By: SebastiĂĄn MejĂa, 11° I couldn’t seem to fathom the magnitude of what had just occurred. Right after it happened, time froze, and stood still in that singular second. For minutes, for hours, for days, and for [GCTU /[ GPVKTG NKHG Ć€CUJGF DGHQTG O[ G[GU I lived every single moment again, as I felt it all vanish before my eyes. I regret everything I ever did, but what I had just done had surpassed the horror of anything else. Horrid isn’t the proper way to describe it; it was more than that. Was there even a reason? I’m not sure. It’s hard to explain, but it’s certainly WPLWUVKĹżCDNG + HGNV it coming though. I always did. The way everything led up to this moment was like when a car loses its brakes and strays forward; unstoppable, headed for its destruction. Until it crashes, and everything around it explodes. I was born in a small town, and I lived in a small town for all my life. The sun always set by the window of my mother’s bedroom. I remember because around the time it set, she was leaving for work. She always spent the night working. She never told me what she did, but CU + ITGY QNFGT + ĹżI-
ured it out. I didn’t have a father, or a sister or a brother. We were alone. I went to school and I was lonely. All the kids looked at me funny, like something was wrong with me. I couldn’t tell what though. I wanted that to change and have friends and all that, but with time, I grew more and more despondent. I started to believe that everyone I knew (including myself) should turn to smoke, and rise up to the sky where we could all be free. Maybe that’s what I was thinking when I did what I FKF CPF OC[DG O[ FTGCO JCF ſPCNN[ EQOG true. For what cost though? That night, the sky was full of stars, like every night in my town. I always wished I could ƀ[ KPVQ VJG UM[ CPF UNKEG VJGO WR YKVJ C DTGCF knife. All of those cut down stars giving off inſPKVG NKIJV + YKUJGF + EQWNF GCV VJGO WR CPF GZRNQFG QT ƀ[ CYC[ *QPGUVN[ + FKF PQV MPQY what would happen, but it was my only true desire. The stars had always illuminated my path, but never more so than that night. I was tasked with a simple objective: deliver a package to the church in the center of town. I wasn’t supposed to know what was inside, but I decided to peek. I found a candle. It was very small, probCDN[ JCNH VJG UK\G QH O[ NKVVNG ſPIGT 6JG RCEMage also contained a match, and a handkerchief. I didn’t know what they were for, but I headed for the church anyway. The streets were empty and silent. The silence enveloped me like a tempest of tumultuous sounds as a wave of loneliness harassed me. Suddenly, I felt lightning strike my chest, and life seemed to drain out of my body, until none of it was left. After moments of thinking I had died, I realized I’d imagined it. So I kept walking, and hoped things would return to normal, but after imagining my own death, something changed inside of me. I started hearing voices. They were coming from all fronts, some from the windows, some from the rooftops.
40 * tribuna marzo 2020 iG.indd 40
17/03/20 9:52 a.m.
