Enrique's Journey
by Breanna Montoya
Enrique, is the son of Lourdes, a mother of two after being left by their father. She struggles to provide in Honduras. She decides to leave in order to build a better life for them. However Enrique isn't aware of her reasoning. While his sister lives on the better end, he is forced to almost fend for himself. He starts with a job, selling spices to help pay for things. He does this without a vendor’s license therefor doing it illegally .However, he doesn't manage to stay in one home like his sister. Even when his own father comes back, he abandons him for a new family that he has created. At school during mother’s day, he refuses to create a card for her. Year after year, she promises to come home in time for Christmas but to no prevail, does not show up which leaves him heartbroken. Enrique begins to start acting out. He comes home late, acts out in class. Three times, he I suspended and twice repeats a grade. However his promise to continue his education still remains. Soon after no luck with his grandmother or father, his next home is with his uncle .There he does his part and earns what a boy his age could. Here seems to be a good match up until one night, his uncle was murdered after a money exchange. With his loss of his uncle, he gains the loss of a home as well. All that had been given to him by his uncle has been taken by his girlfriend. After this tragic event, he finds himself back to where he had started .At the door of his grandmother to where he ask for a home. After years of not having the mother figure, he turns to an addiction. Enrique finds relief within smelling glue. His grandmother then banishes him to be seven feet behind their home. It is where his grandmother does the cooking, there is no electricity and all the walls are charred black .His drug addiction only worsens though. Enrique begins to steal from his own family in order to pay off his dealer. His aunt and uncle realize what he has tried to do and call the authorities on him. Instead of allowing them to take him, they decide to keep him in an attempt to help him better himself. They provide him with a job and home. However, his aunt will verbally abuse him. This causes him to lose control and attack her. This had been the final straw for his grandmother as she tells him to leave them. His girlfriend had later found him alone in a corner inhaling glue while he has tear stained cheeks. He cries for his mother and ask why she had left him. All that he can feel is shame and pain from all that he has caused. Not being able to handle anymore, his plan is to go through with what his grandmother suggested .He is to escape this country and reunite with his mother in order to find true happiness and salvation. It is his only way to better himself. He leaves to attempt to get to America with only $57 to his name and his mother’s telephone number on a scrap of paper written on the waistband of his pants.