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Susana said goodbye to Mireia, finally returned to Orense to join her new job. Although the paradox of fate took her far from the goal of her project: the location and discovery of the whereabouts of the fugitive justice, Lucia Marquez, nothing made her suspect how close she had been to her. So close that if she had delayed a couple of hours her return to the city, she would have been found in the hallways of the village supermarket. This happened to Mireia as she loaded the cart of cocoa cans, tulip jars, bags of spaghetti and bottles of Bacardi rum. The girl with the shaved hair turned out to be her best friend. Lightning flashed through his heart. It couldn’t be: the same nose, the same eyes, the same mouth.
—Lucia, —she called.
A voice from the past sounded behind her, Lucia became overwhelmed by terror to face her ghosts directly. A sense of relief flooded her as she recognized her best friend.
—I'm Nuria, sweetheart.
They both embraced with passion as if they were old lovers.
The cookie prince fell headlong into Lucia's green basket, while the grain rooster glared at them from the top of the shelf when Mireia stole a dozen eggs from the corral. Lucia closed her beetle by inserting it into the basket.
—Do you still like cereal? —Mireia commented.
—As you see!
—I'll invite you to dinner tonight and we'll talk, you'll tell me. Didn’t I picture you here?
—Not me in a hundred years.
—Have you started writing a new novel?
—No, at the moment I'm writing a fable for the newspaper, it's about the story of some shepherds whom the wolf left them without a flock. Well it is known that the wolf doesn’t settle for killing a sheep to feed, his murderous thirst leads sometimes to kill without mercy, without control, just for the pleasure of hunting.
—That looks like a human being, don’t you think?
—Yes, it may be the animal that most resembles him, hence the legend of the werewolves. I love them when they become wolves: their noses become muzzles, their lips in long mouths; arms and legs on muscular legs, and so on until they complete the transformation. Then with their claws they tear the fragile skin of the sheep in tatters, before the futile gaze of the ram, trying to get rid of the beast with useless thrusts.
—From what I see, what predominates here are cows, there are all races; Although for me La Reina is the galician blonde. That kind of cow is the Fifth Element. The other four, Sun, Water, Earth and Air, complement each other. The cow was the first mammal to graze in the Galician meadows. Anyway, the cows won’t stop me leaving Chandrexa. I will go to Brazil where no one, not even your friends the Amoebas, find me. My father got me a passport. This counterfeiting is a perfect work of art, impossible to distinguish from an authentic document. It will help me out of the country, —Lucia said. She took the safe-conduct from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to Mireia.
—Nuria Estévez Lameiros. Who was she?
—A poor orphan with no family. Disappeared in May of last year, nobody ever looked for her. She died of an overdose in a sewer.
—A perfect alibi, I see you keep your contacts in the city.
—Uncle Sam and my father made a living. A couple of left-wing politicians in their pockets processed the papers. A real masterpiece.
—I understand now: the papers are not even fake, the documents are authentic; only you have supplanted the existence of another person taking possession of their documentation, taking advantage of the death of this girl to not have to carry on your back like a slab, with the weight of your memories.
—I'll try to take advantage of the life she threw overboard, it's my chance to start over. If I stay, now that my photo will start to be published in all the newspapers from here to Lanzarote, someone will recognize me any day.
—When do you leave?
—In a couple of days. Before I have to say goodbye to a village boy. His name is Nicholas. I'll try to reach him tomorrow. If I can’t get him, you can say goodbye to him.
—Don’t worry. I'll do it with pleasure. If he's good maybe I’ll do something else too.
—You have it raw, but for trying ... Maybe you're luckier than I am, —Nuria said, thinking about the last night in his room from which Nicholás fled in terror.
This sudden flight made her disconcerted to the point of thinking that she was not attractive enough for his eyes. Nicholas's eyes seemed to have gone mad, unable to focus on a point, when she began to open the buttons on his shirt. Then there were the scars on his sides, a clear proof that someone had mistreated him in childhood. So maybe he was going to the psychiatrist?
Suddenly she realized how little she knew of his life and deeply regretted having lost the opportunity to know him better, for her hours in Chandrexa were now numbered. Every minute that passed she was in grave danger of being discovered and she knew why she decided to advance her departure to tomorrow morning. She said goodbye to Mireia with a big hug. She regretted not being able to do it with Nicholás but the poor man would have enough to try to leave his shell. She might have opted to remain hidden in the mountains, away from civilization, but decided that she would go mad. She had always needed contact with people, affectivity was essential for her survival.
The suitcases were waiting for her as if they were restless at the door of the room. Then Nicholas appeared behind her back. His eyes were injected with a strange emotion. They had that deep glow. She used to distinguish it. In crack smokers; A strange chemical reaction that also had the same effect on people, victims of strong emotional symptoms. This clearly looked like the case of this guy. Like a defenceless gazelle, she glanced hesitantly at him from the top of the stairs.
—What are you doing here?
—I came to apologize for last night.
—There is no apologizing for that. I like you, I wanted to spend the last night in Chandrexa with you. I'm leaving the country tomorrow. Why don’t you leave your brothers and come with me?
—I don’t have brothers. Damn it! My parents died of in accident when I was ten months old. I never got to know them. The rest of my family was suffering from serious economic problems. The institutions took care of me until I was given into adoption to bad people who abused both physically and psychologically of me, including sexual abuse. Since then I have never dared to be with anyone. I am sorry! Last night I tried, but I couldn’t. The truth is I don’t know if I'm really prepared or if I really have fallen in love with you, why will I fool you. What I have clear, is that I will not make you suffer with more lies: I won’t go anywhere with you because I think I don’t love you.
—Why am I not good enough for you? —Said Nuria, who was not accustomed to being rejected by anyone and who refused to be refused by the only person she had been attracted to during her short stay in Chandrexa.
Suddenly her apparent fortress collapsed like a sand castle under the weight of the waves of misfortune; Perhaps due to the nervous tension suffered the last days after reading a column published in "The Voice of Galicia", where it came to light in a sombre article, the last advances of the Civil Guard in the investigation in charge of the anti-drug brigade In relation to her case. Luckily her photo didn’t appear in the newspaper, that would be taken by the stupid Susana, "the amoeba." Very soon after reading the article, Lucia realized that those hectares of forest and pastures were no longer suitable for her safety, but that she had taken the precaution of keeping the money extracted from the traffic of narcotics in different accounts in the name of her father, her cousins, uncles and friends of the family; Leaving the bank accounts to her name under minimums, in addition she had opened a new account in the name of Nuria Estevez Lameiros, where her father made periodic lodgements, modest amounts that didn’t call too much the attention. After leaving the newspaper, Lucia was overcome by fear, she contacted her father to learn more about her situation. She didn’t call him directly because of the danger that the authorities had given the order to cross the line, she did it through Uncle Sam's cell phone, a former supplier with whom she still had good relations; In addition to a close friendship, which soon found her father. Soon she could hear his muffled voice on the other side of the receiver:
—You're no longer safe here. My girl!
Her worst fears were confirmed upon hearing her father's words. Now that she was beginning to feel at ease in those wild lands: she had no choice but to run as fast as she could out of the country. Again the pressure of being alone and forsaken, forced to flee again, It overcame her: bursting into tears, broke into sobs, torn, unburdened all her deepest fears before that unknown and inopportune young man; Daring to deny her the tenderness, love and moral support so necessary in those difficult times for her. Nuria shed the tears of a lifetime under the yoke of an illegal profession, trying to conquer the only boy who, no matter how much it hurt, had dared to face her doing it with the truth ahead and not hiding, as she was accustomed With her other boyfriends.
—I swear I didn’t know anything about your past, my love. I don’t care that you don’t love me, I do love you with all my soul. Please! I beg you not to refuse me. We only have tonight. Then you will never see me again. I will go away forever, I will disappear with my sorrows from your presence. That's why I promise you that tonight will be special, we'll never forget it for a long time to come. These last hours in Chandrexa will get us so deep inside that their memory will follow us wherever we go, no matter how far we are. We will always remember them, every day, as if they were the last of our existence. They will be present, anchored in the deepest part of the memory, any attempt to erase them in the years to come will be unsuccessful.
With nothing more to do with her than to look, Nicholas responded to her pleas by pressing his hand on hers and letting himself be dragged by the woman he did not love, but who by a strange rite, was responding to his most primal instincts, He began to desire her wildly.
He felt the duty to give some explanation but the urgency of the lovers was a priority to their feelings, seeking their relief in the contemplation of their empty and hollowed bodies. Coupled with each other in a fierce embrace, Nicholas's memories and frustrations seemed to fly through the air, fragmented into thousands of pieces. He hesitated for a second before approaching the bed, suddenly becoming petrified; but she reacted quickly by undoing with great difficulty the buttons of his shirt, while he felt his agitated breathing in the neck.
—Snap them, —Nicholas snorted angrily, his heart beating at the heart rate of the spectator, wrapped in his armchair during the filming of a thriller.
—Calm down, —she reassured him, letting go of one button after another without rushing, she opened the garment. He shrugged his right shoulder back and let her tug at his sleeve. He did the same with the other shoulder until the garment fell to the floor.
He wore a white T-shirt underneath. This time she took it off by the neck with some difficulty, emitting a groan, the trait in half.
—This will cost you less money than the shirt, —said Nuria, enjoying the urge to see him naked from the waist up.
He smiled, began to feel at ease in the rage of close combat. She wore a short dress hanging from her shoulders by fine handles. Nicholas began exploring her with his rough hands, accustomed to feel the warmth of the wood of the butts of the old Army rifles, which had now been changed by other plastic ones, lighter for combat; Caressing with his hard fingers her neck. The sores produced by pressing so many times the firing pin in the firing ranges reacted to the stimuli she gave him, to caress that soft and sensual epidermis that acted on them with emollient effect, as if it were an ointment. Slowly removing the arm of her dress, the fabric slid down her chest —trapped inside the bra— until she was paused for a few seconds, holding on to the tips of her young, sweet breasts, dangling from nipples that remained inhale before her cold gaze ; Almost tearing the fabric that fell to the ground by its own weight. She pulled the dress back like a chrysalis membrane. Then, clumsily unbuttoning her bra, her nymph breasts leapt before his eyes, and Nicholas could see that they stood on their own for their greatest visual delight. He felt out of place surrounded by such beauty, it didn’t give him time to think; Before adjusting to the new situation, she had already stripped him completely, unable to conceal or stop his frantic burning, she began to caress his limb; Then she stood for a moment, looking at his carved chest, his marked abdominals, the drawing of his biceps; a whole body sculpted without doubt by the harsh military life; Not exempt from the physical exercise so necessary to perform that profession.
He looked at her that, in an instant, he realized that she was still wearing those garments, the garment that concealed her most intimate parts. He withdrew it slowly. Her shaven hair was now before him, lovely and thick as a squirrel's tail eager to be shaved. He stood, still for a long time, watching her, not feeling the slightest friction of her skin, whose hairs seemed to huddle in his arms. His black hair rested on his shoulders, the confused nipples pointed opposite directions. The vanishing point on her hips, produced a faint shadow, confused with the blackness of her sex. Suddenly he found himself calm, serene, oblivious to his worst nightmares.
She was there, naked in front of him, as he had always feared to see her. She looked attractive, beautiful. Tonight he would make love to her with gentleness and softness like no one had ever done. For her, all the tenderness he displayed in each of her strokes was something new. For the first time in his life he gave himself to someone, following the impulses of his heart and not those of his greed. She stood still, watching each one of Nicolas's movements, perceiving every touch of his hands as if they were something unheard of, in fact they were all of them. She felt full of sensitivity and affection, soon the kisses would wake her from the lethargy in which the caresses had submerged her: the miracle had happened. Nicholás had overcome his fears and a prominent erection had surprised him, he entered her gently, sinking between her thighs. Lucia closed her eyes and let herself be rocked by that soft swivel of hips.