They say in this place where we live that someday La Bestia, The Beast, will get you. One day if you stray too far, as some of our niños have done, it will grab you and drag you away forever. For a long time I did not believe this, till it took Toño, my brother. In dreams I feel its hot breath on my neck. I hear its fearful scream. I know that sometime very soon I will follow the terrible, tempting voice and The Beast will take me away—or kill me.