Chapter 1 - The Broken Bunny
—If your daughter falls, tell her not to cry so much… she’s ruining her brother’s party.
That was the first thing Mariana heard when she walked into her brother Daniel’s house, in a quiet gated community in Satélite, carrying a gift bag and the absurd hope that the afternoon would be a normal celebration.
Children’s music played from a speaker placed near the dining room. On the table there was chocolate cake, colorful cups, a video game piñata hanging in the yard, and two of José’s school friends sitting with the look of not knowing whether to stay or leave. But José, the birthday boy turning 12, was not playing or blowing out candles. He was standing by the sofa, arms crossed, eyes red with anger.
Lucía, his 9-year-old sister, was kneeling in front of the trash can, gathering pieces of lilac fabric, white stuffing, and a plastic eye that had rolled under a chair.
Mariana recognized the stuffed animal instantly.
It was the oversized bunny she had bought Lucía just 2 days earlier, after the girl won first place in a spelling contest at school. Daniel and his wife, Fernanda, hadn’t even gone to see her. They said they had a meeting, that traffic was bad, that José needed to practice for his video game tournament. But Mariana had been there. She saw Lucía trembling in her navy-blue uniform, pronouncing each word with beautiful focus, receiving her diploma and searching the crowd for a face that looked like her parents’.
She didn’t find one.
That was why Mariana took her for ice cream afterward and bought her that lilac bunny at a store in Mundo E.
—So you’ll know that someone did see how hard you worked — she told her.
Lucía hugged it like she had been given back something she didn’t know she had lost.
And now it was in pieces.
—What happened? —Mariana asked, feeling her throat tighten.
Daniel gave a tired little laugh, as if everything were an overreaction.
—Nothing serious. This girl threw a fit because José took the TV remote. You know how she is, dramatic like your mother.
—And the stuffed animal? —Mariana pointed to the trash can.
Fernanda, polished in her white blouse and gold earrings, didn’t even look up from her phone.
—José got upset. He tore it. But then she started screaming like crazy, so we punished her. There’s one thing to argue between siblings and another to put on a scene in front of guests.
One of José’s friends, a skinny boy named Mateo, lowered his gaze. Mariana noticed.
—Lucía, look at me — she said.
The girl raised her face. Her cheeks were wet, her lips pressed tight, and tiny bits of stuffing clung to her fingers.
—He went into my room — she whispered—. He said I didn’t deserve gifts because today was his birthday.
José snorted.
—Oh, here we go, crying again.
Daniel laughed.
—See? You really can’t handle anything, Lucía.
Mariana slowly turned toward her brother.
—You think that’s funny?
—Don’t start, Mariana. It’s not your house.
She looked at the bag in her hand. Inside was the present José had chosen the day before: an expensive game he had been asking for for months. Mariana had bought it because, even though the boy was rude, spoiled, and cruel to his sister when his parents weren’t looking, he still behaved better around her. Mariana wanted to believe there was something worth saving.
But that afternoon, watching him smile while Lucía threw the ruined stuffed animal into the trash, she understood that Daniel and Fernanda were raising a child to believe his sister’s humiliation was entertainment.
—I’m not giving you your gift — Mariana said.
José’s eyes widened.
—What?
—You heard me. You don’t deserve it.
Fernanda set her phone down on the table.
—Excuse me, what did you say?
—That I’m not rewarding a child who destroys his sister’s things and then laughs while she’s forced to pick them up.
Daniel stood.
—You’re making a scene over a toy.
—It’s not a toy, Daniel. It’s your daughter crying on the floor while you laugh at her.
Silence fell over the room like a bucket of cold water. Mateo got up slowly and picked up his backpack. The other boy followed his lead.
—My mom is already here for me — Mateo lied.
José turned red.
—Aunt, it’s my birthday!
—And maybe today is the first day someone tells you that not everything is owed to you just because you were born a boy and your parents decided to treat you like a king.
Fernanda slammed her hand on the table.
—Don’t talk to my son like that.
Mariana looked at Lucía, still kneeling, trembling, holding a piece of the lilac ear in her hands.
—And who talks to your daughter like that?
Daniel walked toward her with that smile he used when he wanted to intimidate someone.
—You’re leaving my house now.
Mariana didn’t move.
—I’m leaving. But Lucía is coming with me.
Fernanda gave a sharp laugh.
—Not a chance.
Then Mateo, from the doorway, spoke in a voice so low it was almost inaudible.
—It was José who told them to punish her. He said if she cried, you’d believe him.
José shouted his name. Daniel went rigid. Fernanda stared at the boy as if he had committed an unforgivable betrayal.
Mariana felt something inside her break, just like that stuffed animal.
May you like
That night she left the house without handing over the gift, but with one certainty carved into her chest: if Lucía stayed there, one day there would be no torn bunny to gather up, but something far worse.
And what she discovered the next morning left her breathless.
