Dark Paradise

chapter eight

C H A P T E R E I G H T

THE NEXT FEW WEEKS CELIA TRIED TO FORGET. She ignored Gustavo's calls after she had left his a voicemail that they were over. and if she saw his cheating ass, she'd kill him. Her sister, Connie, did everything she could to keep her sister's spirits lifted. Connie and Elisa were in Celia's apartment while she was cooking a meal for her and the other two women to stay busy.

"I don't understand." Connie spoke up from her spot by the window as she glanced out to the street using slit between the two curtains. "How'd you get involved with communists?"

"Have you actually met a communist?" Elisa asked in response as she was helping Celia set the table.

"Yeah, I have, actually and she lied to me." Connie answered with hurt and anger laced in her tone.

"Well, I'm not a communist, Connie." Elisa argued as she moved away from the dining table and closer towards the woman she was speaking to. "I'm fighting against poverty, corruption, injustice and greed. I guess Americans don't have the same problem."

"That's communism, Elisa." Celia commented to Elisa as she walked into the kitchen and past her.

"Don't we?" Connie asked with a defensive tone as she followed Elisa into the kitchen. "Look, I only wish you'd been straight with me."

"I'm sorry." Elisa said with a soft voice as she glanced between Connie and Celia. "It might be best if I go."

"You can't get up and go." Celia piped up again from her spot by the stove as she turned to face Elisa. "The second you leave this apartment, there's no doubt they're going to find you. When they find you, they'll kill you and Steve and Javi won't go looking for you. Besides you won't make it anywhere near the border without them finding you and killing you."

Elisa looked over at the two woman as she picked up her glass of water and ran her finger along the rim.

"I fell in love with a man...a good man. I was hoping to do something good. Instead of doing that, I fell into something more violent." Elisa confessed as she stared into her glass of water before bringing it to her lips to take a sip.

"Yeah, that makes three of us." Celia commented with a humorless chuckle before turning back to the food on the stove.

/ / /

"I'VE ALREADY DONE IT SEVENTEEN TIMES." Elisa stated as she stopped pacing in front of Steve who sat in a chair with his arms crossed.

Celia had been watching her repeat her cover story to Steve for the past hour while she helped her sister pack.

"Cut her some slack, Steve. She knows it." Celia added to the conversation as she folded one of her sister's shirts.

"She got every one us into this." Steve argued with Celia before turning his attention back to Elisa. "Now sit down and do it again until you get it right."