The waiting time seemed eternal, but finally, the same officer returned to the room, where he had kept me with my arms crossed, waiting for the right moment to flee, if necessary. The man handed me a blue, semi-transparent bag and a sand-colored folder. I quickly took both and checked with a quick glance. They had my name written. I looked at the man, who was still standing, waiting for my new order. Fear still lingered in his eyes, but he kept calm, just as I had asked. At that moment, his radio produced a screeching sound and then a male voice spoke in his native language, with an urgent tone. When he heard the words of his colleague, he seemed to understand something, because his smell became heavy and exquisite at the same time. I could almost hear the gears inside his head turn, while he saw me and backed away a few steps, with the evident fear painted on his face, and the recognition in the sweat of his forehead.

– What are you? – He questioned me with a trembling voice, his hands threatening to close around his weapon and his radio.

I stared at him, warning him with his eyes that if he did, his throat would disappear in a second.

– What did he say? – I answered with another question, pointing to the radio.

He hesitated before speaking again.

– He says a patrol is coming here. They bring a bag of evidence. There was an incident at the hospital. The vault of blood was stolen, and it’s presumed that the person whom leaved the bag is the culprit... – he confessed everything, unable to keep anything, even if he wanted to.

I smiled. My guess had been correct. They would bring my things, and he would help me get them. I could finally go. However, I was sure that more than one camera had captured me and I should get rid of that evidence as well.

I took his chin, to which he shuddered at my body temperature, and forced him to see me, tilting his head slightly. Making his breathing slightly choke. Looking at his eyes fixedly, I asked him again for a series of things, to which he nodded quietly and turned around to leave the room again.

I let out a sigh when I saw him leave, I couldn’t worry, at least for a moment. I could get out of there, and run to the hostel, now that I had the keys, to sleep, because honestly the fatigue was already taking its toll on me. I turned around, and with one hand I grabbed back to the edge of the vent, where I slipped away quickly, heartbroken to know that when I left, I would end up being a soup.

When my head peeked through the entrance to the pipeline, my hair began to drip. The storm was at its zenith. The sky rumbled and the wind pushed the rain from side to side, lashing my person with all its fury. In the distance, I could hear the unmistakable police sirens, one in reality, approaching quickly. With one last push, my body produced a splash when I landed on the roof, crushing the bag and the document when I got up, they began to soak and wrinkle. Nothing that mattered to me less.

In one jump, I passed the metal fence, and on the other, I grabbed onto the branch where my cocoon of food was hidden. I held it like a baby, sticking it to my chest, making sure the knot was hidden, but letting the rain touch what was left of the package. I could feel the ice, now almost nonexistent, so the weeping of the clouds would help keep the blood fresh.

I had asked the officer for something, and I had to wait until the siren I heard arrived at the scene. I then sat on the branch, not caring too much that the rain was soaking. It was uncomfortable, of course, but having the temperature I had, the liquid was nothing but a nuisance.

I saw him run around the building ten minutes later, when the patrol carrying my things hadn’t stayed even two minutes. They had put the bag in their hands and had returned to the scene. I assumed that they should still be looking for me, even though I saw it as useless. Admirable, of course, but useless, and not because I was already quite far away, but because with the rain, following me would have been impossible, even if I were human. If I had to bet, I would bet that they believed that I couldn’t continue under the downpour. Error.

The man stood looking between the bars, while the water made a dent in his uniform. He tried to see through the bars, looking for me, as I had ordered inside. I took my cocoon and my bag and I dropped right in front of him, behind the fence, causing him to lean back instinctively, almost falling backwards into the mud. My jump sent thousands of brown drops through the air, messing my legs up to my knees, and his own pants. I extended my hand, after he recovered, and he handed me the bag that remained, where he had also put the memory of the security cameras from that day, as ordered.

– Now listen to me – his eyes looked at me, attentive. – You will forget what you saw today. You will forget everything related to me. As soon as you turn around, I will have disappeared forever from your mind – I said, watching as his eyes began to lose brightness, a sign that my words had an effect. – You found a raccoon in the room, a raccoon that threw the ventilation and slipped inside again. You went outside to try to see if it had gone, but you didn’t find it. You didn’t know what happened with the evidence of the forest crime and you don’t know anything about the cameras. You forgot everything. Did you understand?

The officer nodded and turned around, walking a couple of steps, before turning to see what he had come for outside. I was no longer behind the fence, but several meters inside the forest, where he could no longer see me. I could smell his bewilderment and then his carelessness, when he ran inside the building.

...

Finding the way back to the hostel wasn’t difficult in the field of knowing where I was going, but hell, in my hurry to get there before dawn, I ended up again with annoying mosquitoes inside my eyes, others more stamped against my face, and I was able to taste some unfortunate mosquito mothers in my language, by swallowing them.

As I ran, the only thing I could think about, as the rain lashed my entire body, freezing me to what was supposed to be my death, was in Caroline. I had to find her body, and I was still not sure how long it would take. I wanted to notify the authorities about her death, so that her family wouldn’t suffer too much in the uncertainty, when she didn’t return home on the promised day. I also thought I should lie next to her, just let them give me up for dead, but unfortunately I had already made my choice, and I preferred my family to think that I was still alive somewhere, probably being exploited by the white slave trade, of course, being Caroline found dead and have been my companion, but alive. That would give them hope. Maybe I would even send them a letter later, when I moved to a geographic territory that used my language, telling them that Caroline and I had quarreled, and she had left the festival afterwards. I could argue that I didn’t know she had died, if they mentioned it to me, and that, due to sadness and guilt, I preferred not to go home for a while... But that would also have consequences. They would come looking for me, they would not rest until they saw me sitting in the seat of an airplane, with them at my side, heading home... Things would not be so easy then. Maybe I would let them think I was dead. Maybe I would write a letter, saying that I ran away and that, please, they shouldn’t try to find me. However, to run, you have to learn to walk, and before that, to crawl, so first I would spend the night in the hostel, then I would look for Caroline, or what was left of her, and then I could worry about my family and my future.

I found myself then facing the door of the hostel. Everything was still mired in gloom, but it no longer swallowed each figure completely. The sun was close and I felt it. It didn’t matter anymore, I had arrived. I rummaged through the tangle of bags I was carrying, hitting the keys, which tinkled, slightly hurting my sense of hearing, sensitive because of I was about to faint. The last few meters to the house I had go through walking like a normal person with the necessity to sleep, like those who struggle not to fall asleep on public transport at night, after a tiring day. That's how I felt, something inside me was crying out for me to sleep, or at least shelter me in complete darkness. It was imperative, it far surpassed me.

The hinges of the metal door squeaked when my hand pushed it in, allowing me to pass. Seen by third parties, I had to offer a lamentable and somber aspect, nothing pleasant to see. My hair and clothes were dripping, and the broken bag had already gone through the white fabric of my gown, soiling my dress, which was already muddy enough and smeared with the verdigris of the plants with which I had crashed. My feet were stained with mud, splashing my pale complexion, and my face was not exactly nice, with tired eyes and cheeks full of mosquitoes.

With a sigh, I closed the door behind me, and finally I could enjoy a moment of dryness, being under the protection offered by the roof of the enclosure, letting the light of the incandescent spotlight hanging above my head bathe me. In front of me opened a wide area without roof, which was surrounded by different rooms, being the one in the background where the tender old woman who had given us asylum lived. All decorated by many pots, with floral and non-floral plants in them. Beside me, on the left, were the metal stairs that led to the second floor of the building, nothing more than a rectangular corridor, which allowed entry to the other rooms, with the hollow center, which allowed us to see the space below. There were also pots there, like one containing chrysanthemums, right next to my room, with the white edges and violet center. I giggled at the irony. Chrysanthemums symbolized eternity.

I dragged one foot to the first step, and then a sweet voice took me out of my musings. Silly, silly, silly, silly. I saw the old woman approach me, holding with her life her umbrella. She had a frown and smelled like worry. I quickly hid the left hand behind my back, with everything I carried.

– Girl! – She repeated, taking me from the elbow with his fragile hands of thin and wrinkled skin. – What happened to you?! I waited for you for many hours, and it's already dawn – While she was feeling my face, analyzing my state, I agreed with her. It was almost sunrise. – You have blood! Where is your friend?! I'll call an ambulance.

She made the point of letting go, beginning to turn her body to return home. I reached out and took her as soft as I could from the wrist, forcing her to turn around, looking at me with confusion.

– Caroline is gone – I confessed, after all, for the next day at that time, I would be sleeping somewhere else. – What happened to me does not matter now. I'm here and I need to sleep.

She nodded, taking my arm tightly and climbing the stairs with me, as if I were the one who needed the support. In her mind I was. I was there, in a dress that she remembered me not having when I left, clearly naked beneath it, with blood on my side, wet and full of dirt. Although I was urged to get rid of her, I had to admit that she was a good person, and I had been raised well enough to refuse such help. So, I obediently handed her the keys and she opened the room, letting me in first. I held myself in the middle of the room, turning to the woman, who entered, closing the door behind her, without looking at me and with a concentrated expression, while searching for the switch with her hand. Of course, in there it was completely dark for her sight, but not for mine, which caught the rays of light of the only spotlight on, outside, in the corridor. Then, when she finally found the rustic damper in the form of a lever, she looked at me, before moving the piece down, which would bring light to the room, and her eyes watered, livid with terror. She removed her hand from the wall and carried it in front of her, trying to protect herself. I frowned, confused, a second ago she was worried about me, and now she seemed to want to vanish in the air to flee from me. She hadn’t even come to turn on the light...

– You are one of them! – she shouted, with the strength with which her lungs allowed it, taking a step back.

Then I understood. My eyes. Oh, Lucille, you still think you are human and you are not. My eyes were shining in the complete darkness and she had seen them. But, what did she mean by being one of them? No, she was not only a woman with fear of the unknown. She knew what I was.