The Known and the Unknown

It was a humid day in June when Luna Smithers decided she wanted to have ice cream with her boyfriend of one year, Luis Martinez, at his house. She pulled up to his house in her powder blue Corvette. She noticed that his car was the only one in the driveway, so his family must have recently left because they were there when she called. She took a breath and stepped out of the car, taking the tubs of ice cream out with her. As her black strappy sandals hit the ground, she got a feeling in her stomach. It felt like flutters, but not of butterflies, more like the rugged wings of moths who are searching for the light of day after years of darkness. She doesn't know why she had this bad feeling about being here since she is actually here often. She shakes it off, her long chocolate brown curls swinging right along with her head. She goes up to the red wooden door, with the seemingly menacing bull door knocker looking her directly into her eyes, and she texts Luis to come to the door.

He arrives at the door promptly and shirtless, his wet hair giving off that he just got out of the shower. Luna holds up the ice cream and says, with a playful grin:

"I have arrived with your package, mon ami! Now let me in."

He playfully bows as he opens the door and says, "Oui, madame." He looks up at her and winks before tackling her in a hug and showering her with kisses. She tries to get up but fails to his strengthl she eventually does get up, looks him directly in his eyes with a smirk, and tells him:

"That is the only French you know, my little churro. Let's go crack open this ice cream and turn on a movie." She then grabs his hand and leads him to the kitchen.

After they sit on the fuzzy chocolate brown love-seat, they eat their ice cream and turn on a random movie that was on the television and begin to talk, Luna laying her slim cocoa brown legs across Luis’ tan ones, her back to the arm of the couch and her head resting in the crease of the couch. Then there’s Luis, his feet crossed on top of the coffee table and his brown curly hair resting in front of his face as he leaned forward, his dimples showing as he grins at Luna, and his brown freckles scattered across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, his hazel eyes absorbing every inch of his girlfriend and his average ears also absorbing every word she says.

As she talks about how her trip to France with her mom went, Luis begins to feel sad about what he is going to have to do soon. He loves Luna and can see her being his wife in the future. He wants to have a future with her, but now he resents what his father has said and what his father has done to him. Luis’ past is going to ruin his future and it’s all because of the family he was born into. A feeling of sadness passes over him before he shakes it off and continues to listen to Luna tell her story. As he listens to her, some tears forced themselves out of his eyes as they remained emotionless.

Luna takes notice of his face being freshly wet by his mourning tears and takes his face in her hands. As soon as she is about to ask him what is wrong, the bell rings. Luis knows exactly what she was about to say so he immediately hops off the couch and rushes to the door, partially knocking Luna off of the couch. Luna fixed herself back onto the couch, crossed her legs, and began to wonder about what was wrong with Luis. She was thinking about all the things she knows about Luis’ family and all that he might be going through. She knows that his father is the kingpin of the drug cartel in California. She also knows that Luis’ father doesn’t like her being with his son since she is the daughter of the woman who broke his heart many years ago. She also knows that he doesn’t like her because she wants to spend her life with Luis, but she doesn’t support his decision to take his father's place in the business. She understands that he is sick and may not be around for too much longer, but there are other ways to carry out his father's legacy. She contemplates on the idea more and more before she sees Luis walk back with his friend Dominic. Luis tells her to give him a minute and he will be right back as he proceeds to the backyard with Dominic.

Luis looked at Dominic with a sense of fear and a bit of loathing. Dominic crossed his pale hair, buff arms, and looked at Luis with concern and disappointment in his grass green eyes. His short straight platinum blonde hair flipped into a quiff. Dominic leaned his thin yet muscular build against the rail of the wooden steps. The day had gone from humid to just a bit warm and all you can smell is freshly cut grass and all you hear is birds chirping, but both Dominic and Luis both knew that this day was far from being good at this point. Luis and Dominic just stood there staring at each other, the tension thick enough to be cut with a steak knife. After a few minutes of just standing there, Dominic broke the silence by standing up straight and pulling on his gray cotton shirt and saying, “So you know what has to happen now?”

“I really didn’t want this to happen. You gotta give me more time, man!” Luis said in a panic. Luis paced the grass, frantic about what he will have to do to his girlfriend. Dominic stops Luis in his tracks and puts his hands on Luis’ shoulders, but before he could even utter a word, a loud gunshot renders them silent. They both look at each other with fear-stricken eyes before they ran into the house to see if it is what they presumed.