CHAPTER SEVEN
Saturday greeted Marina with bright sunshine, so she smiled while she entered the kitchen for breakfast. Her mother welcomed her with a "Good-morning." Toast and orange juice awaited her.
The plans for the first day of weekend were drawn long ago and they seldom changed: cleaning the house. Luckily, their place wasn’t very big: it had three bedrooms, one bathroom, the entry hall, a small stocking-room, the hallway and the kitchen, which was right next to the living room. It seemed bigger than it was in reality; though it had several areas, these were quite small. Also it was sparsely furnished, because both of them preferred a clean, minimalist home environment, with only what was essential and without clutter.
After breakfast, Marina took a dusting cloth and several products with her and dedicated to cleaning. This activity turned out to take a little longer than usual and extended into the early afternoon.
With all the cleaning done, her mom invited her to go and eat a crepe at a nearby bakery. The journey to their destination was made in less than ten minutes. Mother and daughter chose a table near the window, sat down and started to read the menu. Marina, in general, ate a crepe with banana and chocolate, but she felt like trying something new, so she ordered instead a crepe with a fruit skewer (with strawberry, kiwi, banana, peach and pineapple) and hot chocolate. As for her mother, she chose a simple crepe with hot chocolate.
Her mom snatched her from her thoughts when she asked, “So, how’s your crepe?”
“It's good. Seriously, you should try it,” suggested Marina.
“Huh, it seems to me an odd mishmash,” said mom, wrinkling her nose.
“Do you remember when we ate fruit skewers drizzled with chocolate at the Chocolate Fair in Grândola last year? It's almost the same thing. It’s very tasty. Do you want to try it?”
“Jesus, God forbid! You keep yours and I’ll stick to mine,” rushed mom to answer. Even a single bite was even out of question.
Marina shrugged, not understanding her mother’s reluctance. Since they were not sharing, each one continued to eat the crepe they had chosen.
As she was eating, Marina felt beset by a familiar sensation. She ignored it at first, nonetheless it became stronger and so persistent that it couldn’t be shaken. Uncomfortable, she fidgeted in the chair and looked through the window, trying to ascertain what was happening and why she was feeling that way. Her eyes searched the area outside and focused on the side-walk next to the avenue garden. A figure dressed in black was leaning against the wall of the old movie theatre. He seemed to be turned in her direction. Marina semi shut her eyes, trying to center the image, but she couldn’t visualize any better; the shrubs and trees of the garden, combined with the distance between them, didn’t facilitate the task.
She tried to remember from where she recognized this sense of affliction, as if being observed, and finally it hit her: she had felt the same thing on the day she had bought the phone and had been followed while returning home. Although the shadow across the street didn’t look the same, it seemed familiar to her. Probably it was nothing, just her imagination working overtime, so it was better to relax and finish eating her yummy crepe. Besides, she was safe inside the bakery and she was also accompanied by her mother. Why should she fear something she wasn’t even sure of? Deciding to censor the dark shape across the road, she turned her back to the window and enjoyed what was left of the snack.
The visit to the bakery didn’t take long; half an hour later they were ready to go back home. Marina’s program for the rest of the day summed up to doing homework, next she would watch the film that was on at that moment, before watching the newscast. As for the night, she could go for a walk, but didn’t feel much like doing it since she had no company. Ana was in Portalegre and she didn’t relate much with other classmates. In a way, she was antisocial. Her mother repeatedly told her that she had to increase her circle of friends, otherwise she took the risk of ending up alone. It seemed an overly dramatic perspective, yet Marina promised she would try. However, such promise was difficult to fulfill, especially when her class went around the vixen Joana: all the girls followed her and wanted to get along with her. Marina hated her and her imitations, which made the process of making friends more delicate. Complicated or not, she had promised, so she would try. Joshua could be an example of this attempt. Oops! She hadn’t told Ana that she would be his tour guide the next day. She had to phone her; a text wasn’t enough to say everything she wanted.
“Shall we go?” her mother asked at last.
Marina agreed. They got up, paid the bill at the counter and left the bakery.
The bright sun shine from the morning was now obscured by some stubborn clouds that recalled how rainy it had been the day before. Thunderstorms... grumbled Marina in her mind. She and her mother decided then to hurry, to avoid being caught by a sudden rainstorm, since none of the two had taken an umbrella along with them. This was an issue Marina preferred not to talk about, given that hers had been thrown into a ravine by Joshua. She couldn’t tell her mom what he had done. And what she had done too. If she knew that she had walked in the rain, she would give her a huge lecture. Anticipating the situation, Marina already had a plan: if her mom asked her about the umbrella, she would say that she had lost it; most likely, she had forgotten it somewhere. On Monday afternoon she would go to a store and buy a new one.
Arriving at the cross walk, they noted it was red for pedestrians. Marina pressed the button for the sign to change and to oblige cars to stop and let them cross. A well-known chill on her back made her shudder from head to toes. The wind blew stronger from the right, making her turn her head in the opposite direction by instinct, to protect her eyes from dust. Doing so, her gaze met him: there he was, across the road, next to the roundabout - the mysterious dark figure that she had seen just a few moments ago.
“Stupid imagination! Just stop with these crazy things,” she criticized in a low voice.
Hearing the beep that warned blind people that they could pass through, Marina looked prepared to do so. She tried to move her right leg, nevertheless her feet were stuck to the spot without explanation. She felt a strong hand behind her, rubbing her back, as if supporting her. Next, a familiar voice whispered in her ear, "Be careful."
Her mother had already crossed the walkway to the middle, when they began to hear the sound of tires screaming in a rising fury. They looked to the right side and saw a black auto-mobile coming down the roadway at high speed. The driver seemed unable to control the car - a tragedy appeared to be imminent. Luísa rushed to the side-walk in the opposite direction to her, as she cried in distress, “Stay away from the road, Marina!”
The girl barely heard her. Her almond colored irises were fixed on the car and followed its route with attention. To avoid hitting the last car at the queue at the traffic lights, the driver spun the wheel madly, making the vehicle climb the stone separator that divided the two tracks. Marina widened her eyes, freezing completely, when she realized that the car was heading towards her. She tried to move again, but her legs would not obey her: it was as if someone was holding them, to prevent her from running out of there.
When the car was less than four eight away from her, Marina begged her lower limbs to obey her. Tears started to stream down her face with the realization that she could do nothing. She was going to be projected into the air from the blow she would receive from the car. In a defensive gesture, she put her hands in front of her to protect herself. She squeezed her eyelids shut, took a deep breath and prepared herself for the clash.
At the last second, everything changed. After someone whispering in her ear the word “Move!”, the hand that had brushed her back before pushed her forward with a superhuman strength that madeher roll on the floor almost to the other side of the road. There was no need to repeat the command: her body instantly jumped away, managing to avoid the car. It ended up hitting the traffic light pole and spun until it hit a small stone pillar ahead, where it was immob
ilized at last.
Marina’s mother was hysterical when she approached her. She waved her arms frantically and kept saying a lot of nonsense that Marina didn’t even try to understand - it was not worth trying. Shell-shocked, she didn’t even realize that her mother was inspecting her in detail, to check for any injury. Rolling on the tarmac wasn’t pleasant, especially if wearing a t-shirt that left too much skin exposed. Marina had skinned both elbows and had some scratches on her right arm, since she had used it to arrest the fall.
“My darling! Are you ok? Let me see. Are you hurt? Did the car hit you? Oh, good Lord!” All moms’ questions were too fast for Marina to understand a thing.
A couple, who had crossed with Luísa, went over to her to help her to get up. Already standing, she blinked hard and evaluated her body quickly. A brief examination confirmed that she was fine, despite a few scratches. Only after, she looked at the car that was blowing a lot of smoke from its front.
Marina was a little curious. She wanted to get closer to the car, but she knew that first she would have to calm her mother, so she assured, “I’m all right, Mom. I got out of there in time. It didn’t even graze me. I just hurt myself on the tar.”
Mom scowled; she was smart enough to know what Marina’s intentions were. Determined not to lose sight of her, she took her daughter’s hand and pulled her up to the crashed motor. Although the number of people around the car kept growing, Marina was able to get a glimpse of the driver: he had his head against the seat, his eyes were closed and from his head ran a thin trickle of blood, perhaps from hitting the steering wheel. If the car had an air-bag, it didn’t seem to have worked.
The fire station was 20 seconds away, so the fire-fighters were fast to reach the driver. They got to him quickly, but their conclusion left everyone uncomfortable: the man was dead. Although the car had its front fully smashed in, removing the body was very easy and there was no need to call the vehicle for extrication.
As the process unfolded, a fire-woman approached Marina with a small first aid kit and said, “Sorry to bother you, lady. Those gentlemen over there told me that you got hurt when you tried to run from the car. Are you injured anywhere?”
Marina looked at both arms and replied “I only have a few scratches. I'm fine.”
“May I see your arms then?” insisted the fire-woman.
Marina nodded and showed them to her. In a few minutes, the wounds on her elbows had been disinfected and protected with two towels that seemed huge.
Seeing her daughter with bandages, mom hugged her tightly until Marina complained, “Ouch! Mom, I just rolled on the tar. I'm not badly injured, but I’m sore and you're not helping.”
Luísa wiped her eyes brimming with tears and tried to compose herself. If her daughter was strong, she would have to be too. She put an arm around Marinas’ shoulders and invited her to go home, a wish the girl shared too. The policeman that was controlling the traffic made them a sign that they could cross the walkway. Still afraid, they obeyed the order. While crossing, Marina couldn’t help looking away to the roundabout - the creepy dark figure had disappeared.
They ran to the house, the only place they felt safe again. Her mother still had wobbly legs, so she suggested that both of them should have a chamomile tea to calm themselves down. Marina nodded and her mother walked to the kitchen to make the tea. Marina decided to change her clothes meantime. After that accident, she wasn’t leaving home that night at all. She snagged her pajamas and went to the bathroom to wash herself and change clothes.
Later, Marina kept her mother company in the kitchen and sipped half of cup of tea. Though it was liquid, the drink had some trouble passing down her throat. Tired of it, she tipped out the rest, washed the cup and tried to calm her mother for the umpteenth time, telling her she was okay.
However, her mother kept going, claiming, “You have no idea the fright I got when I saw the car swerving in your direction. It even seemed that my heart fell at my feet.”
“I believe you. I felt the very same way when I saw it, but I couldn’t move from that spot. It seemed as if I was glued there. If someone hadn’t pushed me… I don’t want to think about what could have happened.”
Her mother frowned. With some tact, she asked her “What are you talking about, Marina?”
“What do you mean, what am I talking about?” A little mixed up, she repeated, “I told you. I couldn’t move, but someone pushed me and I swerved away before the car run over me.”
The mother's face was tense; she felt disoriented. Her countenance became pale as if she had seen a ghost. She ran her tongue over her lips and gently explained, “Marina, my dear, there was no one near you. You were alone on the side-walk; we all had already crossed over. It’s impossible that you had been pushed by anybody”.
What? She was alone? Could it be another trick of her mind, like the one related to the river? No. She was sure she hadn’t been alone. Gosh, there were too many weird things happening.
Although she didn’t understand what had happened, Marina tried to fix things up as best as possible, so that her mother wouldn’t think she was crazy or something. Stumbling a little, she explained, “Yes, I know that there was nobody there for real. What I meant was that it seemed that fear had paralyzed me, but then it was as if I felt a great urge to jump forward, to get away from the car. It was as if my guardian angel had helped me, you know?”
Her mother's face assumed an expression less bleak, closer to peace. After a deep breath, her mother commented, “It seems that your guardian angel did well. And already twice this week. If you see him, tell him to behave better and to prevent the scares from coming to us, otherwise we may die of a heart attack, ok?”
Marina smiled and made her a sign that she would retreat to her room. What had happened was... indescribable. She just wanted things to go back to normal. With that in mind, she recalled that she had a program to meet and still would; that way she wouldn’t think of crazy things, like the mysterious dark figure, the voice she heard, or the hand on her back that had pushed and saved her. Marina shook her head, because part of her cried at the same thought that her mother had had: she was accusing some madness and, for an instant, she feared for her mental health. Her grandmother had Alzheimer; she knew she could have it one day, but she had never heard that it manifested so early and hallucinations were a symptom. She didn’t think so.
She remembered that her grandmother had begun by forgetting about little things, which got worse as the time went by. Later she started becoming a little violent when contradicted and, thereafter, she entered a state of progressive degradation, losing more memory, the capacity to speak and, at last, the ability to walk. She was now bedridden in a nursing home, a situation that caused Marina great concern: her grandmother spent all day lying in bed in a room shared with another woman, who also couldn't speak or move, and the only sound she heard was a damn air mattress filling and dumping. If they couldn't take her to the living room, because she wasn’t in a good physical state, why didn’t the management at least allow her to have a TV in the bedroom? How was it possible for them to leave a person with Alzheimer in that situation, without any stimulation? It was as if they were waiting for her pass away, making room for another elderly person to take her place. Anger rose inside Marina when thinking of these things, and she ended up throwing the notebooks and manuals onto the desk; the pencil case had less luck and flew towards the wall with violence. Bunch of clowns, she snarled inside.
“Is everything okay, Marina?” shouted mom from the kitchen when she heard strange noises coming from her daughter’s room.
The girl took a deep breath to calm down and tried to make her response sound as normal as possible, “Yes, Mom, everything’s fine. I just dropped some books. You know that books make a lot of noise when they hit the ground.”
Her mother didn’t quite believe that, so she just said, “Huh, all right.”
Marina exhaled once again and the anger receded a little. When s
he thought that she was calm enough, she grabbed a notebook and began doing homework. She started with English: she had to read a text and answer some questions. It wasn’t difficult, but her lack of concentration made the case more intricate. Why was everything so complicated? Gee! In only a week, she was involved in two major scares and she had escaped only by a miracle. Could someone have put a curse on her?
Still feeling too anxious to do what she wanted, Marina rose from the chair and walked across the room. She sighed and sank against the wall. In doing so, felt a slight impression on her back; she stepped away from the wall immediately. Slowly, she bent forward and then to the side, to check if everything was normal. Nevertheless, whenever she moved, the discomfort was still there. It was strange that she hadn’t noticed it before. Could she have a rib out of place or something like that? A hunch led her to go to the closet and open its doors, so that she could check in the mirror what was going on. She lifted the shirt of her pajamas and turned her back to the mirror. She could not believe it! She was right and there was her proof. Along her ribs, on the right side, was a hand mark as if she had been pushed very hard. More - the contour almost resembled a burn. It was undeniable. She wasn’t imagining things. It was something that denied logic, yet it was real. In disbelief, she touched the red spot lightly and moaned due to the discomfort the gesture caused. Although she was somewhat amazed with such a discovery, she decided to hurry to pull the shirt down to avoid being caught by mom. How would she explain to her something she couldn’t decipher herself?
She snuggled up on the chair and tried to scrutinize what had happened. She tried remember the details and focused on two in particular: the hand on her back and the voice warning her. About the hand issue, she didn’t see who it belonged to, since she didn’t turn back to check if someone was behind her. All that was left was a red outline. There was also the voice that had whispered "Be careful" and "Move". She tried to focus on it. She was sure that she had heard it somewhere before, but she couldn’t remember where. Also, there were people whose voices could resemble others. Absorbed in her thoughts, Marina picked up the pencil that was on top of her notebook and began to draw small circles.
If she had been able to find the evidence printed on her back, she could solve the enigma of the voice as well if she analyzed what she knew. First point: it was a male voice. Second: it seemed to be young. Third point: she recognized it from somewhere, so she had already heard it, but not with great frequency, otherwise she would have identified it right away.
Marina was already getting a headache of so much thinking. Regardless of the forces at work there, she felt it was something that far exceeded her and that she was just a pawn, without power or possible defense. After a sigh, she looked at the notebook. Without having sensed it, she stopped making circles and started drawing the letter ‘L’ on a large scale. Why would she have drawn that letter? Indeed, the sheet was all scrawled and would have to be ripped off. Luckily, she hadn’t written a lot yet, so she would copy everything in a blink. With a quick and dry gesture, Marina tore off the sheet and began to transcribe to another page the few notes.
Suddenly, there was a short circuit within her – Lucas. The voice that had whispered in her ear reminded her of Lucas. She had heard him only a few times, and never with broad phrases, which facilitated her forgetfulness. But she hadn’t forgotten it at all. Lucas was the owner of the voice memo that had warned her, she was sure of it.
However, there was another possibility that she had to admit: the supposed voice could only sound like Lucas’ and, as she thought he was somehow related to her rescue in the river, she could be forcing the connections, wanting him to be her savior in both cases. In her perspective, if he had helped her once, he could have done it once more. Again, she had to remind herself of the statements from witnesses in both cases: there was no one next to her. Why would nobody else see him? Could he be invisible? Whoa! That was too inconceivable, even for her. Still, she had to recognize that it was an abnormal situation, perhaps even supernatural. Brrr. A cold chill ran down her spine as she contemplated that hypothesis. Although she didn’t believe much in those things, she thought it was better to believe and not see, than seeing to believe. Seeing was scary - to spot this type of thing would shock her to death.
Another thought loomed to her mind. Lucas had revealed that he was a descendant of some Mexican tribe. The Indian tribes always had myths related to souls, spiritual journeys and stuff like that. Would he follow some of these practices and knew some ‘tricks’? This possibility pleased her most. Despite still having something to do with the supernatural, it turned Lucas as human as her, though endowed with some extra capabilities.
Two things, she knew: first, she wasn’t loony; second, she had to talk to Lucas, because only he could clarify what had happened. More likely he would deny his involvement and would call her ‘freak’ or worse. Maybe he would even humble her, yet she had to try. She needed to know the truth. New problem: Lucas had only appeared in school in the early days and then he was gone. Would he ever come back? If he didn’t, she couldn’t talk to him, since she didn’t know where he lived. She could try to look in the phone list or the Internet, but how could she look for someone who she only knew as Lucas?
She gave in, defeated: there was nothing she could do at that time, but to wait until Monday and hope he would be back in school.
Superstitions and crazy things aside, Marina had reality to face and it told her she had duties. She got back to her English homework, which she concluded very fast. She wanted to disconnect herself from what had happened, nevertheless some pieces of the episode kept on invading her mind from time to time, like thieves who break in a door that is meant to be closed. This made her unfocused more often than desired.
Her divagations were interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She looked at the display and saw Ana’s name written. She picked up the phone and responded, “Hello, Ana. How are you?”
“Hi!” said Ana in a good mood. “Look, I'm sorry to bug you with this, but have you done English homework? My parents forced me to bring the school stuff along with me and I’m now trying to answer the questions, but I can’t find the answer to question 1.3. Did you find it?”
After hesitating a while, Marina answered, “I think so, but I'll have to check my notebook. Just wait two seconds.”
Marina recovered the English diary and sought the answer. What she found was an incoherent sentence, that she had no idea where she got it from. Angry at herself, she began to erase it. She would have to look up the answer in the text again and only then could she relay it to her friend.
Still scolding herself, Marina apologized to Ana, “Sorry, baby, but today everything has been a tremendous mess and I answered poorly. After correcting this, I’ll send you the answer in a text, ok?”
“Huh, ok. But why is everything a big mess today? What’s happening?” asked Ana, both curious and concerned.
Marina launched herself into a narrative of what had happened that afternoon. She wanted to tell Ana about the mark on her back as well, and to expose her theory that she had been pushed away by Lucas, or by his spirit astral projected as a miracle of an Indian ritual; however, good sense ordered her to shut up and to save that last part for later. Ana didn’t believe in the paranormal and she had already told her too many strange things. It was best to spare her from another oddity.
When Marina finished, Ana just exclaimed “Holly Golly! That was something.”
“Tell me about it! I'm getting so sick and tired of this horror movie that never seems to end.”
“Yeah, it really looks like one. It reminds me of the ‘Final Destination’ series, in which people are always persecuted until they end up... well, you know.” Ana shushed. She didn’t want her friend to think she would die as the people in those films. Moreover, those stories were just that: stories for a cinema film, pure fiction. She remained silent for a few moments, thinking of something very deep. Finally, she said “Look
, I know you don’t believe in these things - and neither do I - but I think you're going through a huge wave of bad luck.”
“Ouch! Don’t even tell me about waves, that reminds me of the river incident,” grumbled Marina.
“Have you considered... going to a witch?” inquired Ana, a little embarrassed.
Marina couldn’t help screaming, “What?”
Although reluctant, Ana repeated, “A witch. You must be bewitched, cursed or something alike. Have you noticed that, just this week, you could have died twice? It's very strange.”
Accepting what she thought about Lucas was one thing, because it dealt with Indian rituals and things like that, but going to a witch? It was going too far. Moreover, where would they find a real one, not a charlatan? She didn’t want to go to a witch; she wanted to talk to Lucas.
She sighed and told her friend, “I know you’re worried and I appreciate your concern, but I don’t believe in witches.”
“That makes two of us,” assured Ana. “However, and bearing in mind what’s happening to you, I think you should reconsider it. I can go with you.”
After passing a hand through her hair, Marina retorted, “Look at us: two skeptical girls talking about consulting a witch. Furthermore, we know that more than half of these people just want to fool us. We can’t take that risk.”
“You’re right in that. Then I have another suggestion: we can go instead to one of those stores of Wiccans or whatever, and we can buy stones, some amulets or wind chimes to protect you.” Marina was going to insist that it wasn’t worth it, but Ana anticipated and wrapped up, “Just buy a protection amulet anyway. It won’t harm you. If you don’t believe it, fine, but at least you’ll have it with you. ‘Better safe than sorry’, remember?"
Ana had underlined a good point; it wouldn’t hurt her to have some protective stuff with her. She didn’t think that an amulet would work; still, she could use it, just in case. “Fine, you win. Monday afternoon we’ll sort it.”
“Deal,” said Ana before Marina could go back on her word. “I’d pass by your house tomorrow if I could, to talk some more, but I’ll be returning late at night.”
“Never mind. Besides, I don’t know what time I'll get home after the walk with Joshua.”
Joshua? An imaginary buzz sounded in Ana’s brain. There was her favorite topic – boys. Hmm, and what a boy. If she remembered, Marina had blown out Joshua the previous morning. What could have changed? That silly girl really had to learn to send texts, otherwise she would miss all the news and be outdated.
“Joshua? Tell me everything at once!” she ordered.
Marina was undecided about what to tell her. Feeling that she had nothing to hide, she summarized the adventures of the previous evening (except the dance part), between Ana’s gasps and giggles.
When she finished, she heard Ana saying, “How romantic! How kind! How… scrummy!”
Marina could almost picture her blushing like a tomato. Yes, Joshua was very thoughtful. He had taken a bad situation and had turned it into a new and enjoyable experience. She had to acknowledge that he had made an effort to get close to her and it pleased her. Nobody had ever done anything like that for her, except the ‘imaginary, but real’ rescues from Lucas. Still, those didn’t count, since there was nothing romantic about them in the true sense of the word. Being rescued by a charmed prince could be romantic, but Lucas, with his unstable behavior and arrogant attitudes, was far from being the perfect prince. Joshua seemed to be the exact opposite, although he was a little too swaggering sometimes. Perhaps this was because, as he was good-looking, he was used to getting what he wanted from girls. To his misfortune, she wasn’t ordinary. If he wanted her attention, he would have to work hard to get it.
Ana said goodbye to her at last, letting her know that her mother was complaining that she was on the phone for too long. “But later I want to know everything that happened on the date! I demand you to tell me.”
Marina smirked and recalled, “It’s not a date. I’ll be his tour guide, that's it.”
“Yeah, right. And I'm going to be an international renown astronaut one day,” affirmed Ana in disbelief. After a laugh, she hung up the phone.
Marina was a little bit irritated. It was not hard to understand: showing someone around the city was not the equivalent of a date. Talking about Joshua made her remember that she and Joshua had agreed to exchange a text confirming the Sunday walk. How could she do it, if he had saved her phone number and she didn’t even ask for his? It was simple - she would wait for his message and then confirm their plans.
Marina turned her attention back to the English notebook. She opened the manual and sought the correct reply to question 1.3. Made the correction and texted it to Ana. Stretching, she got up and put the chair back in place. It was just a few minutes past six, which meant that the movie that she wanted to watch had already started. Although she had missed the beginning, she wanted to see the rest, so she spread out along the bed and turned the TV on. Now, there was a good remedy to shake off reality.
Despite her expectations, the film proved to be a fiasco. The trailer made it look pretty good, but in the end, it sucked. Damn misleading publicity. She turned off the TV and went to the kitchen, where mom was waiting with two steaming plates of rice and steaks with mushrooms and cream. The two sat at the table and ate. When they finished the meal, mom told her she had brought a DVD from the multimedia area of the Library, but she wasn’t in the mood to watch it, given that she still had nerves prickling her skin.
Tired, she asked her daughter, “Do you mind if I go to bed? I'll take some sleeping pills for this nervousness to pass once and for all. I'll leave you the DVD in case of you want to watch it.”
“That’s ok, Mom.”
Marina helped her to clean the kitchen and, moments later, the matriarch retreated to her chambers and shut the door behind her. Watching a DVD was a good bet, nonetheless Marina was reading a very interesting book and was very close to the end it. After reflecting for a moment, she decided to stay in the living room, listening to the news and reading the final pages of the book. After that, she would watch the DVD.
The news didn’t take more than ten minutes to finish, even though Marina didn’t realize, as she was too absorbed in reading. It was the second book in a series that had come out a few months ago and it was about fallen angels. For a moment, Marina pictured Lucas as the fallen angel of the story who became her guardian angel, but quickly ruled it out. Of angel, Lucas had nothing.
The clock didn’t stop and moved forward without asking permission. When she noticed the time, it was rather late, but she was satisfied since she had finished the book. She put it on the coffee table and took a mental note that she would take it to school on Monday, to lend it to Ana, who had requested it several times. Next, she got up and inserted the DVD into the reader. She sat down, holding the remote, and prepared to watch the movie. The story began with a murder of two adults and a child swearing that one day he would get revenge on who had killed his parents. The plot seemed familiar and promising, so she nestled up on the couch to watch the rest. Eventually, tiredness won.
When Marina opened her eyes, she found the TV screen painted blue, with the brand logo of the DVD player jumping around from one side to another. She had fallen asleep. Another interesting movie, she criticized mentally. It was best to go to bed at once. She got up, unplugged the TV and picked up the book to go to her bedroom.
The moonlight that crossed the living room window was almost as bright as day. Feeling compelled to enjoy the spectacle that nature provided, Marina approached the glass and looked abroad. Outside, the night looked agitated and restless. The needles of the garden’s pine trees swayed from side to side, and the birds abandoned the branches in grievance. There wasn’t a soul in the street and the cars gave rest to the road. The lights of the old bridge seemed to flounder, in contrast to the calm waters of the river Sado. It looked like a typical night of season change.
/> Unexpectedly, the street lights flickered and threatened to go off. It was then that she saw him, right before the lights go down in front of her house. It was only a few seconds, but she was sure it was him. Across the road, sitting on the river’s wall, was Lucas. Marina glued her hands stupidly to the window's casement as if wanting to reach him. She slammed a fist on the glass to draw his attention, but the area was now dark and she couldn’t see him anymore. She had to talk to him. Who knew when she would see him again? He couldn’t hear her from there… She had to act rapidly.
Anxious, Marina ran to the bedroom. She threw the book onto the bed, opened the closet and pulled out a robe, putting it on without closing it. She walked in a hurry to the entrance, went out, passed the archway and went down the stairs two by two. Although it was dark and she couldn’t see a thing, she knew the place like the back of her hand, so she crossed it without major problems, soon reaching the river’s rail. She tried to adapt her eyes to the darkness and searched for Lucas, but she couldn’t find him. Where did he go? It was probable that he was already gone. Who, in their right mind, would stay there in the dark?
Without explanation, the lights of the lamps blinked and returned. Marina blinked her eyes to get used to the brightness. Driven by instinct, as something in her souls told where she could find him, she turned her face to the right. She still managed to discern Lucas moving away. She thought for two seconds about running up to him, but soon became aware that it would be hard to reach him. Dumb boy! Why hadn’t he waited? She had so many things to ask him. Didn’t he know how important it was for her to talk to him?
Irritated, and without caring about the advanced hour, she screamed, “So this is it? Coward! At least I had the guts to confront you and to not run away.”
Lucas didn’t react in any way. It was as if she hadn’t spoken to him. Marina stamped her foot on the ground with force, such was her exasperation, but not even that was successful. He had escaped once again.
Two boys showed up meanwhile down the street, coming from a crazy night of fun. Upon seeing her in that outfit, they exclaimed a "Hello, baby”, accompanied by whistles.
The girl replied rudely, “What? Never seen nightclothes before?” She grabbed the points of her robe in a rush to close it and returned home at a quickened pace.
She was frustrated. That guy was worse than a ghost. She entered home in an angry silence, went to her room, took off the robe and put it back in its place. Her irritation was so great that it seemed she would blow up. She decided it was better to do the same as her mother and take some pills to sleep, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to.
She returned to the living room and looked out the window. This time, she found the night wrapped in a perfect blanket of calm. Of Lucas, there was no sign. Next she went to the bathroom and took two pills. Once tucked into bed, she got ready to surrender to oblivion and to erase that day from her memory.