As Yaveo stepped back from the white bricked storefront he smiled. He had always dreamed of helping people, inspiring individuals, even entertaining entrepreneurs and engaging them with new ideas propelling them to press forward with their dreams. He smiled as he saw himself in the reflection of the window. The sign for the storefront, “Yaveos Consultations.” It was a new business that opened up in Detroit with the aim of attacking that which attacks the aspirations of those who dare to do more.

“This is it. This is what we worked for. My very own business. Who said we couldn’t live the American dream?” 

Yaveo walked inside his new office and carefully practiced his spiel in his mirror waiting for the first client to come in. After hours of him practicing and no one coming in, he decided it may be best to begin cold calling various business owners and individuals who need a little kick to get on the winning side of things. The only problem with this strategy is that you are working from nothing and hoping to gain something. The sun began to shift down and the sky grew darker. Yaveo moved his papers into a drawer and placed his pen on the desk. 

“Tomorrow will be better. We will get there. No one said it would be easy.” He continued to motivate himself. Just then the door opened. He peered over to see three men not sharply dressed but somewhat presentable walk in scoping out the place. Yaveo smiled and approached them, “Welcome. Welcome! My name is Yaveo and I…” as he continued to speak one of the men slapped him while the other pushed him. He fell on top of the chair that was behind him. The men had no emotion on their face. The bigger man stared at Yaveo, “Now who the hell do you think you are? Coming up towards me like you were going to attack me? Don’t ya know I would have to protect myself?” The other two men chuckled. Yaveo was distraught. He had no idea why these men were here or what their motives were. The man continued, “Listen to me. Im not one for theatrics and games. I’ll be real with you. I’m one for money. So, if you ain’t got the chedda things ain’t going to get betta, capiche?” Yaveos brows furrowed over. “cash? Im not a bank. Im not some guy you can come in here and get a dollar out of. If you want to try that out with someone else go ahead but we work hard for what we got where I’m from and you aren’t taking that away from me.”

The man snapped. It was as if he was containing all this rage and Yaveo was the straw that broke the camels back. He rushed Yaveo with a knife in his hand placing against his face. “I’ll carve you up real quick kid. I’m not one to be fucked with. Do you hear me?!” As he began to scream at Yaveo he placed the blade of the knife against his face and began to dig into his flesh. Yaveo began crying out for help but as he was being held down by the other guy he found himself believing this was the end for him. After many cuts were made deep within his face the man took a step back. Yaveos entire face was sliced with blood pouring out everywhere. Then the man began trashing the place with his friends. The three the chairs around, knocked over the coffee machine, they even destroyed the giant storefront window. After what felt like an hour of them destroying the property the man looked at Yaveo, “Next month. I want $10,000 from this business. If you don’t get it, I’ll get someone to get you.”

After a few hours Yaveo picked himself up and off the floor. He was a bloody and broken mess. He staggered over to the office, they had even wrecked his private office which he didn’t even realize. He moved himself to the bathroom and began to wash his face. The blood continued to pour out from him. Finally catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror he could not even recognize himself. He gasped in horror. What has he become? Who would ever want to engage with him? He looked hideous, monstrous even. At that moment he stumbled over to the broken storefront and grabbed one of the shards of glass ready to end it all when suddenly a police officer ran and tackled him. They immediately put him in an ambulance and rode with him to the hospital. Yaveo sobbed the entire way. His dream, this American dream was becoming a nightmare and he himself looked like the very creature that would be in any nightmare. The young man from Mexico was now the very embodiment of a man from haunting nightmares.