A gasp, and a thud against the asphalt. I can see the desperation of the boy in the high school uniform as Rodrigo runs his hand through his belongings in search of something valuable before finishing the robbery by throwing his backpack into the distance. When I feel my friend tap my shoulder, I know it’s time to pedal and hide. We’ve made some money, and no matter how many times I remind myself that this is a world of survival of the fittest, the scared look on that boy’s face and the violence we’ve left in our wake, doesn’t leave my mind for even a moment. I don’t understand how Rodrigo can laugh while we run.

An hour later, the sky is falling apart. A torrential rain is descending on Azul, the city where we live. My shoes are soaked, my whole body is. But Rodrigo insists that the stupid yellow raincoats he got are doing wonders. “What the Fuck are you doing, Sam? Hurry up!” I barely hear his voice over the sound of the drops hitting the ground.

It must be around midnight, I've been following this idiot for two hours already. It's not like he's forcing me to listen to him though, we do this together because we're friends.

The day before, he told me that the service roads that run behind his neighborhood are always free of police. He has convinced me to rob passersby’s. I am not proud at all. But after robbing two teenagers and an old man, we have made good money. Actually, Rodrigo has done everything. I am only here to pedal the escape bike.

Rodrigo has always had an intimidating demeanor, ever since elementary school. He's slim, yes, but tall, and his face is like a gang member's. We've been doing this kind of thing for a long time. To tell you the truth, I don't regret anything. Rodrigo is the one who does the bad things and the money will come in handy.

This is the situation we live in: Always making plans, always figuring out a way to get ahead. Samuel Horace is my name, and Rodrigo Carvajal has been my best friend since high school, although I could say that I have known him all my life. If I need to say anything else, it is that he has helped me so much that I could not deny him anything. And that right now I would rather be at home, reading something. Although no letter will give me the money I need.

Why do I need money? Money is always a necessity, Rodrigo has taught me that. Besides, I feel that he has a plan. It is normal for him to talk about secret projects and borrowed money.

Rodrigo quickens his steps and I follow him. I think we should just try one more time and that's it, we're taking a big risk. We can always go back. We really needed this money, that's why I haven't said anything to him. My mom hasn't stopped bothering me since I left high school. But she doesn't understand that that kind of thing wasn't for me. Rodrigo explained it to me, it's stupid to waste time listening to others, he said.

The street is flooding, we were lucky that it was barely drizzling when we held up the old man. I don’t think we’re going to find anyone else, no one in their right mind would be out on the street in these conditions… Well, besides us. “Wait, dude”. Rodrigo puts a hand between the two of them and suddenly stops at a corner. He peeks very cautiously on the other side. Police? Its ok, we threw other people’s stuff away. They can’t blame us for anything. Rodrigo keeps looking, and then turns around. “There’s someone, a kid”. He looks at me with a serious expression, as if waiting for me to take the first step. “Come on,” I say, and he snaps out of his trance.

In the middle of the rain, there is a guy walking calmly. All I can see is that he is of average height. For the downpour that is falling, I see him very calm. Maybe he is angry about something and resigned himself to getting wet in the rain. He can barely be distinguished through the fog that has filled the whole place. For starters, it is not as if these streets are very narrow. Rodrigo begins to walk slowly along the sidewalk, looking at the guy as he walks. I follow behind him. Something drives me crazy. What is up with him? It is midnight and raining, and he seems to be walking. You never know, maybe he is already crazy. My hands begin to shake, the temperature has dropped in an instant. The street lights barely manage to make their way through the rain and the fog that accompanies it.

"Hey, buddy!" Rodrigo shouts to the boy and starts walking towards him. It's his way of operating: He asks them for the time, approaches them and then takes everything from them.

The one walking in the rain has a denim jacket and very long hair, like a woman's. Turning to look at Rodrigo, his entire face is covered by hair. What is he looking at? Something is starting to give me a bad feeling. I slowly walk behind Rodrigo. I am a few steps away from him. Something thunders between the boy and Rodrigo.

A light goes on and off in an instant, accompanied by a very loud sound. Fireworks? Rodrigo falls to his knees, and the boy steps forward, extends his arm and points at me. Even through the fog I can clearly see the barrel that separates the flow of rain and the shine of the revolver he holds between his fingers.

I manage to turn around when the explosion sounds again. I feel a bar hit my calf, then my leg feels very hot, then pain. Cruel, intense pain. I lose all strength in my leg, I slip and fall straight onto the flooded sidewalk. The impact makes me feel more pain. I heard two shots. He didn't miss the second one. It hit me on the side.

Falling into the water, I blink a few times and gasp for air. I’ve done it all my life but it hurts more now. I’m surprised at how awake I feel. It’s so cold all over but it still hurts. It hurts more with every passing second. I grit my teeth and try to hold on. I crawl. I move a few inches away. Something kicks me in the back, knocking me flat on the ground. I turn my head and see him. His hair is still covering his face but I can feel him staring at me perfectly.

“Is that all?” The boy shouts and starts laughing. Behind him, Rodrigo is writhing on the ground. He has his hands holding his abdomen. What is going on? It has to be a joke, I can’t move, it has to be a joke, I have a lot–

“I asked you if that's all, damn it!”

“Son of a bitch!” Rodrigo spits. His mouth has become an outlet for a continuous stream of blood.

“Why the Fuck did you shoot us?”

The boy removes his leg from my back. Even without the extra weight, I try to get up and can't. Everything feels cold now. Cold, metallic pain. My ears continue to ring. I try to straighten up, but I fall into the water, the heat from the wound has faded. I start to feel cold. All I can do is run a hand over my eyes to wipe away the drops.

“What! “ Rodrigo screams, the boy kicks him in the head. Rodrigo spits. Now I hear him gasping. “Let us go, please” he says crying to the boy. I had never heard Rodrigo cry. He holds back his tears and says the same thing again. “Let us go, please”.

The boy takes a deep breath. How long has it been? It feels like hours. I start to think about it. I'm going to die, I'm going to die.

“Listen to me… you are trash” the boy shouts.

He's looking up at the sky. I can hear everyone breathing very clearly. I'm impressed that Rodrigo was able to speak with those wounds, and even more so when the sound of the rain covers every sound. He had to scream to do it. The rain has only gotten heavier. “How did you feel a while ago when you were robbing everyone?”

He must have been following us for some time. Neither of us answer him, the guy sighs and points the gun at Rodrigo again.

“Great, right?”

“We'll give you the money back if you want! Let us go!”

“No! It's not about that…”

The boy finally moves his hair out of his face, but he keeps staring at the sky. I can see that he has a small chin. I look over at Rodrigo. He's looking at me. We have to hold on. I don't know why I think that when I see his eyes. We have to hold on and convince him. Then they'll come for us and we'll be okay. Everything will be okay. We just have to convince him. The boy sighs.

“Well, let's do this”

The boy points the gun towards the sky.

“Tell me who is dying”

“What? “ Rodrigo asks him.

“I'll only let one go.

Rodrigo looks at me again. In his eyes I see… Nothing. There is no trace of a plan, of an idea. There is no trace of hope. This can’t be happening. The boy lets his head fall, his hair sticking to his face. Is he really telling us this? We both talk to him again, but he doesn’t answer. I’m dying. This can’t be happening. Rodrigo looks at me, and then at the man holding him. Now he looks at the ground. His hands tighten around his body. Even with all the water falling, I can see that around him, the water has turned black. One has to die? But… I don’t want to die. And I don’t want Rodrigo to die either… If…

…If I live, how much do I have? There’s mom, there’s Blas, and… What else? Rodrigo has his parents, he has his little brothers, and I think he might have a girlfriend. I don’t know. But, I don’t want to die. I have to convince him to think about it again, that we regret what we did.

“Kill him! “ Rodrigo shouts. I turn to look at him, but he looks away. He shouts at him again, and then starts crying. “You have to kill him, I have more than him, there are people waiting for me, please, he was the one who told me to do this, forgive me!

The boy raises the gun and points it at me. His hair is moving to one side and I can see one of his eyes. He has one big eye, it's a light color, it's cold and merciless. His eyes are perfectly still. He watches me for a few moments, until the barrel of the gun blocks his view. Suddenly everything feels slower.

Why did Rodrigo ask for me to be killed?

From one second to the next, the boy breaks our gaze and looks at the gun. He turns it toward Rodrigo. I think he screams, “No!” but the shots ring out in my ears. One, accompanied by a scream. Then another just like the last. When the last one ends, I only hear a beep. What? The boy takes another bullet from his pocket and puts it in the chamber. It sounds one last time. There have been three shots.

The boy walks towards me. His steps break in the falling water, but the soles of his shoes make no splash. His body remains calm, as if… he’s done this before. When I turn around, his face is a few inches from mine, but he’s still covered in wet hair. He reminds me of the ghost from a movie I saw long ago. The comfort of that memory contrasts with the situation, but my mind insists on it. It only lasts for a moment, though. He’s crouched down so he can see me better. The gun still hangs in his hand.

“Look… you are trash”

“What? “ His voice sounds calm too, I try to detect something in it but I can't. The way he breathes gives me the feeling that he might not even be here. I don't know what I'm thinking.

“But I don't want to leave you both with the wrong idea…”

The boy clears his throat.

“I didn't do this because of what you did or who you are... I mean, I would have done it anyway”

From the sound of his voice, he can’t be older than us. But when I look at his face… I see nothing. “You couldn’t say I’m a hero, or a vigilante… the truth is… I love doing this. It was the perfect situation, and this was a victimless crime, don’t you think?”

The boy stands up and looks at me one last time. His eye is covered by a lock of wet hair. He moves as if every part of his body has a consciousness of its own. The footsteps fade away, the sound of the rain returns to normal. I try to straighten up to see my surroundings. A block away, his body becomes more and more blurred. The intensity of the rain decreases. It's very dark. Everything is very dark. Suddenly, he's smiling at me.

“When you wake up… You will be reborn as a Phoenix!” After saying that, he finally disappears. A second later it is as if he had never been there, but there are still two bodies lying on the sidewalk. The rain is getting harder. The last thing he says is “Hey! I hope you survive!” but I don’t remember when he said it. The words echo in my ears like another memory.

I drop my face to the asphalt. I don't want to turn around. My senses are starting to come back. Without his eerie presence, panic is starting to take over my thoughts.

Why did this happen? It was Rodrigo who convinced me of this, I didn’t have to lie. In any case, he… no. For God’s sake. His family. I think he thought the same as me. I only have my brother and my mother. I have to get help. I turn to see Rodrigo, he’s not moving. No, I don’t know how to do anything to rescue him. The only way to rescue him is with … his cell phone. I was looking after it. I put a hand under my pants pocket, everything hurts so much.

“Hey! Hey!” I can hear people shouting. It's making me sleepy.

I see some lights illuminating the ground. Who could it be? Where am I? It keeps raining. It keeps raining forever. Who was that man? He took one of us. I hope Rodrigo is still alive. They rescue him. We have always been together. Always having adventures. Always getting into trouble. We spent all our time together. We had our first job together. He always helped me and I helped him. We left school together. He was there for me when… Why is this happening? No, everything will be okay. You just have to help us. And he will be okay. We will get to a hospital, they will fix him and we will leave this shit behind. Where did they shoot me? I don’t even remember. For God’s sake, I have to stay awake. I am scared, I don’t know if I am shaking from the cold or from fear.

Someone help us… anyone…

… Why did Rodrigo ask for me to be killed?