”So glad to see you have overcome them.
Completely silent now
With heaven’s help
You cast your demons out
And not to pull your halo down
Around your neck and tug you off your cloud
But I’m more than just a little curious
How you’re planning to go about
Making your amends to the dead
To the dead…”

There is a man sitting on a king-size armchair, right beside the fireplace. He must be around sixty, and even if he looks a bit younger you’d say that something, inside his body, is starting to crack. The man has salt and pepper thick hair, an attractive face and wears a reddish-purple nightgown. He looks at us absent-mindedly, tiredly, and drinks a sip of his cognac from an expensive crystal goblet.

“Well, well, well…”, he murmurs, with no trace of arrogance in his low voice, “…Look who’s there…”.

Francois steps towards him and bends his head, murmuring something into the man’s ear. He seems to listen carefully, then nods.

“Frisk them and then handcuff them. Maybe they’re carrying other weapons”, he says.

Francois waves his hand and two of the three men start putting their dirty hands all over us. I raise my arms, closing my eyes for a second. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see the man frisking Carmen grabbing her breasts, and I snap abruptly.

“Take your fucking hands off of her!”, I exclaims, slapping them away. The man behind me grabs my hair and hits me in the back of my head with his elbow. For a second, the pain blurs my sight and I fall on my knees without a sound. Confusedly, I can hear Carmen swearing in Spanish and kneeling down beside me. Her warm hands cover my head, brush my cheeks, lifting my chin. I meet her eyes and they’re full of concern and worry.

“Please…”, she whispers, her voice cracking, “…Please babe, don’t do that… Don’t provoke them…”.

I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste blood and I don’t reply. I just look at her, desperately. And I see her taking something very small from her hair and putting in into her mouth.

“We’re going to be fine…”, she whispers again, her eyes wide open, “…Everything’s going to be alright…”.