the floor.
I stood, trying to follow the invisible fight. The chairs pushed against each other, hitting the table, the fridge. I looked at Grandma Lita, who was barely moving. I thought about Grandpa Julio, who was fighting a battle that was mine, fixing the mess I had made.
“Enough, Jack!” I yelled with all my might. “Leave them alone. Leave us all alone!”
A sudden rush of wind assaulted my face. I held myself against it. “You can hit me all you want, Jack, but you can’t hurt me anymore.”
And then, his face, his handsome, cruel face showed up. His hands reaching out to me.
“Get out! What you did was wrong, and I won’t take it anymore.” I stood, waiting.
Then a couple of hands—man’s hands—grabbed Jack’s face, pulling him hard, away from me. Grandpa Julio.
“Goodbye, Jack.”
When he was gone, I stood still, my chest raising, my hands shaking.
“Suzy?”
I run to Grandma Lita’s side, rubbed her hands. “Are you okay?”
She nodded and stood up. “Jack?”
I decided to tell her the truth. “Grandpa Julio.” I waited for her to be shaken, to do the sign of the cross, but she just nodded.
“I felt his presence.”
“He took Jack away.”
She smiled. “I think you fighting him, telling him that what he did was wrong, that helped too.”
I looked at the ground. “I’m so sorry—”
“No. You don’t have anything to apologize for.”
“But—"
“No buts,” she said in her stern voice. The one that made me want to say, ‘Yes, ma’am.’
She grabbed my hand and took me to the kitchen. While I fixed the chairs around the table, she turned on the stove and put the kettle on. Soon, the aroma of her coffee tickled my nostrils. We sat, next to each other, the warmth of the cup warming up my heart. I wanted to get so many things off my chest, but before I started, Grandma Lita smiled.
“Like I always say, ‘Coffee doesn’t make itself’,” she said, with a wink.
And for the first time, I understood.
