LatinosUSA

he was jolted awake by a pang of

pain in his side

Like the devil stabbed its fingers

into his liver

It was cold and hot in the same time

He couldn’t stand

could hardly breathe

His eyes went big into the darkness

and he looked around

and saw that the time

was 04:17 in the morning

and he was still hunched over his

improvised desk with that

cheap, second-hand laptop before him

in standby

So nothing new

he’d fallen asleep again while

battling the keys,

fighting to come up with the immortal story

he’d promised

‘Shit!’ he thought. ‘To whom did I even

promise it?’

But the answer was all too

obvious. ‘Myself… I’ve to get out of

this closet apartment one day.’

He looked to his right

where his six-year-old daughter was sleeping

in the old sleeping bag. She appeared to

be having another one of those

fever dreams

that would make her cry all day because

of the ‘scissor spiders that sawed

fingers and legs together’

Hell, but they were still

a bit better than

the dreams of mother

who won’t be around by the time she

woke up

He breathed deep and

slow

and the pain in his side calmed some

He was also terribly hungry

and it felt like

it affected his vision. Made it blurry

There was only

one cure for

all of this

He resumed his battle with the

keys

Hoping to all the gods that the damned

laptop won’t break again

“Just a few more

chapters,”

he whispered as he swallowed

bitter saliva