I rise early, as I do each morning, and I can hear the bustle approaching my door. I try to rub my eyes since they are reluctant to open; I slide out of bed and make my way to the door. Upon opening, I recognize my brother’s voice—there he was with his friends, returning from a grueling shift, but nonetheless, they were content to spend a few hours discussing their day.

I head to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth—then I'll be ready to head down for breakfast.

Descending the stairs, my brother offers me coffee.

"Larissa, come sit—I’ll serve you," my brother Demir says.

"Thanks," I reply.

I manage to join them and savor a breakfast before leaving for school.

After breakfast, my brother offers to walk me to school, but he's so at ease with his friends that I refuse.

"Take her, take her," two of his colleagues chime in.

At times, I dislike when my brother accompanies me to school because his presence intimidates my peers, as he is a well-known captain in the military police.

But to me, he's just my brother—always treating me kindly and looking out for me. Being his only and younger sister, he indulges my whims, and his friends have come to hold me in high regard.

Demir's narrative.

I arrive home with my colleagues and we decide to have breakfast. While we talk, my sister wakes up. It's winter and the sun takes its time to rise, so I resolve to drive her to school. Being a seasoned police officer, I can size up anyone I meet; yet, when I look at my sister, I see an innocent child—so sweet and good-natured that she has easily won my heart and respect, as well as that of my friends. For her age, girls are usually entering a different phase, but she remains steadfastly focused on her studies and listens to everything I say. Sometimes I feel sorry for her and urge her to go out with friends, yet she prefers staying home.

She is living with me because our parents opted to live on their farm. Dad is a well-esteemed neurologist, and Mom is an accountant. If I so chose, I wouldn't need to work, but my passion lies in being a police officer—to fight evil and save those in need.

Larissa's narrative.

Arriving at school, everyone turns to look at my brother still in his uniform; I just try to get inside as quickly as possible. There are my classmates—many of whom don’t get along with me because they call me a nerd.

Larissa Nascimento

I have a slight connection with a classmate who often talks to me, hoping I'll help with homework. But she always sits with me during breaks so I don’t feel alone. That day she could talk of nothing but the upcoming school dance—it was the end-of-year event and all the girls wanted to look stunning; I already had my dress and shoes. Even though I sometimes claim disinterest in these affairs, I can’t deny my excitement for it marks the end of a significant chapter for us, and soon I’d be able to start university and aspire to be a great accountant like my mother.

The evening arrives, and I decide to cook. A knock at the door—it's my brother's colleagues. It's a "guys’ night," they want to unwind from their heavy workload because they’d have the next day off after completing a mission against drug traffickers.

We all sit at the dining table; my brother bought a large house with the intention of always hosting his friends. We eat pizza, and as they drink beer and play cards, suddenly a phone rings. With a gesture for silence and music cutoff, the dining room plunges into quietness, and all eyes focus on Gomez, who is speaking on the phone.

He ends the call and the waiting gazes morph into inquiries.

"What happened?"

"What happened?"

they all ask.

"They killed Rodriguez," he manages to stammer out.

Stunned looks ensue, and they hurry off to gather news about their comrade.

Demir Nascimento

Demir’s account.

"It can’t be that Rodriguez was murdered," I argue with myself.

Yet, upon arriving at headquarters, the tragedy is confirmed.

They wanted his weapon and they killed him. I couldn’t digest what was happening, but I knew I had to find the person who did this to my friend and make them pay.

I grab my uniform and we all hop into the trucks, determined to find the culprit. We grill numerous individuals and comb through camera footage until we zero in on the murderers’ hangout—a neighborhood rife with criminals.

Correa kicks down the door of the house and we begin scouring the place, searching even under the beds. I head for the last room, the murderer’s bedroom, and start looking for any lead that could guide me to him when I spot a photo on the dresser—a photo that chills my blood and throws me into confusion. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. One of my teammates enters and sees the photo in my hands; his astonished gaze mirrors my own disbelief. In the photo, I see Rodriguez's murderer standing next to my sister, Larissa. Speculation erupts, with all wanting to suggest that perhaps my sister is involved... But how? She’s not like that. She’s just a child; how could she do something like this or get mixed up with such people? She doesn’t belong in that world. Nonetheless, we head to my house to confront her and demand to know how she knows this man and to tell us everything she knows.

We were on our way to my house, and all my classmates looked at me strangely and with displeasure. -Could they really believe that she or both of us had something to do with this murder??

I opened the door to my house and quickly climbed the stairs, heading to my sister's room. She was already asleep since it was 2 in the morning; she usually wasn't awake past 11 pm. I turned on the light in her room, and she tried to wake up, still bothered by the light in her eyes. She turned, trying to cover her eyes, and asked, "What's happening?"

I threw the photo at her and she looked at me puzzled. She inquired about what was up with the photo, and all I could think to say to her was, "You don't think he's my boyfriend, do you?"

"Where do you know him from?" I pressed her.

"He was a guy from the math competition," she replied.

"Is he your friend??? Tell me the truth."

"No!! I only met him that day. What's going on??"

"Don't lie to me! Tell me the truth," I shouted, making her jump out of bed.

"I told you, he came in second place at the competition and we just took a photo, that's all."

I got close to Larissa and took her by the face, looked her straight in the eyes, and told her she would regret it if she was lying to me.

I left the room, and my classmates were either beside the door or on the stairs, trying to listen in.

We continued to search that night, but there were no signs of that damn wretch.

Larissa recounts.

I was so scared, but honestly, I knew nothing about what had happened after that day. I had no contact with that guy. I don't understand why my brother can't see that.

After freshening up, I decided to go down for breakfast, and my brother was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, not even looking at me. I offered to have breakfast together, but he didn't answer. There was a knock at the door, and two of his friends turned up, making everything even tenser. I didn't understand why they couldn't believe me; I was telling them the truth.

I offered them something to drink, but one of them looked at me so distastefully that I feared for myself, so I decided to drop it and not invite them to anything.

I grabbed my backpack and left. I couldn't help but start to cry because I didn't want to go through this, and I felt so bad that my brother didn't trust me. When leaving, I bumped into Peñaloza, another of my brother's friends who, seeing me cry, grabbed my arm and asked me to sit down with him. He told me not to cry, that he believed in me, and he knew that I wasn't capable of doing that. -Finally, someone who believes in me- I thought.

He dried my tears and said goodbye.

The following days were very rough. No one talked to me, and there was only one week left before the end of the year dance. I wished my brother would go with me as he had promised, but he was still immersed in his matters. I don't blame him; he was a great friend to him, but I couldn't believe he thought I had anything to do with it. I decided to call my parents and told them that I wanted to go to the countryside with them because I couldn't stand his indifference. My parents told me they'd pick me up, but that my friend, who was the daughter of a family very close to ours, was very excited about that party and that I couldn't miss attending to accompany her, and that besides, it was my big night and I should enjoy it. So I decided to stay until that day and then finally leave with them. The party was on a Saturday, and on Sunday, they would come for me. All that week, I began to pack my things so I could leave and escape from that hell. It hurt a lot to have to leave without being able to restore the relationship with my brother, because how long would it take until he could understand that I wasn't the cause of such an abhorrent act.

The day of the party arrived, and I decided to style my hair and wear the dress I was so anxious to use. I went downstairs and could see my brother in the dining room with his friends. I approached the dining room and spoke to him.

"Hello, how are you?"

They all looked at me strangely because I never dressed up, and I wore a long pink dress with lots of sparkles on the bodice and tulle on the skirt. The dress was long in the back and shorter in the front; I also wore silver shoes, and my brown hair was picked up in a half-tail with waves. My green eyes were made up in silver with eyeliner. I had never worn a dress that showed off my curves, which is why my brother, after seeing me, said to me,

"Where are you going like that??"

"I'm going to the end-of-year dance. Do you want to come with me??"

"Do you see this as a time for parties?" he replied angrily.

"Fine, I'm leaving," I answered, lowering my gaze and turning away.

His attitude saddened me deeply, but I wanted to believe that it would pass eventually.

Demir recounts.

The last thing I needed was for my sister to want to go out dressed like that. It made me sad that she had to go to the dance alone, especially since I promised her a long time ago that this day would be special and that I would be there with her. But I wanted her to come to her senses and tell me the whole truth, or at least give me a clue about where to find that guy.

A call took me by surprise, announcing that they knew the whereabouts of the murderer.

We headed to the van to catch him. We arrived in the neighborhood and saw him armed with other young men.

We moved through the corridors of the place to reach them; stealthily, we had them surrounded, and a shootout began. While my companions covered me, I saw the murderer slipping away. I chased him down the cobbled street until I caught him. I looked him in the face and saw that it was him... The one from the photo was him.

My companions had already dealt with all the criminals, so we put the murderer in the van and took him to a place for interrogation.

We sat him in a chair and tied him up. I began to beat him, asking him why he did it. I hit him, and hit him, and hit him until he said that he wanted to steal the gun but that the other man wouldn't let him, that the only way was to kill him. "Did you enjoy it, you son of a bitch?"

He could only beg that we not kill him, but that was something I couldn't promise. I took the photo of my sister out of my pocket and began to ask him about her and where he knew her from.

He answered that he didn't know her.

"Do you want me to go and blow her away to find out if she was involved?"

"Do what you want; I don't know her, and I don't care," he replied.

"And why do you have a photo with her?"

"Because she beat me in a damn math contest, and it's the only photo I have from that day, but I don't know that girl."

"And how do I know you're not lying??"

"If you want, go and kill her, but she mustn't even know my name."

Everyone looked at me, feeling guilty for having treated my sister that way, but I would try to make amends with her the next day.

Meanwhile, at Larissa's school, she's having a good time with her friends. She checks the time and tells her friend that it's best she head home since her parents would be coming for her early and she wouldn't be able to wake up.

She decides to call a taxi which tells her to wait outside or it would leave without her.

Larissa said goodbye to her friend and went outside to wait for the taxi, but just as she was waiting, Peñaloza appears.

He was in his car and stopped in front of her, inviting her to get in.

"Hi! No thanks, I've called a taxi," replied Larissa.

"But your brother sent me to fetch you; he didn’t want you coming back alone and he'll kill me if I return without you," he said, with a gesture of his mouth to the side, "you know how he is."

"Alright, let me call the taxi to cancel it," Larissa replied.

I got into his car, and we headed to my brother’s house. It had been about 20 minutes since we left school and his car started making strange noises, so he decided to stop to check it out. We were in a place surrounded by trees, very close to the river, but it was a spot where nobody passed by, especially not at night.

He got out of the car and lifted the hood to see what the trouble was. I rolled my eyes, annoyed at the delay. I took my bag and got out to ask if he might need a flashlight.

Suddenly, a car that had seen us by the roadside stopped to help.

"God has answered my prayers," I thought to myself.

"Do you need help?" asked a man getting down from his car.

"Yes, we don’t know what's wrong with the car," I answered.

He approached us, and from the car that the man arrived in, four more men got out! One of them wore a bulletproof vest with "police" written on it. I looked at Peñaloza, puzzled, and gave him a sign to be alert.

But suddenly, the man slapped me so hard it knocked me to the ground. The other men grabbed my brother’s friend and held him. He grabbed my arm, wanting to drag me to their car; I tried to fight back, but he was stronger. I began kicking, but that's when the other men began to beat me. I refused to get into their car, and at one point, my ankle twisted from the heels, and I fell to the ground. I began to cry with my mouth bloody and, lying there, they laughed and jeered at me. Just as one of them turned for a moment to make his jokes, I took off running into the trees; if I ran towards the road, they would follow me with their car. Running in the dark of night, my feet hit rocks, but I didn't care; I needed to get away. I took my phone and started calling my brother as I ran, but he didn't answer. I kept calling, and no answer came. So I decided to send him a voice message.

"Demir, please, they want to kidnap me, there are four men chasing me through the woods. Please come help me, I'm scared they might want to kill me."

I think they might be police—I sent my location and turned off the phone.

I kept running, searching for a place to hide, running out of breath, but I had to survive no matter what. I hid behind a tree and could hear their footsteps on the dry leaves on the ground. I saw them head in another direction, so I decided to make a break for it, but as I was escaping, I ran into Peñaloza.

"Let's go, we have to get out of here, or they'll kill us!" I told him.

He grabbed my hair and threw me to the ground, pulling me along by my hair and yelling that he had caught me. I was surrounded by them.

One of them pulled out a gun and started questioning me about what happened with Rodriguez (the murdered police officer). I couldn't say a word, just shook my head, and one of them punched me.

"Talk, damn it!"

"I don’t know anything, please, just let me go."

He knelt beside me, running his gun across my face.

"Would you like it if I ruin your face? Leave you blind in one eye? Because that would be better than killing you. So you'd suffer."

"I only met that guy once."

One of their phones began to ring, and all he could say was, "Uh huh, okay, understood."

"They found him and say she's not involved; it was a misunderstanding."

A huge relief washed over me; they weren't going to kill me.

"I won't say anything about what happened; we can claim we had an accident, but I swear I won't tell."

Peñaloza looked at me and smiled in a terrifyingly grim way.

"You think you’re going to leave here?" he replied, "You and I will stay here, and I'll enjoy you as I always wanted."

"No, listen, we have to let her go and trust that she won't talk after everything that's happened. She won't say anything, right?" said one of the men, looking at me.

"I haven't said anything; please let me go."

"Leave us alone," said Peñaloza.

I tried to get up and run, but he grabbed me again by the hair and threw me to the ground. He began to beat my stomach, and I curled over my abdomen so I couldn't feel his blows anymore. For a moment, everything started to spin, and I lost control of my body.

That's when he threw himself on top of me, kissing my body as I had no strength to push him away, though I tried. He was stronger and grew more violent. He began to tear my dress while my tears fell; I tried to hold his hands from doing it, but he kept breaking free and hitting me. I saw my partially nude body on the ground. Then I heard the buckle of his belt and tried to get up, but he just kept hitting me until I almost passed out. I felt broken when he penetrated me. I'd never felt pain like this; I had never been with a man and this one shattered all my dreams of being with someone I loved one day. He moved on top of me, touching me roughly; I tried to push him off, but he moved with more force. It was horrible, I was desperate and could do nothing, crying in terror, begging him to stop, but he didn't listen. When it was over, he got off me, and I just curled to one side, crying on the ground. When I looked up, I saw Peñaloza approaching with a large rock. He began to hit me in the head with the stone; I tried to cover myself, but he became more forceful, everything spun until I felt nothing more.

Peñaloza's narrative.

I hit her head with the stone, and blood began to flow. When I realized, there was a pool, and she was dead. My companions approached me.

"You killed her," they said.

"I couldn't let her live."

"You raped her; that wasn't the plan. We only planned to kill her; you are a rapist."

"I always liked her, but I could never get close because of her brother. Now help me get rid of the body. Did you think she wouldn't expose you? The first thing she'd do if she met Demir."

We grabbed her feet and began to drag her, leaving a trail of blood along the path.

"Bring a bag; if we bury her, she'll be found quickly, and DNA will get me caught. We need to take her somewhere else," I said.

We wrapped her in the bag, ready to dump her in the river, where no one would find her.