For Vilma, staying in her country after a long economic crisis that has caused many of her friends to emigrate has been hard, but she tries to survive in order to finish her university studies.
SShe keeps in touch with some of them, thanks to technology, and some insist that she accompany them in the adventure, so that arriving the last month of the year her indecision grows.
She is in charge of her mother, now an old woman, and that is an anchor that keeps her in the city.
He has managed to do some extra accounting work, a profession that is only six months away from completion, and he has been able to save some money so that Christmas doesn't go cold like the previous year.
One night while making a balance that needs a gentleman to open a bank account, the sound of a wasap message on the phone, makes him stop his work.
It's Doris, a neighbor who has already been out of the country for six months.
"Can I call you?"
She misses the message because this is the first time she has made contact with her and she assumes that one of her cousins gave her her telephone number.
"Yes," she says.
It's almost midnight.
In seconds they find themselves talking.
She offers him a weekend job in a game room where he works.
--It's simple, you just have to exchange the chips for money to those who are going to play.
-I've never worked on that kind of thing. -" she answers.
-I hadn't done it either, you know I came to work as a manicurist and I got this opportunity and I'm making a lot of money, soon I'll bring my family here.
That night he couldn't get an affirmative answer, but for a week he was insisting, until his mom got sick and the savings weren't enough to cover the medical expenses.
He needed a desperate solution and accepted the neighbor's proposal, on the condition that he made her a loan so that she could leave her mother in the care of a family member.
To her surprise, not only did she accept, but she also sent the ticket back and forth.
That's how he began his weekend adventure to that border city.
For two months everything went as promised.
It was a kind of bank teller, in a luxurious place, where wealthy people came to play cards, slots, roulette and everything that was part of a Las Vegas-style casino.
He suspended his last semester at the university and went from working three days to five, it was no longer just Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but he added Wednesday and Thursday.
She became a frequent traveler.
She was provided with a room to sleep and eat.
She worked from eight in the evening to four in the morning, so she became a night owl.
He planned everything, more than half of the money was kept in his country's bank account and thought about working there for six months.
But an unexpected event brought everything down.
One day he gets his room door locked and he can't leave the room.
He shouts and hits her but no one comes to his aid and waits for the night when it is his turn to do his job.
Just as he thought at that hour the door opens and his neighbour enters with a man in his fifties, with a television gangster's face.
-This is the owner of the place and he wants to talk to you.
He takes a deep breath and waits for an explanation.
Discourteously, he doesn't even say his name, but goes straight to the point.
-This place satisfies not only the recreational needs of wealthy people, but also more intimate ones, and you are young and pretty, so we have chosen you to go to the next level.
It is petrified.
She is offering him a job as a prostitute.
She tries to insult him but he won't let her talk.
-We have confiscated your papers, you won't be able to return to your country, as you can imagine I have contacts in the government and you don't have any other option, we also know where your mother lives and an accident could happen to her, she's all grown up, in terms of experience, it doesn't matter, you'll learn and the less you know my clients like it more, for them it's like sleeping with a virgin. It will only be for a year, then you decide whether to stay or continue.
Her neighbor has left the room.
-From now on you will be under Peggy's orders.
She leaves the room without waiting for answers and can hear when she tells her friend.
-You've earned a bonus for that recruitment.
It's been sold as merchandise by someone she trusted.
