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podiatrist would. “Don‘t wash this off, ok? Your skin will absorb it within the next two hours and it‘ll be like you had nothing on your leg. It won‘t even smell. It will leave no traces.”
“Two hours? Is it going to take effect that quickly?” Jose asked, astounded.
“Yes, so don‘t worry about a thing. Just hang out with us for a while and have a good time. The Roman family has been waiting for you guys. Carlos is still resting. He‘ll wake up within a few minutes.”
“I can‘t wait to see Carlos,” Pablo said. “Does he really look and feel as if nothing had happened?”
“Yes, he does, but his life won‘t be like nothing happened. He‘s going to live with this tragedy for the rest of his life. It won‘t traumatize him or drive him crazy, but it will always be on the back of his mind. He‘s not going to rest until his aggressors are brought to justice.”
Meanwhile, Opal was at the police station, talking to Det. Sheldon. “Constantine is out of his mind. He wants us to kidnap Kay Bennett so he can turn her into his sex slave, and yes, we were responsible for Carlos Roman‘s kidnapping and attempted murder. I‘m giving in, and I‘m not covering for anyone. What will be, will be. I don‘t care what happens from this point on. I should never have done this. Real friends don‘t help friends commit crimes.”
“I‘m glad you finally realized that. You do know, though, that the only way you‘re going to escape jail time is if Carlos Roman decides to forgive you and drops the charges.”
“Right now I‘m praying to God for him to do that, but I know that‘s not going to happen.”
“No, you don‘t. If you really want it, you‘ll get it, you know that? That‘s true, believe it or not, especially if you pray to God for it.”
“I don‘t think God listens to us,” Opal replied, smiling, but looking down. “He only listens to you.” He was referring to humans. “And not all of you, either, just some of you.”
“You‘re wrong, Opal.” Det. Sheldon was walking around the room, making Opal look around at him, perhaps in an effort to make him dizzy and get him to talk about possible crimes he and his buddies have committed in the past. “If you‘re here, it‘s for a reason. You didn‘t come out of nowhere. Someone created you. Someone created all creatures on this earth, in heaven, and in the universe. You know who that someone is? It‘s God. God loves all his children, not just us humans.”
“Do you think we‘re God‘s children?”
“Yes, Opal, I do. We all belong to God, no matter what species we are. He created all of
us.”
“That‘s nice,” Opal said.
Opal was locked up a few minutes later, and the police knew that there was a possibility that Carlos would show up to drop the charges because Opal was continually asking for it, so they decided to just wait and see what would happen.
Sure enough, Carlos woke up that afternoon around six thirty, crying. He had a dream minutes before. In that dream, it was he who had committed these crimes against other people, all the crimes that Constantine and his clique had committed: murder, rape, attempted murder, terrorism, and arson. He saw himself being tortured by angry humans in a place where the most evil criminals were executed. They beat him non-stop, rendering helpless, just the way they did to ruthless people of this species, they gave him gasoline to drink, destroying his internal organs and making him throw them up minutes later. They beat him in the head senseless, destroying his brain. To Carlos‘ disgrace, and the misfortune of the few Emadorians that had to go through this,