“Cream or sugar, Milo?” asks Doroteo with a warm smile.
“Both, thank you.” replies Milo smiling back.
As Doroteo pours just the right amount of cream and sugar into Milo's cup, Milo looks around the room they are in. Curiously, until this moment, Milo had not noticed how immaculately white it was. In fact, it was so white, he couldn't even make out the walls that made it up. To make matters worse, there was no other reference that could give him a clue as to the boundaries of the room. There wasn't a window, a painting, or even a door. The only thing that stood out in all that white panorama was the furniture they were using at that moment: a tea table with its respective set of cups and containers, as well as two chairs, all made of porcelain with small turquoise blue decorations.
As strange as all this may have seemed, Milo was at ease, and no wonder, for this was his happy place.
“Ready.” Milo heard the cup tap lightly on the table as Doroteo placed it in front of him. “You had a blank stare while I was preparing it. What were you thinking?”
Milo remained silent. To tell the truth, he had no clear answer as to what was "wrong" with him. He couldn't answer that he was just weirded out by the nature of the place since it wasn't the first time he was there. He was simply enjoying the tranquility of the moment with his beloved. He took a sip from his cup and answered:
“That I am very happy to be with you.” Doroteo smiled warmly once again as he listened to him.
As Milo took a sip of his tea, he began to hear a strange noise, as if something was dripping. He began to feel a warm substance splashing on him. As he lowered his gaze, he could see how the "drops" were coming from his cup, which was cracking little by little, as if an invisible hand was squeezing it with such force that at any moment it would break. He began to worry when he saw the same thing happening to the whole tea set.
And as if this were not enough, he began to smell a nauseating odor, as if it were a septic tank. When he paid a little more attention, he realized that the smell came from the liquid that was in his cup and was now scattered all over the table. The delicious tea that Doroteo prepared with so much dedication had turned into dirty toilet water.
As she moved her gaze slightly, she could see that not only the game and the tea had changed. He watched in fear and confusion as the soft pastries turned into pieces of chalk. At that moment, Milo felt the uneasiness in his stomach typical of when he had no choice but to eat it.
In a moment of desperation, Milo tried to look to Doroteo for help, but what he saw only ended up destroying his hope: Doroteo's smile looked more and more forced. It seemed as if Doroteo was fully aware of what he was thinking and that everything would get worse, but for some reason, he didn't want to stop smiling and make it look like "everything was fine". All this changed the discomfort to a great emptiness in his stomach.
Just as he was about to say a word in an attempt to contact his beloved again, a huge pair of translucent, sapphire-blue hands emerged behind Milo, grabbing him tightly by the arms and beginning to drag him back to where they emerged from.
Both hands had a sort of small shackles on each of their fingers, which connected with small chains to a bracelet that also served as a shackle for the wrists. These were connected to larger chains, which had their origin in the place where the pair of hands first emerged, which had become a deep, dark hole, contrasting with the whiteness of the place, which did nothing but finish the boy's nerves.
Milo, terrified, struggled with all his strength to escape from that big pair of hands, but all his efforts were useless. That pair of hands held him with such force that it hurt him, besides moving at a slow but constant speed that seemed that it would not stop under any circumstances.
One thing to note about this, was the fact that the chains connected to the wrists seemed to be rather taut while the pair of hands, taking away the force with which they were squeezing Milo's shoulders, looked rather relaxed. It seemed as if it was the chains that were pulling the hands while the hands were just holding Milo.
Although Milo struggled more and more wildly, at no time did there seem to be a hint of hesitation or disturbance in the hands that had him trapped. He kept moving at the same speed all the time. He shouted again and again to Doroteo to help him, but Doroteo only watched him, while his expression changed from a false happiness to a marked sadness and helplessness. It seemed that Doroteo wanted to help Milo, but his body simply did not respond.
The moment the lower half of Milo's body was inside the hole, he began to sob uncontrollably as he kept crying out the name of his beloved, hoping that Doroteo would save him. But his hope was dashed when he fully entered the hole.
As he descended into the darkness, Milo's crying became quieter and quieter as he continued to stare into the opening of the hole. Suddenly, Milo stopped crying for a moment as soon as he saw Doroteo peering into the hole. Milo reached out his hand, although deep down he knew that he was already too far away from him for him to reach him. Doroteo for his part did nothing but watch Milo lose himself in the darkness while shedding a stream of tears but without producing a sound or sob. Before losing sight of him, Milo said a few last words:
“Doro... I'm sorry.”
A few seconds later, Milo was plunged into darkness and silence.
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