Everything around was silent. It seemed like there was nobody near. It was already late, and the sky was darker with the pass of time. Also, going back was out of question, after all the efforts to get to that point. The matter at hand was of the highest importance, with life itself at stake. For that reason, Carlo leaped over the gate of a house in which some time before he saw enter the mysterious girl he met at school that morning. At first, he tried ringing the intercom, but no one answered. Then, he tried to take a look inside the big house, but there was no light. “No lights, no answer from inside… perhaps there is no one at home. Or…” As he guessed if someone was inside or not, Carlo kept looking around the external garden of the house, hiding from people passing next to it. After a while, he decided to try ringing the front door. He received no answer either. “At this point, I have no choice but enter. The life of that girl is at risk!” With all his courage, he decided to find a way to enter the house. The first thing he tried was to simply open it, and for his surprise, it worked. “I just hope she’s fine. Argh! If I haven’t encountered my mother back then… No, the guilt is only mine: I couldn’t say a word to her, neither I was able to stop her. If something happens, the fault is only mine…” Torturing himself with such thoughts, Carlo entered inside the apparently empty house.

About six hours before, Carlo was able to leave his classroom in order to rush outside the school grounds, so he could find the mysterious girl that bewitched him. He wasn’t able to hide the little bottle from her, but he believed he still has the chance to stop her from taking her own life. When he found her in the middle of the crowd of students going home, he started to follow her. Keeping a good distance from her, Carlo walked around the center plaza, in which there was running the usual Thursday market. Even with the flow of people, the boy was able to identify the girl, which like a black shadow moved through the people. He almost believed he was following a ghost, in that moment. The girl was moving towards an area less crowded, and by her way of walking, Carlo deduced she was heavily thinking about who knows what things. He knew for sure that most of them weren’t happy thoughts. Carlo was about to leave the crowded plaza as well when a familiar voice called him at his back. His mother, carrying bags full of stuff in both hands. Her voice and face made clear she was tired of carrying such weight all over the place.

- Thanks to the heavens! You arrived at the luckiest time! – greeted the woman, a beautiful lady in his early thirties, brown and long hair. Many men around her were surprised to find out that the woman they were looking at had already a teenager son.

- Mom! – exclaimed surprised the son. “And you arrived at the worst time possible!”, was actually what he wanted to answer to his ill-timed mother.

- Here! Take these and help me carry them to the car. I had to park a little far away from here – she continued with a happy face, forcing the bags into his son’s hands.

- Wow! These are indeed heavy! Have you got carried away with the shopping?

- Well… maybe a little…

- A little? I feel my arms are dropping from my shoulders at any time!

- Common, you’re a strong boy, right? Now let’s go home!

- I have actually something very, VERY important that I have to do, so…

- You can do it after you help your mother carrying this heavy bags, got it?

- Ok, sure!

Walking as fast as he could, Carlo took the bags where his mother told him their car was. As soon as he got there, he dropped the weights and hastened towards the direction he saw for the last time the mysterious girl. His mother asked with surprise the meaning of all that hurry, but he answered with a fast “I’ll explain later!” as he ran away.

The delay caused by his mother’s interruption could be fatal, thought Carlo, so he used all of his strength to keep running fast. “Now, where should I go? It’s like thirty minutes since the last time I saw her!” Carlo was really nervous, running all over the historical center of the city. He searched near the river, looking down from the various bridges, looking around solitary streets, far from the main traffic of people. The sound of a near ambulance to him got his attention, and immediately he thought the worst had happened. When he arrived to the place the ambulance was, he witnessed how an old man was being taken inside the vehicle. Judging from the scene, the poor man felt ill while being at home. Carlo released a great amount of tension with a heavy sigh after verifying the emergency wasn’t correlated to the girl. Furthermore, to his surprise, he was able to notice that that very girl was there as well, probably attracted by the ambulance’s siren as well. Almost jumping in joy, Carlo returned to his usual high spirit, feeling relieved that the girl was still fine… for the moment. The boy continue his stalking for quite a while. The girl stopped sometimes to look some shop window, sometimes to observe some shady place, until finally she went towards the periphery of the city, in a zone known for its big and wonderful houses, once belonged to the nobility. About five o’clock, the mysterious girl entered in one of those houses. Carlo observed well the place and thought about what to do. “Perhaps, talk with her parents? Maybe they’re the type that doesn’t notice when their own daughter feels bad…” His reasoning lasted a few seconds because an unexpected phone call. “Where are you? It’s been hours since you just ran away!”. His mother was both worried and angry, so the boy has to think quickly about an excuse. He didn’t planned to reveal what was really happening.

- Oh, yeah, sorry about that! I had to return a book to a friend, he needed for tomorrow’s test! – he lied.

- Oh, really? And you needed three hours to do such thing?

- Of course not! I … met another friend that invited me to his place to try a new videogame, so… Ah, but don’t worry, I’m on my way home now!

- I see… - the woman wasn’t fully convinced, but she felt relief the son was unharmed, and for now that was enough for her – Well, then I see you soon. Next time, try to send at least a message if you stay out like that. Mobile phones usually are used to do that, you know!

- Yeah, yeah, sorry Mom! Then, see you later!

“Geez, that was close!” He wasn’t far away from home, so walking a little fast would take him home in about ten minutes. “I’ll return later, after dinner, so hang in there, mysterious girl! I- I mean, not to hang in a literal sense, is more like… Argh! Why I even thinking this now?!”