It was pitch black inside an enormous room where Leticia seemingly "woke up" in.

"Breathe, Leticia," she thought. It was another one of those dreams again that she was having.

A light flashed on Leticia's face as she sat at a rectangular metal silver table. She saw dark figures surrounding her around the table. She panicked, as she knew this was the part that she had to wake up. In no time flat, Leticia heard a loud ring as the nightmare faded away.

The young woman bolted up from her slumber, hyperventilating, as she sat up straight. Leticia glanced around the room, checking to see if she was back in reality again. The sunlight beamed through her bedroom window. Leticia take slow deep breaths and muttered a curse in Spanish between her breaths. Once she felt calm, her eyes darted to the nightstand, reminding her to take her medication.

Leticia reached for the bottle of pills, then moved her body to the edge of the bed.

"Good morning, my songbird!" Mr. Hernandez's voice in Spanish boomed near her bedroom room door.

Leticia smiled and responded in the same language, "Good morning, dad!"

Her father came into the room holding a tray with breakfast placed on it. Leticia knew her father was in a mood where he allowed her mother to take a break from the cooking. Whenever her mother felt stressed out, her father was the one to pick up the slack on things, like cooking. Her father sat next to her, placing the tray on her lap. Her father's hand touch Leticia's head and messes her hair a little. She giggled, which made her father do the same too.

"There's that smile. How's my girl?" her father switched the language back to English.

"Alright...." Leticia answered as she was opening the pill bottle, "How's mom?"

"She's fine right now. I think you staying over here last night helped her stay calm,"

Leticia thought she had to stay around. Her mother was a crying mess after last night's family dinner. How could she leave her in that state? She never expected her older brother to act up like this. Leticia then drank her water and put the pills in her mouth, swallowing it .

"You think?" Leticia said to her father, finishing taking her medication.

"I know your mother and you have... your differences. But she needed someone last night," Her father watched Leticia ate her breakfast.

Leticia chewed on a piece of bacon, devouring her breakfast. She asked, "What group Raph is talking about? My mom seems to know what Raph is talking about... Dad, do you know anything about it?"

Her father's mouth tightened when she asked these questions. He kissed her forehead, then got up, avoiding her questions. "It's nothing that should concern you, honey. You have a long day ahead of you today. So don't worry about it," the older man reassured Leticia.

With that comment, he playfully took a piece of her French toast and took a bite in it. Leticia showed a cute pout face, but she knew it was something that her father always did. Being playful was his way of avoiding intense conversations.

Her father walked to the door in her room and cooed in Spanish, "Have a nice day, sunshine."

Leticia watched her father leave her room, then took a deep breath. She figured she would let it go since there was no point arguing at this time of the day. The woman went to finish her breakfast, then got off the bed to get ready for the day.

She rummaged through her closet as she threw out a pair of clothes on her bed. Leticia found an outfit that would fit for this hot summer weather. She put on a pair of brand name navy jeans and put on a nice turquoise short-sleeved blouse to complete the outfit.

Leticia went to her tall bedroom mirror to check herself, and she did her hair. She struggled to fix the chest part of her blouse, which covered the big bump on her chest.  Leticia hated seeing this bump, including the many scars on the rest of her chest and neck. No matter how much makeup and clothing she would try to cover it up, she would never hide it completely. People asked about the scars may occasions to Leticia over the years. The woman always replied that these scars were old surgeries scars from her childhood. These surgeries are because of a device she had inside her to prevent an 'illness'.

Strangely, her brothers had the same health problem. The doctors treated both of them with the same surgeries, which Leticia found more odd. It was told they needed the devices to treat their illness to be 'healthy' people. Yet, she never felt like she was normal. There was always feeling that there was more to this than what doctors and her parents weren't telling her.

Leticia went to put on her white high heel boots as she heard her cell phone rings. She saw the text notifications blowing up and read the messages from one of her band mates, Cho:

CHO: Going to buy donuts. Anyone wants some? :)

She read the next reply to the messages:

RALEIGH: No, thanks.

DAKOTA: I got coffee. Thx for asking, Cho.

KIKI: Pass.

Leticia soon typed her response:

LETICIA: Jeez, fuck Cho, cool it with the sweets, okay? Trying to become a Candy drug lord, r u? lol.

It wasn't too long until she got a swift, snarky response from Raleigh, which led her to text her back:

RALEIGH: Not funny, Leticia...>_>

LETICIA: Y so serious, Ray? It's a joke. Lighten up.

Leticia put her phone on silent for a bit, getting all her stuff together to start her day. When she left her room, there was loud crying coming from the kitchen. Leticia went into the kitchen to check what was going on. She sees her mother and younger brother, Miguel, sitting with a mysterious woman at the table. The young woman was a fair-skinned woman with long red hair, who was sitting near her mother. This woman looked like a model. Her tall, slim figure, fashionable hot pink, short dress, and high heel shoes got the model part down pat. The poor model's mascara running down her face from all the non-stop crying. Leticia didn't know who is this beautiful woman was, but she entered the kitchen in curiosity.

"There, there... My son will somehow turn up, Victoria. Would you like to have some tea?" Mrs. Hernandez asked.

"Yes, please, ma'am," The girl named Victoria wiped her tears as Miguel gave her a handkerchief. "Thank you, Miguel."

"Mom, who is this?" Leticia questioned.

Victoria straightened herself up in her chair and she looked at Leticia. She greeted, "Hi, my name is Victoria. I'm your older brother, Raphael's girlfriend. I was hoping to meet you all, but not like this."

"Raphael broke up with her. So not cool. Kicking her out of the apartment with no reason!" Miguel pointed out as Mrs. Hernandez gave Victoria a cup of tea.

"Make yourself at home, sweetie. Do you need of anything else? A place to stay? You can stay over here," Mrs. Hernandez gave some cookies to the model girl. Her mother was willing to anything to comfort Victoria as much as she could.

"No thanks, ma'am. I have friends over here at Clare Point View. I will contact them to see if they can take me in," Victoria answered. Leticia observing the polite model girl, taking a sip of the tea.

Leticia turned attention to her mother again, checking on her emotional state. Her older brother had made a mess of everything last night. Leticia had a hunch that her mother may know more about why her brother was acting out of character.  However, this morning, her mother acted like nothing happened! This frustrated Leticia because she knew something going on that her mother was hiding from her. Mrs. Hernandez paid her attention to her young brother again.

"Miguel, get in the car. You have baseball practice." Mrs. Hernandez shooed Miguel out of the kitchen as he complied with Mrs. Hernandez.

Leticia glared at her mother suspiciously. "Mom, why are you acting like nothing happened?"

"Leticia, let's talk about this later." Her mother stated, which only made her push the issue.

"No, not until you acknowledge something is seriously wrong with Raph!" Leticia pressed back, not backing down. Silence grew between them as it ended with her mother sighing in response. 

Her mother gestured to Victoria, who excused herself out of the room.

"Leticia, there will be a day when I will tell you everything. But today is not that day," the older woman answered sternly.

Leticia's face colored blood red in anger as she stomped her way to the front door. Opening the door in swift motion, she marched her way out of the home.

SLAM!

Leticia could only hope that she didn't damage the front door at least.