The Beast

The Beast

Part 1: Beyond the Tracks

It was our turn to make the trip. When the day came, my brother and I hid behind a bare tree, close enough to the track so that we could reach the Beast. Although it was barely morning, the sun’s rays pierced through the skin on my arm. My entire body itched because of it. Cesar and I weren’t alone; others scattered behind the bare skinny trees with us. Papi always encouraged us to be practical for any occasion, so I clothed myself in a simple red t-shirt with “La Catholica” on it, black leggings, and Nike sneakers, while Cesar dressed himself in his school’s red t-shirt, jeans, and Vans sneakers. We attempted to match as much as possible in case we strayed from each other. When the coyote signaled the cue, we, and everyone else, darted for the tracks and waited for the rumble and vibration of the Mexican sand under our feet. When the Beast appeared in the distance, I grabbed Cesar’s arm and double-checked our backpacks hung securely over our shoulders. “Ready?” He nodded and I wrapped my fingers around his wrist. Tiny particles of orange sand danced while the tracks roared. My grip suffocated Cesar’s wrist as I lunged at the first railing in my sight.

Like a leech, I secured myself onto the Beast to the point where my knuckles lost their pink pigment. I knew I had successfully mounted the Beast by the way the wind tossed my hair to the left. I feared, however, looking to the side and not seeing my brother latched onto my left arm. I rolled my eyes to the side before I allowed my head to rotate with them. Out of the corner of my left eye I saw Cesar as he battled with my hair slapping him in the face.

“You don’t have a hair tie?”

I felt air inflate my lungs and blood flood my cheeks again. I scanned the Beast for any comfortable and safe spot. I looked beyond Cesar’s dark hair and saw all the others crawling up to the roof and into the cargo tanks. I searched for an opening into our military green tank, but only located a ladder on the other side that led to the roof. “You afraid of heights Cesar? Because as of now, the roof is looking very comfy.” I diagnosed what method we’d use to reach the ladder.

I released Cesar’s wrist and crawled along the side of the Beast’s metal tank to the ladder on the other side. I flailed my right arm around while my left suffocated the rail to maintain my balance. After tight-roping across, I stretched my arm to the rusted ladder and checked if Cesar still straggled behind. My heart pounded between my ears when the only thing behind me was an orange desert landscape getting smaller and smaller by the minute. A knot in my throat tightened as my head frantically rotated in all directions. I opened my mouth to scream his name, but only inaudible oxygen escaped from my lungs. I turned around and balanced back to where I last had him. A million scenarios consumed my mind: the images of him losing his balance, falling off and becoming a victim of the Beast, images of some desperate and dirty individual snatching him from behind me and scaling him of his valuables, but the worst one of all was the image of my life without my younger brother. My mind was conflicted between returning to our starting point and jumping off and looking for him.

I shuffled along the edge of the tank and eventually reached the rail I initially latched onto. The air escaped my lungs when I realized I traced the entire tank and Cesar was nowhere. Instinct separated my arms and legs from the Beast.

My inertia buried me into the soft desert sand when I landed. The Beast shrunk and left only a trail of wooden tracks and me behind. I rose from the blanket of sand, dusted off any granules, and scanned the environment. Nothing but a sea of sand in front of me and a couple of skinny, naked trees behind me. The only sound that emanated from my surroundings was the decrescendo of the Beast as it trailed away. The sun peeked behind the desert hills and indicated the end of the morning. Once the sun rose to its peak, we’d be victims to the elements.

I tucked my thumbs under my bookbag’s straps and trekked in the direction we came from. I prayed under my breath for Cesar to be sitting right next to the tracks, waiting for me. I prayed that waffle-printed footsteps decorated the loose earth leading me right up to him. I trotted with a pace quick enough to not waste time, but slow enough to catch any movement. I grew increasingly irritated as more and more particles of sand splashed into my sneakers with every step. I focused on my irritation to stray away from the idea of my lost brother.

***

Twenty minutes strolled by and still no sign of Cesar. I felt the sun on my bare neck as it creeped above and into the sky. The temperature rose from one moment to another and I caught myself in a moment of absolute desperateness; I wanted nothing more than to see my brother sitting on a rock eating the salt and vinegar chips I packed for him. I wanted to wake up and find his dark head of hair resting on my shoulder as I woke up from this nightmare.

As I continued my stroll, I noticed the sand transition into a more sturdy and grey dirt. I looked up and a forest with dense, dark green leaves greeted me. The forest was split in two by a trail of gravel and dead leaves. “Maybe Cesar took the trail, too.” The gravel and leaves crunched under my sneakers as I continued through the forest, which umbrellaed me from the blistering sun. The deeper I trekked into the forest, the darker it grew, and the more my vision impaired. Every time a dry leaf crunched obnoxiously under my foot it startled the small creatures that inhabited it, forcing them to scurry and orchestrate a symphony of rustling branches and leaves. I found it odd to see the forest because it wasn’t there when we rode the Beast and I simply followed the tracks backwards.

The trail persisted for about two miles until it halted at a cage of bare and skinny trees that enclosed a river. From where I stood, the sound of the current carried barely into my ears, so I approached the river. I crawled up and perched myself on top of a rugged boulder that had been buried halfway into the river’s sandy shore and examined the area for Cesar. Again, his absence prolonged even further. The sun now peaked well above the horizon and bared its rays into the river’s current. I relaxed my body on the boulder, unhitched my bookbag from my shoulders, and massaged my shoulders with my fingers. I swung my legs over the edge of the boulder and allowed gravity to pull and stretch them out.

In that moment, I envisioned my life without my brother. In a foreign land, my family was the only familiar. I planned on going to college and getting a career. I looked forward to the new life because of all the promises others advertised, but it’d be worthless without my brother. Cesar was excited, too. Since the day we agreed to leave a couple months ago, Cesar would come home from school and pack one item into his black suitcase. One night, we received a letter from the United State Embassy denying us our visa. One thing I loathed about the United States is that they never offered you any explanation; for days we’d call and ask why we’d been denied without any concrete justification. For days we pondered about the coyotes and the Beast. I cupped my hands around my lips, amplified my voice and called out “Cesar.”

“Be quiet,” His whisper startled me off the rock and onto the bouncy, sandy river shore. I laid there with my mouth widened and eyes dilated as Cesar’s big brown eyes greeted me from under the boulder. “Get your bookbag and hide.”

“You couldn’t have sent a text?”

“Apparently you couldn’t either. Now shut up, they may be close.” It never dawned on me at any point during my hike where we actually were, nor did it strike me who lurked to keep us out. I had been wandering ignorantly on the edge of the United States-Mexican border, an area infested with Border Control officers. “It won’t be long until they search the woods.”

“Then we need to cross.” I inspected the body of water. The river stretched across the entire length of the horizon; a current of earthy water, decorated with twigs and rocks that pierced through separated us from safety. “Take off your shoes, socks, and your shirt. You need to keep as many clothes dry as possible. You want to go first?”

“I don’t know how to swim.”

“I bet you regret not taking those lessons now, don’t you?” I untied my sneakers and rolled up my pant leg. “When was the last time you saw them?”

“About 20 minutes ago. They were chasing runaways.”

“We need to cross. For the love of God, stay close. As a matter of fact–" I cusped Cesar’s hand. Surprisingly, he didn’t protest. I poked my head from under the boulder and listened towards the woods for any human activity. Only squeals of forest birds and the sound of squirrels rustling their nuts from the fallen leaves emitted from the forest. “I don’t hear anyone, but we’ll be quiet anyways.” My eyes followed the river’s length until it revealed a group of eight gravestone-shaped rocks in single file across the river’s width. The stones indicated where the water draped through the cervices and created miniscule waterfalls. I guided Cesar from under the boulder and led him to the strip of rocks. “I don’t know how deep the water is here, but you need to hold onto the rocks and make yourself invisible.” I knotted the straps of our bookbags together and guaranteed he wouldn’t float away and become victim of the river.

I wrapped my hair into a ponytail high on my head, sat on the cold sand of the river’s shore, and crab-walked into the river. I allowed my legs to sink into the mushy sand as the water swallowed me up to my shoulders. Cesar, although younger, surpassed my height by four inches, so the water consumed him only up to under his chest. “Bend your knees. If there’s any Border Control officers, they’ll see us.” I hugged the first rock tight with my fingers, as the frosty water caressed my skin. The rocks were thin, and they felt fragile, but they veiled us from sight combined with the water. Like spiders, I stretched one arm onto the next rock and pulled the rest of my body to it while I battled the current and the debris the river preyed on.

By the sixth stone, the mushy sand morphed into ragged, sharp pebbles, and then into bigger rocks the river swallowed whole and cluttered the bottom of the river. Slimy moss encased the larger underwater rocks and it challenged what little grip we had on the river. I peered over my shoulder to inspect Cesar. “Steady, okay?” He nodded and synced his gait with mine and we continued along the line of rocks. The cold water that cascaded between the stones numbed and reddened my fingers, which weakened my grip with every stone we crossed.

A grassy and soggy ledge greeted us from the other side of the last rock. My soaked clothing weighed me down as I reached over the ledge, sunk my fingernails in the frail dirt, and crawled over the ledge. Once on the grass, I braced one foot on the last rock and hauled Cesar over the ledge. After, I laid in the grass with my bag as a pillow and allowed it to absorb all the water from my clothes while Cesar withdrew his t-shirt.

“Where to next, Sacagawea?” I rose on my feet and admired the scenery. This side of the river lacked the diverse ecosystems that composed the other side; instead, a sea of grass blanketed it, and the lack of trees embraced the sun’s rays. Three mountains under the horizon encaged the valley, and us with it. But right under the sierras, a chain of train tracks encircled the mountain range.

“We follow the Beast.”