Chapter Text
Veronica is 24 and is Lance’s only living biological sister. 17 years ago, Lance was born a girl and as an identical twin with Veronica’s now dead sister, Jimena. 17 years ago, her mother died while giving birth to her little siblings, so they only ever saw her in a tiny picture Veronica kept of her. She remembers the stories she told Lance and Jimena about their short but happy 3 years with her biological father, before he died in a car crash, to soothe them when they had nightmares. She was only seven when she was forced to take care of Lance and Jimena so that her Papá could earn enough money to feed his three children. Despite all the responsibility that was unfairly pushed on her at such a young age, Veronica was never bitter about it. She took care of them mostly on her own until she was ten, and continued to do so more fiercely when they were forced to move from foster home to foster home. Her protectiveness caused all of the foster families that took them in to drop off the trio back at the Home days after they opened sús puertas for the kids. She should’ve felt guilty for keeping her three-year-old siblings from living with an actual family, but she thought that if that family couldn’t handle Veronica’s urge to protect her siblings, pues entonces ellos no los merecían.
One day a kind señora named Teresa, who was their foster parent for the month, kept them for more than a week! At the time, it felt like an unlikely dream come true to her. Veronica asked Teresa why she still hasn’t returned them to the Home yet and la señora dijo that she loved how Veronica was so willing to put siblings’ comfort and safety before her own even if they weren’t in danger. She said that she wished that her hermana and her could’ve been close like that, but her hermana was always cruel to her and refused to spend time with Teresa. Teresa ended up adopting all the kids and they spent 2 years together, making memories they swear they will look back at in 10 years and laugh at how silly the twins were or how fun it was to stay up late for Mamí to come home from el trabajo, playing pretend con la ropa vieja de la abuelita even though they were all supposed to be sleeping. But they never ever got to that point. Veronica and Lance were sent to la farmacia to pick up medicina for Jimena because she came down with a bad fever. Veronica and Lance had a fun time walking to the pharmacy since it was their first time walking outside by themselves, but the sight that they were greeted with when they got back was a lot less fun. Veronica looked at the living room numbly. Her hermanita and Mamí were dead and there was blood everywhere. Lance slipped his hand out of hers and ran over to the bodies, he started to shake them and pleaded them to wake up. She rushed to Lance’s side, struggled to pick up the five-year-old but she managed and then ran to la policía. Ambulances and police cars were sent to her home while an officer stayed behind to calm Lance down and take care of the kids. It took 20 minutes to get Lance to stop crying and after he did, he fell asleep immediately. The police officer asked if she had any other familia and she shook her head. She was 12 and she was old enough to know that she and Lance were going to get sent back to a Home. And she was right, but it wasn’t the same Home she and the twins were sent to last time. This Home had terrible people in it. The people that were supposed to be in charge didn’t care when strange men came into the Home and took random kids, took them to a separate room and made the entire Home be filled with screams and the only explanation they got was “those kids did something wrong and needed to be punished”. She prayed to whatever god there was out there to never let her or Lance be take to That Room, but apparently those gods didn’t hear prayers because they were both taken in there for breaking a vase she didn’t know existed. Things happened to them that she never wants to relive, she still feels dirty even though years have passed since it happened. Her saint of a little brother was taken in the room multiple times because he decided that no one was going to have to suffer anymore and he would take the blame for whatever any of the other kids at the home supposedly did. All the other kids were grateful, but felt guilty that he was willing to do so much for them and they couldn’t give him anything back. Veronica felt pain, though. She wasn’t the one being tortured, but she cried about the fact that this was the first time she has ever been unable to save her brother. If only those police in Teresa’s campo took care of the drogadictos sooner, she and Jimena wouldn’t have to get murdered, and Lance and Veronica wouldn’t be stuck in an abusive orphanage home. Esos malditos puercos eran buenos para nada.