WWFP
Adaptation: In the North of Mexico
She had never liked change. Funny thing, change had featured her life from the day she was born. Olivia’s mother had never been known for stability, in fact, in her young days she was known for being everywhere and nowhere. She used to have a free spirit, no fear of life, characteristic that had led her to have Ofelia in the first place. But now she was growing old, the latest events in her life had left no more space for recklessness, she was no longer that young, fearless girl. In fact, I think that is why she came to town. Sonora is not exactly the happy place where every mother wants to raise her children. Sonora is full of men, and not exactly kind men, just rich men. You see, Sonora is full of Narcos. Yes, those widely known men that make it possible for solid happiness to get through every country’s border. The kind of happiness that destroys life’s and families, ephemeral yet destructive, effective on producing war and money, war for money. Make no mistake, these men are not always the poorly educated, the short and fat Mexican guys who own a hat and a big mustache. These men are astute, effective and ruthless in their business. But well, I’m deviating from the actual story. As I said, Olivia was the product of one of her mother’s flees. Her life had not been easy, she had never had time to settle anywhere even though she was a smart, curious, happy girl. She longed for a home, lifetime friends, maybe even a dog. She was eleven, had green glowing eyes which made beautiful contrast with her brown skin and dark hair. She was also weird at times, she appeared to see things that no one else could, things that came out of nowhere and disappeared on a second. She once caught a funny looking man with blue skin and bulging eyes who wore a strange hat looking through her window in the middle of one of the worst thunder storms that Sonora has had since the last century. Another time, she had nightmares for a month because she saw a man with no skin and red eyes lying on the grass next to her grandmother’s gravestone, she visited every week before that happened. Oh dear, I’m wandering through my thoughts once again. This story is about Olivia, her mother and her brand-new stepfather. I, really quickly, will describe her stepfather but please, doubt not on interrupting me if I’m taking too long. His name was Felipe, you could describe him both physically and socially as a powerful man. Tall, wide shoulders and heavy hands characterized his body. He had a fierce glaze, able to change into a kind one in a fraction of a second for those who earned it. He was smarter than he looked, too smart for his own sake at times and his thoughts went further than the deepest well but his actions were the sole thing he would allow to speak for him. He was a drug lord, his main occupation was making sure that about five hundred thousand tons of marijuana and cocaine traveled the world and returned in form of green, rectangular pieces of paper. He believed in family, he had some certain kind of appreciation for her new acquired wife and daughter, “cariño” as it would be called in Spanish, but not love. He ran the whole northwestern cartel, distributing drugs from Mérida, Mexico to the United States and Canada, the European Union, Asian countries and the rest of America. To his eyes, he owned the world, he had no reason to believe otherwise. I guess that is enough for now. And at last, I need to tell you who I am, otherwise you’ll just wonder about that instead of paying attention to what I intend to say. But you know what? I rather tell you later, in fact, at the end every single human gets to meet me. I already know you. The people in this land used to call me Huitzilopztli five hundred years ago, I liked those guys… The blue man that stared at Olivia is my brother, and the man with no skin who was sitting next to her grandmother’s gravestone is my brother as well, even if I don’t like to admit it. Finally, the story…
By the way, Olivia’s mother name is Martha. So Martha met Felipe in Martha’s sister wedding. She was tired of double shift jobs and struggling to maintain her daughter and he needed a wife, as simple as that. They married two months after which leaves us at Martha’s and Olivia’s arrival to Sonora, place where Felipe lived and worked. He had a palace for a house. Tall walls like a fort, surrounded with armed individuals who guarded the house at all times. Inside, the only word to describe it is luxurious. Marble floors and stairs embellished the whole structure, exotic cars were lined in the front yard and exotic animals wandered around the back garden. Olivia was astonished of the lavish way this new man she was supposed to call father lived. She was introduced t her new room, way bigger than she needed. She wanted to sleep with her mother, but of course she now slept in Felipe’s bedroom. She was just unpacking when some kind of siren starting drilling her ears, gun noises could be overheard from outside and people was shouting. Something about “¡los federales gringos!”. She heard her mother voice calling for her desperately, so she ran to where she was. Felipe seemed calmed, as if this was not the first time it happened. He led them both to some steep cellar that conduced them to what appeared as an underground passage. Felipe told her to run until the passage ended, he explained she would find a little cabin in which she should wait until some of his men would pick her up. So she ran. At the end of the tunnel, she found a passage that indeed led to a small cabin, but there was also a second passage… She could not help her curiosity, she saw the cold old steps of a snail shaped staircase. She followed them, and found that they led to something that looked like an underground garden, strange trees of different colors were scattered in some kind of weird pattern, something like a labyrinth. Again, she was just too curious. She followed the tall tree walls of the labyrinth, using her born intellect to guide her so she didn’t forget where the initial exit was located. She walked for what appeared like hours, her mind was beginning to send concern thoughts for her mother but this was just wonderful to her eyes. Well, at the end she found me. I had dressed of course for the occasion. I took my old days penacho, a large hat covered with Quetzal feathers that ancient Aztec priests used to wear whenever they offered me a sacrifice, I had turned to my usual body (how the Aztecs thought I was) a middle aged, big, blonde bearded European man. I wore that appearance because in part it was the least scary one I owned, at least I thought so. She came to me initially with fear, I looked at her on a steady glaze and a middle smile and that is when she spoke. “Who are you?” she asked. “I am the old man of the ancient books, and I have been observing you, waiting for you…” I answered. She was analyzing me, no longer scared. “Why have you been observing me?”. “Because you are the rightful heir to my kingdom. “Why? What kingdom?” she asked with excitement. “You need to leave now; your mother is looking for you. You’ll see me again and I’ll explain everything in time. And with the patience of the wisest man there is, she walked away with no further questions. That was the time when I first met Olivia, and I’ll never forget it. What happened afterwards, her body in my arms and my eyes carrying tears full of rage is… She got her kingdom due to her bravery and kindness, but they will still pay, he will still pay.
By the way, Olivia’s mother name is Martha. So Martha met Felipe in Martha’s sister wedding. She was tired of double shift jobs and struggling to maintain her daughter and he needed a wife, as simple as that. They married two months after which leaves us at Martha’s and Olivia’s arrival to Sonora, place where Felipe lived and worked. He had a palace for a house. Tall walls like a fort, surrounded with armed individuals who guarded the house at all times. Inside, the only word to describe it is luxurious. Marble floors and stairs embellished the whole structure, exotic cars were lined in the front yard and exotic animals wandered around the back garden. Olivia was astonished of the lavish way this new man she was supposed to call father lived. She was introduced t her new room, way bigger than she needed. She wanted to sleep with her mother, but of course she now slept in Felipe’s bedroom. She was just unpacking when some kind of siren starting drilling her ears, gun noises could be overheard from outside and people was shouting. Something about “¡los federales gringos!”. She heard her mother voice calling for her desperately, so she ran to where she was. Felipe seemed calmed, as if this was not the first time it happened. He led them both to some steep cellar that conduced them to what appeared as an underground passage. Felipe told her to run until the passage ended, he explained she would find a little cabin in which she should wait until some of his men would pick her up. So she ran. At the end of the tunnel, she found a passage that indeed led to a small cabin, but there was also a second passage… She could not help her curiosity, she saw the cold old steps of a snail shaped staircase. She followed them, and found that they led to something that looked like an underground garden, strange trees of different colors were scattered in some kind of weird pattern, something like a labyrinth. Again, she was just too curious. She followed the tall tree walls of the labyrinth, using her born intellect to guide her so she didn’t forget where the initial exit was located. She walked for what appeared like hours, her mind was beginning to send concern thoughts for her mother but this was just wonderful to her eyes. Well, at the end she found me. I had dressed of course for the occasion. I took my old days penacho, a large hat covered with Quetzal feathers that ancient Aztec priests used to wear whenever they offered me a sacrifice, I had turned to my usual body (how the Aztecs thought I was) a middle aged, big, blonde bearded European man. I wore that appearance because in part it was the least scary one I owned, at least I thought so. She came to me initially with fear, I looked at her on a steady glaze and a middle smile and that is when she spoke. “Who are you?” she asked. “I am the old man of the ancient books, and I have been observing you, waiting for you…” I answered. She was analyzing me, no longer scared. “Why have you been observing me?”. “Because you are the rightful heir to my kingdom. “Why? What kingdom?” she asked with excitement. “You need to leave now; your mother is looking for you. You’ll see me again and I’ll explain everything in time. And with the patience of the wisest man there is, she walked away with no further questions. That was the time when I first met Olivia, and I’ll never forget it. What happened afterwards, her body in my arms and my eyes carrying tears full of rage is… She got her kingdom due to her bravery and kindness, but they will still pay, he will still pay.