Its not my fault

"Pablito decided. Héctor decided," Candice explained with sadness on her face. "Little miss Emily decided. Héctor has been left free of blame. Pablito has caused an innocent person to need therapy for what happened, and the middle-school student ignored it."

The sound of the teacher entering the classroom startled Emily. She put away her mirror and waited. The teacher's face was pale, and his eyes showed a certain fear and guilt. He confirmed Pablito's passing and mentioned a car accident.

"We are all guilty," the teacher asserted. "We isolated Pablito. Some bullied him, and others decided to ignored. No one offered help, and above all, no one stopped the aggression."

"Teacher," Aisha interrupted. Her arm was raised so he could see her. "What aggression? Since Pablito returned from the hospital, there hasn't been any aggression. As far as I remember, no one messed with him."

"It's true," said Héctor, standing up from his seat. His tone of voice denoted feigned exaggeration. “The director and several teachers asked me to stop, and I did."

Emily remembered those two options. She had forgotten them because of her sudden popularity and her classmates' interest in her hobbies. They are my friends, she thought. Her teacher's voice sounded distant. They have accepted me, she kept thinking to avoid feeling the weight of the guilt.

The class had started, but Emily wasn't listening to anything. Her mind was filled with self-hatred. Her heart felt heavy, as if a stone were crushing it. I tried. I really did! She felt dizzy. She felch a stomach pain, like someone kick her. But how was I to know it would be real?

"Miss Emily Pérez Carrillo," the teacher’s strong voice rang out. The class went silent. Emily stood up from her seat, startled.

"Yes!" Emily said by instinct.

"Yes, what?" the teacher insisted. Laughter from her classmates was heard.

Mocking laughter. She had been distracted. Emily shook her head, and the teacher sighed. He asked someone else if they had the correct answer to the question he had asked and which Emily hadn't been able to respond correctly. She felt sweat soaking her uniform; her knees trembled a little when she sat down.

"The teacher said it's everyone's fault just so he doesn't feel guilty," Karla commented. The recess hour also felt heavy. "I just wonder how many are going to go to the novena..."

Emily looked at her mirror again. Nothing. Just her face, her horrible, large nose, her mole, and nothing else. For the first time, Naomy didn't steal her friend's lunch; she just limited herself to observing her friend, who was trembling while holding the mirror.

The time to leave finally arrived, and Naomy, wanting to know what was happening to her friend, pushed her to open up. It took some work, but she finally got her to talk.

"Let's go eat some good tacos de canasta with Don Fabi and you can tell me, okay?"

Near the school, Don Fabi always set up to sell his tacos de canasta, popular not only among Emily's school but among the owners of nearby shops. After ordering their food, the friends sat on the sidewalk to chat.

"That stupid ritual hasn't brought me anything but nightmares," Emily said while looking at her plate.

"How so?"

"You won't believe it," Emily began to relate her story to her friend, who listened intently. "A few days ago, a woman appeared in my mirror."

"A woman who dances, with very pale, thin skin and blonde hair?" Naomy asked excitedly. Emily looked at her friend, confused.

"I don't know if she's a dancer, but her skin isn't as white as you say, but... let's say it's you but older and with a tone not as... dark as yours."

Emily looked at her friend with some feigned hatred. Naomy took a bite of one of her tacos and thought.

"Does she call herself Candice?" Naomy asked curiously. Emily nodded with some emotion. So she wasn't hallucinating. "I did get to see her, just once. But tell me, what about that? I don't understand."

"Candice showed me the future," Emily explained. She had stopped eating. She really wasn't hungry and felt like every bite was a stone falling into her stomach. "She showed me how Pablito was the victim of that accident."

Emily dropped the plate; the tacos fell to the street, getting covered in dirt. Her hands trembled. Naomy didn't startle. Leaving her own plate on the ground, she just put her hands on her friend's shoulders.

"What is the damn problem?" Naomy asked, trying to calm her friend. "I'll be honest with you. Yes, you could have avoided that future, but that idiot fat kid has been suffering for years. It could very well have happened in another way that that damn mirror didn't want to show."

"That is the damn problem," insisted Emily. "It showed me two possible futures. I could have done something."

Naomy was already tired. She took her friend's backpack, took out the mirror, and opened it. She only saw her reflection, waiting to see Candice. After a few seconds, she threw it into the street. In silence, Emily finished eating.

Both watched as several cars passed by, causing the mirror to shatter. Naomy then decided they should go to her house to watch some movies.

"My brother brought me several movies," Naomy said as they both walked. "We can watch Kill Bill. Juan says it's very good and that he's watched it several times."

Emily finally relaxed. Neither of them noticed, but a female silhouette was following them. Between the mirrors and windows that had reflective surfaces, Candice was now moving with more freedom. She watched and seemed to take pleasure in Emily's guilt.

"It's a pity," Candice said while following the friends. "Pablo's future was going to be big, and not because of... hehe. He would have been a big, a great travel photographer. That, for sure... But Emily took it away from him by not intervening."

Candice stopped for a moment. The mirror were she was moved. A mother clearly wearing too much makeup got into the car. Candice swayed when the car door closed. Curious, she moved to the rearview mirror.

She could see a girl quite developed for her age, with a horrible hair color which also looked damaged. The young woman was wearing makeup that clashed with her middle school uniform. Candice observed: the girl was too thin, maybe. Or maybe she was wearing an uniform too big for her.

"Minerva, what are you doing?" said the mother while looking at the rearview mirror.

Candice didn't move, but the mother didn't notice her presence. Miverva, self named, Dita, turned to look in the mirror to meet her mother's gaze, who judged her with a look of reproach.

"I have a zit, see?" Dita said, pointing to a spot on her nose. "I'm wearing makeup to hide it."

"Are you an idiot?" her mother asked while looking for something in her purse. "Here, take this, clean your face and stop touching it if you don't want it to get bigger."

Welcome to mexican vovabulary.

Today we have the "tacos de canasta", Basket tacos. As Wikipedia says are a popular Mexican food preparation consisting of tortilla filled with various stews. Typical fillings are papa ('potato'),  chicharrón ('pork rinds'), frijoles ('beans') or adobo ('marinade'). The difference with the traditional tacos that everyone know is that common tacos usually that consist of meat (Chicken, beef or pork). Bakset Tacos are also usually cheaper.