Las Hermanas

by Raedene Jeannette Melin

  While the first few boulders were close enough to step across, the rest of them were farther apart, which meant that they would have to jump. To make matters worse, immediately following the rock line, the water suddenly dropped straight down six or seven feet, slamming onto more rocks below. She looked at Thiago, silently questioning his definition of do-able.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  A loud resounding “No” echoed through her mind, but instead she nodded.

  With the bag strapped to his back, Thiago stepped onto the first rock, carefully making his way across. He was about a third of the way through when the rocks spaced out, so he ran forward and jumped, landing on the next rock before doing it again, hopping his way across the river. When she saw him reach the other side, she swallowed the lump in her throat and carefully stepped out into the river.

  She went through the first section fairly easily, the occasional gust of wind taking her by surprise and causing her to wobble. It didn’t help that her calf was cramping, but as she took her first jump and landed painlessly, she breathed a sigh of relief and prepared for the next one. She was just about to jump when she heard the river suddenly get louder. Whipping her head around, she watched in disbelief as a large tree plummeted through the rapids straight towards her.

  She practically ran across the rocks, desperate to get out of the tree’s path, but as she reached the middle of the river, she landed awkwardly and lost her balance, falling down hard. The second her knees touched the stone, the end of the tree slammed into her side, punching her off the rock.

  She could feel herself falling, frantically reaching out as her fingers latched onto the edge of the boulder. She hung over the rapids, gasping for air as the water cascaded around her, drowning out everything else. Her grip was steadily slipping and her shoulder screamed in pain. She needed to get back up. Now.

  Plunging her feet into the water, she felt around for something solid. As soon as her toes touched the rock wall that sat below the surface, she walked her feet up, putting herself into a squatting position. While she wanted to get out of there, she took a moment to steady herself. She would only get one chance to do this, and if she didn’t do it right—if she messed up even a little—she would fall to her death on the rocks below. Taking one last breath, she pushed off, launching her body up and out of the water.

  Flung through the air, she caught herself against the boulder, her forearms slamming into the rock as her fingertips held on for dear life. Gripping with all her might, her arms shook as she pulled her body on top.

  She did nothing but lay there, every muscle clenching as she cradled the stone, refusing to let go. Overwhelmed with relief, the loud rumble of the rapids began to sound peaceful, and as her breathing slowed and her eyelids closed, a hand touched her shoulder.

  Adi’s eyes flew open as her body jerked, Thiago hovering above her. He looked at her for a moment before he reached down and pulled her up.

  It took every remaining ounce of energy to throw herself across the rocks. Her muscles were seizing, the pain overwhelming as her jumps became sloppier with each one. When she finally pushed off the last rock onto the riverbank, she fell into the dirt, gasping for air.

  “Are you alright?”

  It was a simple question and said with such sincerity that Adi choked out a laugh, rolling to her side as she tried to get up. But she stopped short, the discomfort too much and she lifted up the right side of her shirt. While there was no blood, the tree had left a huge welt and she touched it gingerly, feeling the broken ribs beneath her skin.

  “How bad is it?” Thiago asked, crouching beside her.

  “It’s okay,” she replied. “I need my bag.”

  Handing it to her, she dug out some coca leaves, tucking a wad into her mouth.

  “How much farther?” she asked, reaching out her arm.

  He pulled her to her feet. “Not far. We can make it tonight if we push hard.” He paused, the uncertainty all over his face.

  Knowing what he was thinking, Adi shook her head. “No. If we stop, I won’t get up. We gotta keep going.”

  He strapped on her bag. “Two mountains left.”

  She took a deep breath. She couldn’t wait to get back to the village, lie down, and see her friends, but as she followed Thiago up the hill, she knew that she might be wandering through the jungle a lot sooner than she wished.

  •

  Adi could count on one hand the number of times she had ever been afraid of hurting someone she loved. Most of them happened when she was young, but as she walked into the village and saw Helena’s anxious face, she realized two things: she was no longer a child and she could not knowingly hurt her, no matter the consequence. Even as Rodrigo scooped her up and carried her to Señorita Perez, she couldn’t look away from her. Helena would never look at her the same again.

  “Everybody out,” Helena said softly as Adi sat on the bed, her wounds bandaged tightly.

  They didn’t want to go, the concern etched across their faces, but eventually they went and Adi watched as Helena sat down, patiently waiting for her to start.

  It didn’t take long, the silence pressing heavily against her, and she stared out the window for a minute before she looked back at Helena. “I killed three men.” The details didn’t matter. Helena wouldn’t care why or how she did it, all that would matter is what she had done.

  Helena said nothing, her face impossible to read.

  “The moment I saw them, I knew I would do it.”

  Adi waited for a response, but none came, the seconds passing silently. After a while, Helena stood and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “Sleep.”

  Adi watched her leave the room, unsure of what to think. It wasn’t the response she expected, but there was something in Helena’s eyes that told her she wasn’t done with her. Resigning to her fate, she laid down and fell asleep.

  She slept for an entire day, Señorita Perez only waking her to check her injuries. No one was allowed to see her, but she barely noticed, content to lay on something soft, huddled beneath a warm blanket. When she finally woke up long enough to eat, Helena entered the room just as she was finishing.

  “Señorita Perez tells me you’re healing quickly.” Helena hesitated. “We leave in the morning. Be ready at first light.”

  Normally, Adi would wonder where they were going and what was happening, but as she laid back down on the bed and pulled the blanket tight, she was calm. Whatever happened, she was ready.

  Early the next morning, Adi prepared, Señorita Perez helping her put on an extra shirt and re-slinging shoulder. As she handed her a bag of supplies, she gave her a small smile and told her to go, Adi knowing where Helena would be.

  The air was still in the morning light as she walked through the village towards the gate. She thought about finding Benito, but decided against it. If she saw him, she wouldn’t want to leave. She stepped out of the village and onto the trail, slowing at the sight of the person ahead of her.

  “You look better,” Thiago said.

  He was different, the hostility normally directed towards her no longer there, and she relaxed, a little relieved that she wouldn’t be by herself. Hearing footsteps behind her, she didn’t get a chance to reply as Helena said nothing as she passed them, Adi and Thiago simply following her down the trail and into the trees.

  They hiked for hours, Adi struggling to keep up with Helena’s quick pace. No one spoke and in the silence she kept her mind still, focusing all her energy on climbing up the hill. Concentrating on taking the next step, she didn’t notice that the jungle was beginning to thin, but when she walked onto what looked like an old, unused road, her mind snapped to attention.

  They veered off onto an overgrown path, following as it turned into an upward climb. Adi struggled to ascend the steep slope, her leg throbbing and her shoulder sore. When they reached their destination an hour later, she sat down on a mossy rock and caught her breath. It took her a few moments to see it, but when she did, s
he realized that they had entered an old, abandoned village.

  She watched Helena and Thiago walk among the rubble, translucent rays of the setting sun streaming through the tree tops. She pushed herself up, a patch of moss sliding off, revealing a small stone structure. The jungle had reclaimed everything as bushes, vines, and lichens camouflaged most of the destroyed buildings, young trees even twisting their way along the side of the stone stacks that still stood.

  Helena had stopped at the entrance of what looked like a small house and as she knelt in front of the remaining stones, her lips moving silently, Adi waited, an unsettled feeling forming at the pit of her stomach. While she was curious to find out what this place was, she couldn’t shake the nagging desire to leave. Helena sat down on a stump and took out some food from her pack. They weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

  “During the late sixties, early seventies,” Helena said as she peeled off the skin of an orange, “this country was filled with rebel movements.”

  Adi watched her drop the peels into her bag piece by piece, latching onto every word.

  “These groups fought against the military dictators who ruled with violence, slaughtering thousands at their pleasure. Thiago, you would have learned this in school, Adelita, I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”

  Adi nodded and she continued.

  “There was one particular movement that grabbed people’s attention. Its leaders were passionate, charismatic, and they connected with everyone who heard them. They were loved not only because they offered people protection, but because they gave them the chance to get their land back.”

  Helena smiled and took a bite of the orange. “Now, while other movements had appealing male leaders, this group was different because it was led by three women. And while being a rebel woman was nothing new—there were thousands who took up the call to fight and have been doing so for generations—these three were different. They had what we referred to as the deadly combination: intelligence and instinct.”

  She finished her orange and looked at Adi. “But they weren’t just smart. They were destined to lead.”

  Adi found herself unable to look away, locked in her gaze.

  Finally, Helena smiled and looked around at the ruins. “This was their home, where they stayed and built their movement. And this is where they died.” She cleared her throat and looked back at Adi. “These three women were sisters. Very few people knew their names. They simply called them Las Hermanas.”

  As soon as she heard the words, Adi felt as though she was being transported back in time, every memory of her mother’s bedtime stories hitting her at once.

  “You know this name, don’t you?” she heard Helena ask and she snapped out of it, looking into her knowing face.

  “It’s just a story,” she replied, her words sounding less confident than she needed them to be. She suddenly felt nervous and took a step back, not liking the way Helena was watching her.

  Helena smiled sadly. “Oh, it’s more than just a story, Adelita. It’s history. Your history.” She paused and Adi felt naked under her stare. “The three women who formed and led one of the greatest movements in our country’s history are your ancestors, Adelita Alvarez.”

  The moment her last name left Helena’s lips, Adi felt dizzy, as though something was restricting her ability to breathe. She fought against it, demanding that she stay in control, but it wasn’t working. She was such a fool, thinking they were safe when she had walked them right into another trap. She should have known it was too good to be true, she should have never trusted her. Suddenly realizing that she didn’t have a single weapon on her, she willed herself to be calm. “How do you know that?” she asked, barely getting out the words. “How do you know my last name?”

  Helena didn’t move as she watched her, continuing on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Their names were Margarita, Rafaela, and Adelita Valdez. Adelita was your abuela, your mama’s mama, who you were named after.”

  “No,” Adi said, feeling a little bit more in control. Helena might know her last name, but she didn’t know as much as she thought. Besides, Alvarez was a common name; it was just a lucky guess. “You’re wrong. My abuela’s name was Ana.”

  Helena smiled. “Ana wasn’t your real abuela. Your mama, Esperanza, was born to Adelita Valdez and Leonardo Florez on March 19, 1973. I know because I was there.”

  The mention of her grandfather’s name worried her a bit, but she pushed the thought away. She needed to focus less on what Helena was saying and more on how she was going to get back to the village. She needed to get the others. They weren’t safe.

  “Your abuelo was married to Ana when he met Adelita,” Helena continued, oblivious to the panicked thoughts in Adi’s head, “and they already had a child—Joselin, I think was her name. But Adelita and Leonardo fell in love and your mama was the product of that. I’ll never forget the night Esperanza was born. It was raining so hard we thought the roof would collapse.”

  The more she talked, the less confident Adi was that Helena was wrong, and she once again felt the control slipping away. While anyone could know her aunt’s name, there was no way Helena could know that her mother had been born during a storm. She felt the fight leave her as she leaned against a tree, the memory of her father’s smiling face before her, so real she could almost touch it.

  “This is your fault, you know,” her father would tease when it poured for days. “God’s crying again. He just didn’t want to let you go.”

  Her mother would smile, her cheeks warming beneath his gaze as she stood in front of the stove, Mateo’s hand lovingly resting on the back of her neck.

  A single tear rolling down her cheek broke her from her memory and she looked up at Helena standing in front of her.

  “Your abuela was one of my closest friends,” she said softly as she wiped the tear off Adi’s chin. “When she placed your mama into Leonardo’s arms, I promised to watch over her and keep her safe. I was there when she married your papa,” Helena continued, “and I was there when Leticia was born. I was in the room when they named you.” Helena began walking away, talking as she went. “I lost track of your family a few years after you were born during one of your many moves. I searched endlessly, but you had vanished. I never thought I’d see you again.” She turned and faced Adi once more. “But when I saw you sitting in that room tied to that chair, I knew. I knew it was you. And I knew in that moment what I had to do.” Helena moved to her with speed Adi didn’t know she had, and she forcefully took her hands in her own. “You, Adelita Alvarez, were meant to find me here, in this place, so I could show you who you really are.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Everything was different once she walked off that mountain, but it wasn’t her that changed. Helena treated her as if she was supposed to know what finding out about her past meant, but Adi didn’t understand what the big deal was. The past was the past and she wasn’t her grandmother. Was it somehow supposed to change her?

  At first when Helena began to tell her about her family and the Las Hermanas movement, she would simply listen, thinking that the stories would eventually have a point, but when they didn’t, she got frustrated.

  “Why does it matter what happened?” she asked angrily. “It’s over!”

  But Helena would simply smile and say that one day it would make sense, continuing on where she left off.

  Adi exhaled deeply as she stared out at the rolling, green mountains in front of her, replaying the last argument she had with Helena as she stood alone in the silence, watching the sun slowly sink in the distance. It was useless to fight, Helena determined to teach her something she didn’t understand, so she resigned herself to it, listening to her talk about the past while she dreamt about all the things her friends were doing.

  Her body shook as a shiver ran down her spine. It was beginning to get cold, the sun’s warmth gone and she knew she should head back, wanting to be inside by the time the white-legged mosquitos came out to bite. She took one last look
at the sky and turned around just in time to see Kaue approaching. Seeing the concerned expression on his face, she knew something was wrong.

  She ran the entire way back, stifling the desire to panic as she hastily brushed a couple large tobacco leaves out of her path. While she tried to tell herself it could be a mistake, that maybe they were wrong, she couldn’t help but think the worst. Entering the village, she spotted Nayara and ran straight towards her.

  “Gio,” Nayara said, barely getting the words out. “She’s gone.”

  It didn’t make sense. There was no way she would just leave.

  “I should have known,” Nayara was saying, but Adi barely heard her. She was already halfway to her room where she grabbed her bag and ran out into the trees.

  They searched endlessly, Adi’s anxiety building as night slowly fell. She knew it was pointless; Giovana was an excellent tracker and she would only leave a trail if she wanted to. But they looked anyway, hoping for any sign that she had been there. Adi was examining a small indent in the mud when a sharp whistle cut through the silence.

  She ran towards it, hoping with all her might that it was Giovana. But when she finally got there, leg muscles burning, she saw Marcelo crouched low beside the river.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure it’s anything.” He pointed to the small pile of frog skin on the rock.

  “It’s her.”

  Marcelo leaned back on his heels and shook his head. “You don’t know that.”

  “Gio hates the skin.” She knew it was a stretch, but she was determined to believe it.

  “I know,” he replied as he stood. “But that doesn’t mean it’s her.”

  Adi tried to figure out what Giovana was doing. If she had just eaten, she might be moving slow. “How fresh is that?”

  Marcelo shrugged. “I don’t know. It hasn’t shriveled so maybe in the last hour.”

  She nodded. “And if you were her, which way would you go?”

  He sighed and looked around, stepping into the water as he examined the surroundings. “There,” he said, pointing to a narrow place upriver. “That’s where I would cross.”