Fish meant for market was found dumped in a bin outside the school. The mother believed the rotting smell would disguise her hidden bundle beneath. Her post-birth addled brain forgetting only papers were supposed to be in that container and what she tried to dispose would be eventually found.

Margarita wasn't a bad person. She did what she thought best at the time. Took her baby to the church and left her on the steps timing so the priest would find it. The bloody towels, rags, her own clothing stuffed below the fish. She kept the umbilical cord and placenta. She wasn't sure why but for the time being she couldn't part with it. Hidden behind a loose brick in the school yard.

The nuns had not noticed anything about her body the past nine months.

She believed it was all over.

But it had only just begun.