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Sylvia: Journey of a Butterfly
Title
Copyright
Chapter 1 Stage One—The Egg
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven Stage Two—The Caterpillar
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen Stage Three—Chrysalis
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three Stage Four—Metamorphisis
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four Epilogue
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Sylvia: Journey of a Butterfly
Victor Adrian Aguirre Roman
A Story Shares book
Easy to read. Hard to put down.
storyshares.org
Copyright © 2021 by Story Share, Inc.
Victor Adrian Aguirre Roman
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Story Share, Inc.
The characters and events in this book are ficticious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Story Shares
dreaming up a new shelf in the global library
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PHILADELPHIA, PA
ISBN # 9798885978194
Printed in the United States of America
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Chapter 1 Stage One—The Egg
Just when the caterpillar thought her life was over, she began to fly—Unknown
She could feel the child moving within her. She could feel the tiny thumps against her tummy. It was as if the baby knew something was seriously wrong.
Sylvia was 17 years old and had lived a tragic life. After today, life would never be the same again for her and her unborn child.
She wanted to quit. She wanted to give in to the pain and the sorrow. Even getting out of bed was a struggle. She would not survive a day without him in her life.
Her tears fell like heavy raindrops. She could not believe he was gone. Her teary eyes kept looking at the door, hoping this was all a horrible dream.
She thought that maybe, just maybe, he would walk in the house like she remembered him.
“Hi babe,” he would say as he walked in and wrapped her in his arms. This was the safest place she had ever found. In his arms nothing mattered.
They were each other’s first love. “Puppy love” they called it, and it showed.
She caressed her unborn baby and whispered, “He will be back, little darling. He will be back soon. You will meet your father in a couple of months. We will be a great family.”
But, deep within, she knew she was lying. He really was gone. Forever.
His laugh would never echo throughout the house again. His sense of humor and goofiness would never again make her laugh.
He would not get to meet his son, to play with him and give him horsy rides. He would not show him how to throw a ball or ride a bike.
Death was final. It was not something which could be undone. To die at the age of 19, in the spring of life, was a colossal tragedy. Too big to be accepted.
The thought alone was too painful to bear. Sylvia’s sobs became a snowball going downhill. They grew louder and louder, until they became gasping heaves, which echoed throughout the house and seemed to shatter the very fabric of the heavens.
Chapter Two
The cards were stacked against Sylvia from the very start. She hardly had a chance.
She had been born to very young parents. Her mother, Veronica, was 17 years old when she had given birth to her. Her father, Victor, was only 16.
They both used drugs. They both were gang members. In El Paso, everyone seemed to belong to one gang or another during this time.
Gang murders and rivalries were rampant. The whole city seemed to be a war zone. You couldn’t go anywhere without the fear of being attacked or robbed or questioned by gang members.
The nightly news reported gang violence almost every day it seemed. The authorities were trying to find ways to deal with the problem, but it was a slow process.
Many children lost their lives to gang warfare. Some were actually killed. Others lost their lives due to incarceration caused by their gang ties.
Veronica belonged to Barrio Nuevo, BN. Victor belonged to the Barrio Campestre Locos, BCL, gang.
These gangs were bitter rivals when Victor and Veronica met.
Their relationship was doomed before it even started.
Chapter Three
When the homies from his gang found out that Victor was dating Veronica, they were furious. They threatened to kick him out of the gang if he did not end the relationship immediately.
Veronica’s friends weren’t too pleased, either.
The rivalry between these gangs was deep. People had been murdered on both sides. Whenever they saw each other, they would fight on the spot.
At school, almost every day members were being suspended or expelled for gang-related fights. They fought in classrooms, in the cafeteria, in the schoolyard, and anywhere else where their roads would cross.
Many times, they had shoot-outs in the streets, in broad daylight. If a gang knew where a rival lived, they would go over and do a “drive by” shooting at the house itself. It didn't matter who was inside.
It was the wild, wild west, teenage-gang style.
But Victor and Veronica continued their relationship despite the threats and disapproval of their respective gangs.
Chapter Four
The relationship between Veronica and Victor was very problematic and troubled. They fought and argued all the time. Their fights and arguments were childish.
This wasn’t surprising. They were practically children and had no clue as to what a relationship was. They were troubled teenagers with pasts full of baggage.
Both of them came from very dysfunctional families. Fights and arguments and domestic violence were things they had experienced their entire lives. They seemed normal. This was how they were taught to express “love.”
Veronica’s father had been a heroin addict. He left the family before Veronica made a memory with him. All she remembered was seeing him a few times strung out on dope. She was in middle school when she joined the gang.
Victor had been raised in extreme poverty. His mother had immigrated to El Paso from Ciudad Juarez when Victor was only four or five years old. She wanted to find a better life. But in El Paso, things had not been much different.
Victor and his siblings had been in and out of foster homes throughout his childhood. They had gone through too much neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and drug use in
their home.
His mom was only 15 years old when she had him. He followed in her footsteps and fathered Sylvia when he a young teen.
Cycles are hard to break.
Chapter Five
He became a gang member when he was 12 years old. Soon, he began smoking marijuana. He would try any drug which was put in front of him. Like any other person under the influence of drugs, his life began unraveling.
Veronica became pregnant almost immediately after she met Victor. They knew nothing about safe sex and, like so many other teenagers from their neighborhoods, didn’t realize the risks involved.
Their parents had not sat them down and given them the “birds and the bees” talk. Anything having to do with sex, they learned on the streets with their friends or from the television shows and movies they watched.
Victor and Veronica broke up just as quickly and abruptly as they had met.
Veronica didn’t find out she was pregnant until after their breakup. She was alone throughout her pregnancy and alone when the baby finally arrived screaming into this world.
Sylvia was born on January 10, 1995. Victor was nowhere to be found. He was lost in his world of gangs and drugs.
Sylvia did not know that her future would be full of tragedy and pain.
Chapter Six
“Let’s go look for some fools to shoot, ese,” Shorty said from the backseat.
Victor’s eyes were blood red, and his mind was hazy. There were four other members of the Campestre gang in the car with him.
They had been smoking weed, snorting cocaine, and drinking Jack Daniels. Five juvenile gang members in a car, with a gun, and under the heavy influence of drugs. It was a toxic mix of danger.
They were a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, destroying everything in its path. And that is exactly what happened.
The night started innocently enough. Victor and his friend Spanky were supposed to go to a hotel and party with some girls Spanky knew.
Victor was waiting for him at Cricket’s house because that’s where they were going to leave from. But when Spanky arrived, he found all his homeboys already partying.
They were outside smoking marijuana and drinking. A speaker was blaring oldies but goodies.
Someone passed the joint to Spanky. He took a long puff, inhaling as much of the black smoke as his lungs could handle.
He took another puff, and another, until he forgot about the date he had set up for him and Victor with the two girls.
Chapter Seven
And now they were here, driving around Moon City, looking for some rival gang members to shoot. Victor was driving Spanky’s car because Spanky was too intoxicated to drive.
Spanky was driving initially, but he kept swerving onto oncoming traffic and ignoring every traffic rule. So, Victor had taken over the driving duties.
“I know there is a party for the Moon City Locos somewhere around here,” Shorty told everyone after he had made the comment about finding someone to shoot.
Victor knew exactly what he was talking about. The party was for one of Veronica’s cousins who was a member of MCL. The party was at Veronica’s house.
Veronica and Victor were no longer together as a couple, but they talked every once in a while. And Victor would go visit his newborn daughter.
Sylvia was three months old at this time.
“Yes, there is a party for Piojo and I know exactly where it’s at,” Victor slurred as he drove the car towards Veronica’s house.
A rifle sat between Victor and Spanky in the front of the car. This was a stupid idea.
How could Victor drive his homeboys to Veronica’s house so they could shoot at members from MCL?
Veronica and her family would be there. Kids would be running around for sure. Sylvia, his very-own-blood-Sylvia, would be there too!
What if she were shot accidentally? What if they killed a child? What if they killed anyone?
None of this registered in the fog of Victor’s mind. He felt no emotions and no concern for anyone’s safety.
It was as if a zombie had inhabited his body and taken over his mind. He would not be doing this if he was sober.
Chapter Eight
He turned the corner. They could see Veronica’s house. Members of MCL were standing outside her fence, drinking and having a good time.
They did not imagine that Victor and his friends were watching them from a distance. They had know idea they were about to be used as target practice.
“There they are, homes. Let’s shoot their ass,” Shorty said excitedly.
Everyone in the car perked up. Spanky lifted his head slowly, eyes slanted, and smiled. His left hand caressed the rifle next to him.
Victor inched forward. There was no point in turning off the lights. The MCL members had seen the car turn the corner. But they did not know their rivals were inside.
Chapter Nine
As they got closer, one of the MCL members froze. He looked intently through the car’s windshield.
Was he imagining something, or was it BCL members he was seeing? It was close to midnight. The darkness cloaked the passengers from his view.
No, he was sure it was them! He frantically let his homeboys know who was in the car.
All hell broke loose.
The MCL members started throwing bottles and rocks at the car. They were flashing the MCL gang sign with their fingers. A bottle bounced off the windshield with a loud thud.
Spanky grabbed the rifle and hung his body out of the window, pointing it in the direction of MCL. The flashes of gunfire lit up the night.
Inside the car, the flashes made it look like a scene from a horror movie. Lights flashing, making the growling faces visible, only to have them disappear again into the night the next instant.
The noise was deafening. Bang! Bang! Bangbangbangbang!
Chapter Ten
Victor could see people running for cover. He saw parents running for their children, whisking them to safety.
He saw members of MCL throwing themselves to the ground or running behind cars. It was amazing to see how fast people moved when they are under gunfire.
Veronica ran inside to protect her three-month-old daughter. Sylvia was too young to know that her house was under siege. Or that her dad was driving the car from where the shots were being fired.
Victor saw someone grab their neck and fall to the ground. He stepped on the gas pedal and headed north to get away from the scene.
“Fuck Moon City! Puro Campestre Locos,” Spanky cursed as he continued firing away with glee as the car sped off, leaving dust and destruction in its wake.
Chapter Eleven Stage Two—The Caterpillar
After a brief chase, the police caught up with them and placed all five members of Campestre, Victor included, under arrest. They were charged with murder.
One of the bullets Spanky fired struck a 15-year-old teenager on the back of his neck. It exited from the front of his throat.
Veronica saw what had happened and ran to him. She begged him to get up, to breathe, to stay with her. Other people tried to help him as much as they could.
It was pointless.
The bullet had destroyed the jugular vein and injured the spine. He died at the scene, in front of his family and friends. In front of children like him. Veronica and her family were inconsolable.
Victor could not believe when they told him the name of the dead teenager.
Rodrigo Cera Ramirez. He knew that name well.
Rodrigo was Veronica’s little brother. Sylvia’s uncle.
He was not a member of any gang, just a kid hanging out in front of his house, celebrating a cousin’s birthday.
Now he was dead, and Victor had participated in the shooting. He was only 15 years old when he died.
Chapter Twelve
After this incident, Sylvia’s childhood became very turbulent. Her father, Victor, was tried as an adult, even though he was only 15 when the shooting took place.
He was sent aw
ay to prison for the murder of her uncle Rodrigo. He received a 35-year prison sentence for being the driver of the vehicle involved in the killing.
There was a good chance he would never see the streets again.
As Sylvia got older, she constantly asked about her dad. No one told her that he had participated in the murder of her uncle or that he was in prison because of it.
Veronica always lied about where he was. One day he was on vacation. Then he was studying in a school faraway. Then he was “almost” coming home.
Sylvia did not understand why he didn’t come home to visit her.
As she got older, she began to understand what was going on. She eavesdropped on a couple of conversations her family had about Rodrigo’s murder. She heard her dad was involved.
They always whispered when they talked about it because they knew she was around. Still, she heard some of their talks.
Her uncles, Veronica’s older brothers, hated Victor. They would talk about killing him if he were ever released from prison.
At school it was difficult not being able to explain where her father was or who he was. She never talked about his situation much.
It wasn’t that she was ashamed of him. She just didn’t like having to explain why her dad was in prison. Then she’d have to deal with everyone’s sympathy stares.
She didn’t need anyone’s sympathy. She hated people feeling sorry for her.
Chapter Thirteen
At first, Victor’s letters were not given to Sylvia. But Veronica knew Sylvia needed to know Victor. Veronica allowed him to stay in touch with her through letters.
Sylvia loved hearing from him and saved all of his letters in a box. It was her personal treasure. She guarded it with her life.
He would send her beautiful drawings, cards, and other gifts. She missed him. She wished she could have him with her like other children who had both parents.