Davi was hoping Pedro would tell him not to get into this kind of mess, because he loved him, and he didn't want him to get hurt.

Pedro never said. Even when on Pedro's fifteenth birthday, when Davi made a tiara of flowers for his friend. The birthday, which had been a month ago. And when the sun hit the first lights on the hill, and Davi crowned Pedro his prince, Davi really thought Pedro would respond, even when Davi repeated that he loved him and hugged him tight, Pedro didn't say anything back.

And a month later--thirty-three days, seventeen days after the last time they spoke, Pedro had abandoned him. Perhaps Davi was exaggerating. Maybe Pedro would send a letter explaining everything. Maybe he would come back soon, maybe on vacation. And everything would be resolved. Everything was going to be fine.

Pedro didn't come back. Davi burrowed himself into books, to study for the Setemptrionalem entrance exam, and other random stuff, just to distract his thoughts, and he discovered his passion for reading.

Davi already knew when the application for the entrance exam would start, so he saved some money so that he could go to Vila de Sant’ana to apply online. Six months later he would sit quivering with anticipation to answer the ENCC's 200 questions. And with two more months, he would go to Carapiúna, with his mother's blessing, and trust in his eyes. Until that moment, in his eighteen years, Davi had refused to see the negative side of things. Even when his world had fallen apart and he had no one else as a friend, he still had hope that things would work out, that one day it would be just as he dreamed. He didn't know his world could be destroyed, in every way.

Davi had been overjoyed with his grade, it had been so long since he'd been really happy – a year, nine months, and twenty-one days, to be precise. The pop-up wasn't even flashy, “Viper spreads terror in Igaratí”. Davi didn't thought twice before clicking on the news. The images were of total destruction, as Davi had just skimmed the headline, he hadn't read that "Viper" was a bomb, the realization only hit him when he recognized his burning school, so he searched, and found, a list of places affected, among them were six small towns, including local communities, the death toll was still being counted, but the name of Rio das Dores was there.

The boy ran out the door of the lan-house, as soon as he reached the sidewalk his world blacked out, everything just disappeared, and he'd like to have disappeared too.

When he regained consciousness, Davi found himself in a white room, it didn't quite look like a hospital room, but everything was white and that shouldn't be a good sign. Davi tried to get up, a little too quickly, only to fall back onto the bed, his legs trembling and a sharp pain in the back of his neck.

Agonizing minutes passed, then two men entered the room, Davi would have tensed every muscle in his body if it obeyed him. One was an elderly man, wearing suspenders and a red bow tie, dark glasses not allowing him to see his eyes, so Davi deduced that the old man was blind. The other was younger, no more than forty years old, tall, athletic, his face was strong but friendly, with an affable smile, as he was wearing a window and a stethoscope, Davi deduced that he was a doctor.

“Where I am?” – Davi asked with a shaky voice.

“At a private clinic.” – The doctor replied. – “I'm the resident physician, you can call me Salomão.”

“And I am Fausto.” – The older man spoke. Despite his age, his voice was young, strong and cheery. – “How are you, my dear?”

As Davi looked at the two in confusion, without giving an answer, Salomão took a card and explained the situation to the younger boy:

“Mr. Fausto found you lying on the street and called us, an ambulance picked you up, we did some tests and checked your identity.” – Salomão said, his voice candid and his eyes fixed on Davi. – “Due to your situation, we'll keep you a few days under observation.”

So far Davi had understood, in a way. But when he thought about what he would do when he got out of the hospital, Davi remembered that he had nowhere to go back, and he began to shiver.

The doctor handed him a glass of water and some medicine, which Davi took without hesitation, and a minute later he was already sleepy. He heard Salomão say that a