"The Broken Dawn Dream"

The scene opens with the dim light of dawn filtering into an old, single-story house, wide to the sides. Everything is tinged with a bluish-gray hue, as if the day is still hesitating to begin. From an outside perspective, I can see the inside of the house: a modest kitchen where a couple argues in low voices, holding back nervousness. Something serious is coming. The house, they whisper, is going to be attacked.

In front of the house, children dressed as if from an ancient tribe—bear skins, rudimentary ornaments—swing on ropes hanging from a beam. It's an improvised trap, a makeshift defense. But the danger never comes. A false alarm.

The scene fades, and I find myself inside a school hall turned into a dining room. It's daytime. A long table with a white tablecloth gathers my old high school classmates. I approach and greet Carolina with affection, telling her I miss her. In front of her is La China. Nostalgia overwhelms me.

Another shift. Now, Marge Simpson appears—not as a cartoon, but as a real, three-dimensional woman. She assures Lisa that she can raise a child on her own. I see her grow, succeed... and then gain weight. At her son's wedding, she feels uncomfortable in her body, trapped in a dress modified with leg corsets. Despite everything, she steps onto the stage. The audience applauds as she spins under a single spotlight. But the dress begins to come undone in slow motion. The applause continues, though something breaks—literally and symbolically.

Another shift. I'm at home. Everything is calm until Mom tells me I have to go with Aunt Betty, to another city. I lock myself in my dark room, open the drawer of the nightstand, but it’s empty. I sit on Mom’s bed, sad. The setting changes: now I’m on the side of a road cutting through a dark forest. The same dawn light, now tinged with gold.

In the distance, two men dressed like Spartans run while laughing. But the camera—my gaze—focuses on bare, pale feet. Someone is walking, endlessly pouring water from a metal jug onto their feet. It’s the Devil, smiling. He claims, triumphantly, that he caused those two men to come together, but he lies. He also says he stole the infinite-water jug from God.

We shift to a tiny, desert-like town. He wants to talk to me. I ignore him, which annoys him. “Oh, fine, tell me,” I reply, irritated. He then speaks of a superior feminine entity whom he admires but who doesn’t return his feelings. Around us, there's trash, statuettes of pagan gods, and rotten food. He spreads a moss-green carpet between us and sits down to keep talking.

The scene shifts again. Now I’m flying over an Egyptian pyramid surrounded by bushes, completely new on the outside and hollow inside. A frenzied pharaoh yells that he will reveal the secrets the Hebrews left inscribed. In the center of the pyramid, there’s a tube descending. The floor collapses in a spiral, and the pharaoh slides down around the tube, following an endless scroll that spins with him. “I will reveal the secrets… before I destroy the evidence,” he declares, and tears the scroll. Everything falls, except him and the tube. He clings to it as I hear voices wondering how he’ll get out of there. Then I remember: “Scape like Ramses did!”

The pharaoh climbs the tube, swings, and jumps into an empty room, though not toward the exit. The scene slowly shifts: the room turns into a miniature public shower, with light blue tiles. In front of me, there’s still a void, and beyond that, an open window where the dawn light enters. I try throwing dry elbow noodles toward it to measure the distance. I laugh. “Ahhh, how silly! This part isn’t even deep.” I step down into the void, which now has a floor, and everything seems like it was just a hallucination. I’m naked, in a shower. I exit through the window and walk along an outer ledge and enter another room.

Now I’m walking through an old building, like a psychiatric hospital. A dark-skinned man in a robe waits for me to finish showering. I see an elderly man wandering through the halls. I’m confused: “What am I doing here?” I walk to the end of the hallway and reach my room. On the typical hospital bed, there’s a bag. Next to it, a young man with a tired face, red eyes. “Love, where are you going?” I ask him tenderly. He avoids answering and says “Nowhere, love.” I get closer and sadly say, “Don’t leave, love, stay with me…” I hug him, trying to stop him. We fall onto the bed and then to the floor. I play with a red ski mask, sing to him, try everything to keep him from leaving. He transforms into a slender woman with dark brown hair, wearing denim clothes. She manages to break free from my embrace, stands, and places herself on the opposite side of a table, separating us, and says she loves me, but needs to go her own way. That I’m obsessed… although I don’t even know with what. She promises to be there if I need her, but not as a partner. I’m left alone, speechless, crestfallen.

Then, I walk along a river. Later, through the city center, at night. I take off my white tank top. A boy on a motorcycle looks at me seriously as he rides past. Now I’m wearing a black T-shirt with white letters. I remember “La China” invited us to her house. I pass by the house of a former friend, which is more luxurious and has more vehicles than I remembered. It’s empty. I leave, and on the way, she and her family drive past me.

I walk faster. I’m holding my sneakers in my hands. Two girls pass by, looking at me like I’m a weirdo. “Ugh, what a pain to walk all this way!” I push off the ground with my hands to move faster and I walk like an animal, on all fours, but I feel weak, so the idea lost sense.

Now I’m in an alley. A dance battle is about to begin. A kid with a special move, “the camera,” distorts my vision. Everyone wants pictures with his group, even Mom. The photographer looks annoyed, as if she’s too old to be in the photo. “What the hell do you care? Just take it anyway!” I yell at him.

Then, Mom disappears. I’m with Alex, my brother, leaning against a wall in a hall. A girl with badly dyed hair mocks Mom. “You want me to rip out that nasty hair?” I say. I shake her, then another girl with glasses steps in and admits the one I fought is crazy, but still reproaches me for what I did. Everyone is arguing, and now it seems to be a birthday party. Alex and I take the chance to leave.

We walk at night, almost reaching a park. He has to turn. I say I’ll go with him, but he asks me to wait. He goes to get some sneakers. I get distracted for a moment, and when I look back—he’s gone. “Alex!” I shout again and again, looking in every direction. The park is behind me… or in front? I don’t know how to get back home. I feel scared, anxious, my heart starts racing… I feel abandoned and lost. The camera lifts up, moving away… and I wake up.