I can still see the blood, the torturous looks of pain on their faces. I still have the locket that Carmellita threw towards me as she was being dragged away. I still have Consuelo's stuffed animals in the room she had slept in. I will never forget that night eight years ago...

                                                              ✝️ ... ✝️ 

The day after Carmellita told me she wanted to know Christ, we, Carmellita, Consuelo, and I, went for a walk. Three of us left for that walk. Only I returned.

It was getting dark as we walked through the streets of Toledo. Carmellita and I were holding flashlights and one was strapped to Consuelo's stroller. We didn't see those men lurking in the shadows. We weren't prepared for a shot to ring out, or for that bullet to hit Consuelo in the arm.

We screamed but no one seemed to hear us. A second bullet rang out. This one hit Carmellita. They kept shooting. I was lucky. I was only hit twice. Consuelo was hit five times, Carmellita was hit four times.

Blood was everywhere. Consuelo was dead. Carmellita was dragged away by her hair. She threw me her locket before she disappeared into the night. I grabbed the locket as it hit the pavement and held it with what strength I could muster I was kicked in the face and left there to die, baby Consuelo laying beside me, only a year old, dead.

Everything grew dark.