The Warlocks of Chiloé/Hole in the Wall

   The 10 year old girl was adamant that I sit next to her while we ate. A man joined us at the table, Yamai’s brother Lihue. I could sense his disapproval of my presence. I got the feeling no one at the table wanted him there, which restored my own confidence a little. Rayen was instructed by her mother to take me and her little sister to a room.
   “I’m to share the room with the girl?” I asked.
   “Of course, it’s her room after all. She’ll keep you warm.” Rayen answered with a smile and a wink. I couldn’t believe how they seemed to trust me so. I wouldn’t have allowed a strange man to lie beside my child. Ayelén began to remove her clothing in front of us, and when I looked away, Rayen corrected me, turning me back toward the stripping child.
   “Why do you avert your gaze? Do you not think she is beautiful?”
   I stuttered in an attempt to respond, now watching, and Rayen teased me for turning red. For a moment, I admired her form, her round butt and the slightest hint at the formation of breasts. Ayelén changed into pajama’s that were clearly from western civilization. I could tell not only because of the cloth and cut, but by the Disney graphic of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I would inquire about their attainment of clothing in the morning.
   Exhausted and relieved to have shelter, I melted into the bedding that was prepared for me in the corner of the room and the little girl crawled right beside me and tucked herself in without a care in the world. Her big sister extinguished a lantern and whispered to me.
   “Whatever you see and hear tonight, do not look away, and do not interfere.”
   She then quit the room, shutting the door behind her before I could ask her what she was talking about. As we lay there, it seemed that Ayelén, shifty and restless, couldn’t get close enough to me, until I rolled over and cuddled around her. She nestled her butt into my crotch, and I confess that I had feelings of arousal that I struggled to banish. The girl was fast asleep and soon I would be too. 
   I was awakened moments later by a noise of complaint in the next room. I might not have noticed a hole in the wall right in front of me if not for the soft light shining through into the oppressive darkness which I occupied. I peered through the hole and listened.
  “Please, Lihue, not tonight. Not while there is a guest in the house.” Rayen pleaded with her uncle. What was going on here?
   “A stupid foreigner sleeping in my house does not make you less beautiful, amor.” He brushed hair from her eye and she jerked away.
   “It’s not your house, and I said no!”
   I wanted to shout when he smacked her, but I remembered what the young woman said to me when she left me to sleep. He crawled on top of her.
   “Why do you reject my love with such passion tonight? Is it the approaching festival? Or the foreigner? Do you have feelings for him?” He became irate, then forced her to look at him and kissed her, invading her mouth with his tongue. He lifted her smock, aggressively removed her panties and, holding them to his face, took a deep whiff. He tossed them and they landed closer to the hole through which I peered. She looked away as he discarded his own garments. She looked right at me. Did she want me to see this? Why would she?
   My view, obscured partially by the undergarment, omitted the lower halves of their bodies and indeed the point of penetration. My heart bled for her, but something inside me stirred none the less, and ashamedly I wished I could see it all. I made eye contact with her as she was nudged again, and again. My groin yearned and I released it through the hole in my boxers. I rubbed against something soft as I watched this horrifying scene unfurl.
   Rayen began to moan with a look of shame and anguish on her face. Her unrelenting assailant began to thrust at a lower frequency but with more power until he collapsed on top of her and kissed her mouth. I came too. The light in the other room went out, and I heard nothing else that night. Deep in thought and so very tired, I closed my eyes and passed out.

• Bath House