Her name was Sophia, she was born in a miserable city in the Northeast, the daughter of a mother who made her living in prostitution and a father who killed himself at the corner bar, drinking cachaça with a group of alcoholics just like him. His two older siblings wanted nothing in life, just smoking weed and mugging in the neighborhood. They had already been threatened with death several times, but none of those who threatened them were male enough to do what was promised.

 From an early age he learned not to think about love and passion, his mother used to say that this was the feeling of weak people, who fell in love only did foolish things and served as suckers for others. Loose through the streets, he made friends with all kinds of people, but he knew how to differentiate the good from the bad and that way he never let the worst happen to him.

Sometimes he slept in the old shack made of clay stepped on with stones. Covered with palm straws, on other occasions by the neighborhood houses or even by the benches of the squares. On the billiards tables exposed on the fronts of the closed bars after midnight and, on a few occasions, used a sidewalk to get a sleep. On a scorching summer morning, despite the fact that there was never winter in that damned land, his father's drunk faced death and was found hard in some alley. People were sorry, someone pious paid for the funeral to keep the deceased from rotting in the middle of the street.

Many other drunks came to the funeral, spent the night drinking coffee and playing checkers, dominoes or cards. Perhaps celebrating their colleague's trip to hell, a place where they undoubtedly would also go one day. Well, he was never so necessary, he was nothing more than useless, which only made him ashamed. It was his birthday, look what a nice gift he got. Now, every December 5th, I would remember that tragedy.

 Tragedy? No, not so much, he would remember just like the day he saw a man slowly kill himself, through alcohol. Because he was too much of a coward to admit that he had failed in life and was not strong enough to overcome difficulties. He lost the courage to fight and was so loose he chose to let addiction kill him, since he didn't even have the least courage to give a single shot of mercy to the head or hang a rope around his neck, allowing himself to die with a little dignity It was time to take the deceased to the city's public cemetery. A procession of curious and idle people accompanied the coffin.

That was in a city hall car, there was an old bus that transported the small party, where most were drunk just like the dead. The place was horrible, full of brush, and the grave was so shallow that it was barely enough to place the coffin. After the lazy grave-digger was buried, he still had to throw a heap of clay over it to be able to fully cover the poor thing.

The grave was simple, no tombstones with the name, dates or any other tribute to the lost, poor thing. He watched any movement, curious and restless, he paced back and forth among the people present there, wanting to see and know everything.  Time to return, the old bus creaked the rusty hardware as it ran down the road, how much poverty together in one day! At the age of ten she had already gone to school several times.

 But she learned nothing because her mother enrolled her only to be entitled to the family allowance. They were an incentive from the federal government for children to be able to stay in school. But the money she received was used only to spend on cosmetics. That he used to be pleasant in the eyes of his lovers, with whom he made programs for late nights. Then he came home and slept all day, he looked like a lost soul or vampire who only goes out at night after his victims. The truth is that he had no family, no one who cared about the miserable life he led. It was like a mangy dog ​​that survives by picking up the remains scattered on the floor.

A poor devil who seems invisible to the eyes of those who walk up and down avenues, streets, alleys and roads wherever they are. But then, she was used to being worthless, to being a shadow that went unnoticed, an invisible being to the rest of the world.

I was used to facing that. He lived all the time in the same neighborhood, he never went beyond the free market. Where he collected fruits thrown by the marketers and ate with them, sometimes he even slept there, on the empty stalls. The red flower print dress she won almost a year ago was old and stained, but there was another one with yellow stripes. He hadn't changed in at least a month he hated the yellow color. The panties, then, that was just dirt!

But I didn’t even think about these hygiene things, I didn’t want to be like the mother who kept painting all over herself to win men, I thought it was ridiculous. If someone had to like her, it had to be natural, without so much freshness, because she didn't intend to look like a clown all dressed up to get a boyfriend or husband. Even recognizing that it helps, because her mother always showed up with a new guy, who took her to bed.

That still needed to understand, because I didn’t quite understand what the hell, they were doing locked up all night in that room, was it dating? But the rest of the neighborhood people used to date in the square, kissing. Once he stopped and watched the boy eating the girl's tongue, how disgusting! But there was such a thing as sex they told him about, where the man and the woman get naked, and lie down together.

 That's when they're going to make babies. Was that what his mother was doing in the bedroom with the bunch of boyfriends she had? But what the hell, the other girls understood all of this because they had television at home, in the damn shack where they lived, they didn't even have a radio! The worst thing is that the neighbors only let the girl watch cartoons. She loved the woodpecker, long leg and the confusions of Tom and Jerry, but at the age of ten she needed to put these, childishness aside and learn to be an adult.

I wanted to know more about that sex. Juliana was the blonde, daughter of the merchant next door, in fact it wasn't even a big store, just a few pounds of rice, beans, sugar and coffee on some shelves, she sold more flour and stole it in the bank. She was a fiery type, saw a lot of soap operas and said that men made salience with women. He was so naughty that one day, when her parents went to the church of the believers, she invited the starving woman to eat popcorn with soda.

 Watching a sex movie. She accepted at the time, not so much for the film, but to kill the hunger. She was thirteen and the bad tongues claimed to have done something with the kids already, well, never mind, it was none of your business. They were both in the dark, she turned on the DVD and started the movie. Suddenly the woman started to get naked.

 Taking off all her clothes and showing everything to the man who was sitting on a sofa, then it was he who started to peel himself. She has stopped eating and looks frozen at what she sees on TV. He gets scared and suddenly lets, go of what he was eating to run like a crazy street outside. I had never seen a naked adult man before it was the first time and it was horrible!

That tomboy was no good, he came to believe what they say about her, they were right. From that day on, I didn't want to know about that sex anymore, it was filthy, I preferred to go back to seeing drawings or something of the innocent kind. It was the end of the year, Christmas arrived and with it the same routine as always. Seeing everyone on the street have their parties, win gifts, decorate their homes with lots of lights.

And beautiful Christmas trees, while in the hut where he lived, no ornaments existed. That date meant love, peace and a lot of joy, said the residents of the village smile, which was on a cul-de-sac, so tight that it looked more like an alley. But for the unfortunate it was just an ordinary day, like any other. After all, what difference would it make to a poor woman like the one who was constantly digging through garbage, eating the leftovers left over from the table of the wealthiest? The good thing was that there was a lot of food, cakes, soft drinks left

 And they allowed her to eat, to take to her mother and siblings, who even giving her little importance, she remembered them from time to time. It dawns and everything remains dry as before, the land where it was born seemed forgotten or cursed by God, it never rained, it is a scorching sun to kill. The routine is repeated, he goes to the streets looking for food and see if he can play a little with the kids. Only then to forget how much she is condemned to always live miserably.

 At least while he was having fun playing, he didn't think about these things and would continue to smile, as every child does. Pretending not to realize that you are unhappy. Time went by and with it the childhood that was gone, then adolescence, bringing more problems, new difficulties. A very different horizon than before, in the madness of a poor girl and in the illusion that only a child's vision can perceive. At twelve he looks at his empty and hopeless reality, his mother selling his body to collect change that he could only buy perfume, the two brothers behind bars for participating in a failed robbery. She finds herself completely lost, in the dark, not knowing how to change that whole situation.

 The mayor of the city rebuilt the market and the whole fair around, the space changed, it was wonderful, the problem is that after that, no more wasted fruit. And now, how to eat without the fruit left over from the stalls, well, there will always be a way for everything. One day Sir Benedict beat up a funny guy who ran his hand over the brat, grew up, thickened his legs.

He widened his hips, here comes a naughty pervert and wants to make a boss? Well done, it got ugly! With the improvements, new types of visitors started to emerge there, they were people coming from everywhere nearby. And Mrs. Dina is beating her head off announcing her goat meat dishes and all kinds of food from the region. She liked being there, people didn't help her out of that miserable little life, but they killed her hunger.

He, started to have breakfast in Aunt Ana's tent, had lunch with Dona Dina and dinner was up to God. But don't even think it was free, he had to help in the stalls, sweep, wash dirty dishes and he still had to be kind to the customers, so the bastard gave him the hand. He mistook gentleness for naughtiness, there you have it, they put the stick in it!

However, working at the fair was a very positive thing, because she got new clothes. Dona Ana took the girl home and made her take a bath, changed her clothes that were rotten. It smelled bad, due to almost never changing them. After washing herself with soap and shampoo, she put on pants and a new shirt, because she was already a girl and had to cover herself.

Stop wearing dresses that showed the bottom of the panties to the males who circulated the streets after girls alone like her. On her cracked feet, instead of that old sandal from the heel of noise, she put on a closed shoe to see if she put her toes together, which were spread like the hens. The huge nails were scary to see. The street girl underwent a real transformation and returned to the well-kept fair. She was clean, combed, but she still lacked a beautiful smile. Her teeth were rotten, full of tartar and needed to be treated urgently or they would get lost in tooth decay.

 The marketers really liked the tomboy and got together to take the grumpy to the dentist. She didn't even know from afar what happened inside an office. I only heard the kids in the neighborhood say that that kind of professional killed the children with so much pain. But I didn't understand how or why, until the moment it was necessary to go there and take care of the rotten teeth. Cleaning and filling seemed more like a torture session, she turned yellow and felt sick as soon as she saw the size of the needle that came towards her mouth.

But before they put a cream on the gums and everything was anesthetized. Well, despite the scare, she left the office alive and on top of that she found that the swarm of the children was only to scare them. In practice everything is very simple. Now, clean from head to toe, ready to serve customers at the bank and not be embarrassed.

He took his clothes and shoes to the shack and there he kept everything in an old suitcase without a zipper, on top of an old wardrobe, where his mother hung the dresses she wore at night. Speaking of which, there she was thrown on that thin, torn foam mattress, looking like a fret, tired of spending the entire night in the gaff. It was three o'clock in the afternoon, I slept early.

In the old two-burner stove, placed on top of a box, no pot with anything to eat. Good thing he brought a lot of food from the market and saved it for when she woke up. He reached into his pockets to see if he could find any money, he had to keep it in a very safe place before it was stolen. His brothers were in jail, they were bandits. But there were some thieving kids in the neighborhood. After sweeping the place that looked like a pigsty, with the roof full of spiders with its webs, he sees his mother waking up yellow, weak and exhausted.

The meal is served to him and while contemplating eating, he begins to reflect on the damned life they have and wonders what they have done to deserve such disgrace. Right there, he made the decision to fight with all his might to get out of that poverty and get her out of prostitution, to provide her with something better.

 Avoid watching her grow old by selling her body as if it were a disposable object that men use and then throw away. In fact, I felt very sorry to see her in that deplorable state, of course, I never expressed to her what I thought about it, because I was nothing more than a child and respected her, however I was sure that I would still change things around there a lot. .

— Your brothers are on television!

That was what the neighbor said, breaking down, she runs to check the news. She thought they were finally doing something that she would be proud of. Because in your foolish imagination who appeared on TV was because he became famous. But nothing, the crooks were participating in a prison rebellion, together with other criminals on top of a damn high wall. They were threatening to behead another detainee if the police did not comply with their demands.

 The confusion lasted all day and entered into the night. Frightened, she informed her mother that her children were on television, threatening to cut off a man's head. She just shook her head positively and went out to sell herself, didn't even care. The girl was confused by such indifference, leaning against the white wooden door, watching her leave. Alone, abandoned and not knowing what to do to help the two madmen who could end up much worse than they already were.

 He closes the house and lies in the striped hammock he got from his grandmother, before she died. She was not afraid of being alone anymore, she got used to it, since she was a baby, she was abandoned, she learned to live with loneliness. But that night would be different from the countless others he had experienced. Time had passed and she was no longer a grumpy brat, she became a beautiful girl. At the age of thirteen, the body began to create curves and the guitar waist with the upturned butt caught the attention of the big guys.

She slept. In the meantime, danger moved through the darkness of dawn. An individual who had been hanging around a few weeks ago, watching the girls and women in the neighborhood, followed in his footsteps. And that night it was your search. He forces the entrance to the old shack and enters without being noticed. The teenager is surprised by the pervert who took off her clothes and wanted to scream for help, but was prevented. For the bastard covered his mouth while raping him.

 As the month approaching his thirteenth birthday approached, the gift he received from the cruel fate was to lose his virginity brutally. The criminal fulfilled his most impure desires and then escaped without a trace, leaving behind only the helpless girl who barely entered puberty with her innocence completely invaded in the worst way. Possible. Even though she was injured, she had the strength to get up and go to the side to ask for help from her neighbor, she was rescued totally naked, bloody and in tears.

The bandit escaped unscathed, as he was smart and used a condom, and even the examination performed by experts at the hospital where he was taken did not help. Could not identify him. Well, if it were in the United States, as I saw in police movies, they would use the maniac's fingerprints and locate him, but in a backward country like yours, especially when it comes to a slipper foot like her. Nothing would be done. Solidary people decided to denounce Lucia for leaving the child alone at home and spending the whole night on the street. However, when she learned that she lived on prostitution, the judge understood that she would not even be able to take care of the child.

Nor the daughter's right to custody. And the Guardian Council took over the girl, putting her up for adoption, despite her age. Aware of the girl's sad situation, Dona Dina volunteered to adopt her. And since then he has had her as the youngest daughter of the family. It seemed that luck had begun to emerge through so many struggles. Fate provided Sofia with the first changes she so often hoped to achieve, even if it started drastically. Living with her adoptive mother, she still visited Lucia and took care of her. He cleaned the old shack and took food harvested from what was left in the market stall.

She was enrolled in a school, this time she started to study for real and still attended the tutoring classes. He was smart, he quickly learned to read and write. And when he was fifteen, he received two gifts: The chic birthday party, where all his friends were able to participate. And to know that his two brothers finished paying the sentence and got out of prison. Well, in the latter, it would not be the case to qualify it as a real gift, since they would certainly return to the world of crime and cause terror in the neighborhood with their constant robberies and assaults. What could result in deaths. And their fears about that did not happen, it was enough for Edward and Fernando to return to live in freedom to practice serious crimes again.

 But this time they went too far, because the audacity of the two led them to unite with a gang to plan and execute a bank robbery. There were twelve robbers who broke into the bank branch that Monday, guns drawn. The security guards surrendered and carried out an audacious assault. But someone silently set the alarm and they were surrounded by surprise while still inside the agency. Cornered and trapped, they decide to confront the police.

They did not intend to return to prison, there was no other way to get out of there without being arrested. So, the way was to face the harsh reality that they were condemned to die fighting for undeserved freedom. That it would be paid in blood, the price charged for its mistakes would be the life of each one of them. The news came at an improper time, when for the first time he thought of living happiness fully. But it was worth it, even with the bad news. Now there was only her and her mother left, the rest of the damned family of which she was unlucky to be part, death took. Now, it was time to move on and think aloud, as he did not intend to end his days as an alcoholic father.

 Not like the bandit brothers. as little as the prostitute mother. God, that is, whoever he was, gave him a chance and would make the most of it. He would enter through every door that opened, he would go confidently along the paths placed before his feet and he would step firmly on to the future that might appear on the horizon. In that determination he dedicated himself to studies and was a source of pride. It caused admiration to everyone who knew her at seventeen.

After trying to run out of time, trying as hard as he could to finish his studies and get a job to see if he could take better care of Lucia, unfortunately he saw his dream fall apart. Once again, the plague of death came to make another victim and took away who least should at that moment, but, as Mrs. Ana insisted, if she caught AIDS, that was it! Lucia was a woman of the night, sold her body to survive, typical of those who let themselves be overcome by laziness and prefer to use these means than to work honestly.

A mature woman who was over forty, but pretty even poor, spent almost everything she earned with expensive products to maintain her appearance, she was vain. This helped him to keep his youthfulness for a long time, the customers appreciate the effort. However, whether taking care of himself or not, he hit the ball in one of his relationships and caught the incurable disease, he began to feel weakness all over his body.

Headaches, fever and losing weight all of a sudden. The long hair began to fall and the youthful appearance disappeared in the blink of an eye, until it was strong, it endured three months in the battle against the virus that ate it inside, however, it succumbed after that. Now it was just herself and all the life that lay ahead of her, sadly participated in the wake. Lucia face could be seen through the glass lid of the second-class coffin.

 That her godmother had made so that she would not be buried in any crate and even with the purpose of reducing her daughter's pain at losing her mother. Giving you a more dignified funeral. This time Sophia wept, but in a very discreet way, without those scandals typical of poor people's wake. Where the ladies made an astonishing fanfare when a loved one left. She learned, with great difficulty, that she should be ready for the unexpected, to know how to win or lose, and began to see everything she had to end very early.

He had already lost his whole family, he had only his dreams left and he would fight bravely for them. At the age of twenty he entered college, advanced his studies by passing with excellent grades in the supplement. He finished high school and at the federal university selection test, started studying the administration course, wanted to be a great businesswoman and was really good at business.

Dona Ana aged too much and had no strength to work, the daughters were all married, Mr. Paulo also weakened because of his age and it was she who ran the small restaurant they opened years ago, after things at the fair didn't go on more working. She studied at night and spent most of the day in front of the sale, she liked to manage, she was good at what she did and charismatic with the clientele.

So much so that one day she met Marcelo with whom she later started a serious relationship against the expectations that her adoptive parents expected for her. The boy was a third-rate playboy, from the spot he could see the bad intentions on his face, he was just a profiteer. Despite belonging to the middle class and riding around in a car of the year or on a state-of-the-art motorcycle. Even snubbing an artificial morality, in the end it was just a bad character. But passion blinded his eyes to the point that he was unable to see a foot in front of his nose.

 Nothing he was told would do. She rejected countless pieces of advice and remained deluded, so she, as a child, learned from Lucia that this is a typical feeling of the weak. And that lovers are idiots for others. And look what she did, she believed in false love and deluded, she plunged headlong into that endless chasm. On the one hand, how a true warrior achieved her goals and fulfilled the ideals she wanted to achieve since childhood. But on the other hand, he was striding in the opposite direction to the promising future that he so longed to embrace. The first, however, who won her innocent heart during six months of dating did not stand a chance of taking her to bed.

Because she became a traumatized woman, since the first time she had a sexual experience was in a drastic, violent and painful way. That was how she imagined this act and disgusted sex, which caused Marcelo irritation, which on several occasions threatened to leave her. She wanted to please him and on certain occasions she agreed to be touched, they were in bed together, but at the time of the arrangement she ran away from him and avoided penetration.

Gradually the boy got tired of the insistence and ended the relationship, after all, he was rich and good looking, he was always being coveted by a crowd of other girls, so why waste time in a relationship without results like that? Being alone she fell into a deep depression and reaped bitter losses. Because she was no longer able to concentrate on studies and restaurant management, it was necessary for her adoptive parents to take over business again while she recovered. Advised by Marta, a friend and confidante, she went to a psychologist and was in therapy twice a week. This was essential for him to turn the corner and regain self-esteem, however, he lost confidence in men.

Becoming a bitter woman with no interest in them. She dedicated herself only to work, studies and looking after godparents, which was what those who adopted her called. In college he made several friendships, but living with them was only there, no bingeing, walks or trips on weekends. Among them, only Luiza, a formidable and externally communicative person, remained connected to her all the time by social networks and they were always glued together. In fact, the two started to have such strong ties that they became like sisters and their friendship was gladly seen by their families, who approved the strange union. They attended graduation together and had the same goals, dreamed the same and were similarly intelligent. Sometimes Sophia played with her friend's father, and he smiled at the innuendo:

— You know, my mother was a woman of life, are you suddenly not dating around?

— Never mind, young lady, I was always the man of one woman. I wish I had dated your mother she was a very beautiful woman!

— Um, I don't know, and how do you explain that there is so much similarity between me and Luiza? Our tastes, dreams, choices, we even look a little bit!

She insisted on that key and the old man just smiled, while the wife was suspicious if behind this joke there was something true. The disappointment suffered recently in the affective field created an immense separation between her and the boys. Affecting her friend in a strange and strong way, which gave rise to a confused feeling, but similar to the one she felt for her old boyfriend. He became jealous. And, acting possessively became easily irritated when he noticed the approach of another woman, they both slept in the same bed.

When one visited the other's house and they were in the habit of being hugged while sleeping. Sophia's adoptive parents were not unaware of the fact that they spent the night together in the same room because that had happened since they met, a long time ago and in addition Luiza had a boyfriend.