The Table of Truth - Chapter Two, Part 3

Part 3

Please Stay With Me


In my family, as with most people in the neighborhood where I grew up, there is no distinction between homes. We enter and exit one another’s houses freely. And often stay overnight if it gets late. We always have blankets and pillows available for anyone who might want to stay.
I was eleven when my aunt Zora was pregnant with her first child. I had been to her place many times in the past. But not recently because of her pregnancy. Her husband Pablo said I could come over any time. Even when Zora was away in the hospital. But I never felt comfortable around him alone. I didn’t know why.
After Zora returned from the hospital with her new baby, she asked me to come visit. I didn’t take the invitation seriously. But then she begged me. “Please, Marisela. You are my favorite niece. Please come visit me. I can’t get out much.”
I didn’t understand why she wanted me to be there so badly, but I was flattered by her desire to see me. So I went.
Pablo was in the other room watching television most of the time while we sat on Zora’s bed playing with the baby. It was such an amazing sight, looking into this child’s eyes. An entire human being was in there. One that would have experiences of its own. Opinions of its own. Thoughts of its own. Its little fingers grasped onto anything it came close to. As though it was exploring the world through touch. I knew right then that I would want one of these some day.
Zora kept inviting me, and I kept coming. She left a pillow and blanket on the couch for me to use. I began sleeping there almost as much as I slept at home. My mother and father were fine with it. They knew that I helped with the baby. That I was a good support for Zora. Something Pablo wasn’t always good at. Many men in my neighborhood didn't help raise the children. They saw it as women's work.
After a while it became too much for me. Some days I felt as though Zora was using me. I was a child. I should have been out playing with my friends. But she kept begging me to come over. Giving me guilt when I wanted to do something else.
Many nights when I slept on the couch, I could hear a noise coming from their room. She whimpered and occasionally screamed. I thought maybe Pablo was beating her. So I peaked inside. They were on the bed and Pablo was moving around on top of her. My aunt looked like she was in pain. Lying on her back with her legs spread. But she didn't seem to be resisting. So I did nothing about it.
I asked a friend about this. She explained that men have this extra item between their legs. She told me that it grows. And then they put it inside of the hole that girls have.
The thought was disgusting. I determined never to let a man be inside me like that. This thought was confirmed every night that I heard my aunt screaming in the next room.
Once I awoke in the middle of the night to find Pablo standing at the opposite end of the couch. He was naked, and that extra thing my friend had talked about hung between his legs. It was long. I couldn’t believe how much hair was strung around it. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it as it stood there. Like a third leg.
When he saw I was awake the thing stiffened. And lifted forward. Like a finger pointing directly at its intended target… Me. And then he followed it toward me.
I lifted the covers over my lips. Frightened as he came closer. When he reached the couch at the point where my waist lay, I lifted the cover to my nose.
He sat down. His unit still pointing toward me. His naked butt against my hip. Where was my aunt?
I lifted the cover above my eyes and could see no more. When I felt his strong hand lower onto my waist, I lifted the blanket the rest of the way over my head.
From that moment forward I could only feel him as he crawled onto the couch. He would crush me below his weight! I was scared to die. I was even more afraid of what else would happen.
I felt the blanket lifted from my legs. I felt his hands touch the naked skin of my feet.
Then I felt his body get on top of mine. That long unit of his touching my legs. I hoped my panties would stop it from getting past my hole. I hoped his big belly wouldn’t crush me.
I hoped it wouldn’t hurt.
Then I heard my aunt shift in bed. I could hear her lean over. Sigh. Then she shifted as though feeling the bedspread. She could tell Pablo had left. He lifted off of me and left the room. I stayed below the covers. A minute later I heard her moaning and whimpering.
When she invited me over again, I didn’t go.