"Yes, hello, tell me?"
"Luis, darling. I'm waiting for you. I'm
so eager to see you... I'm by the stream, down the slope. In the shadow of the
oak tree that turns off when the clouds charge against it..."
"Hello?"
"Luis, it's me. I forgot to tell you how
much I love you. I'm right where the current stops. At the stream's mouth,
remember?"
"I am sitting on the stone that has moss
and has a contoured shape that lefted black and green prints on your pants, the
one that if you close one eye and tilt the head stops being a stone and looks
like a frog belly up. It's surprising. Here we held hands the first time. Here
we declared ourselves after you covered me with kisses... The stream now
carries hardly any water, you know?"
"Excuse me, I can't hear anything... Who
is it?"
"It's me, Carla, can you hear me? I'm
waiting for you here, darling, our stone is still just as comfortable. I
remember that we jumped from here when the flow overflowed and the stream
looked like a living and fresh pool. How the water was shining when the leaves
of the beech trees fell, when the oak tree boasted of its reflection in the
calm channel... Not anymore. Now the stream is opaque, sad, and the swaying of
the water is pasty and slow, because of the mud. But continues to reach here
the echo of the students on campus, and if I close my eyes I can see the two
central buildings, the residence and even the window of my room. I also see the
park and the poorly lit track leading to the library."
"Excuse me, I'm going to have to hang up.
I can't understand anything."
"Excuse me, I'm gonna have to hang up. I
can't get to understand anything."
"Oh, Luis, no. No, please don't hang up. I
shouldn't have stayed in the library so late. I should have listened to you,
darling. On the way out, the van was already there. It followed me... I swear
that as soon as I realized it, I started running as fast as I could, but the
wheels squeaked and blocked my escape. First I heard the door slamming from the
driver. Immediately, the sliding door
opened in front of me. I was petrified when three men came out of it... The one
with the cap with the white eagle, remember? The guy with the broken tooth that
you told that day to stop looking at me... They rushed at me, Luis. I wanted to
fight, to shout, "Help, help me, help! One sealed my mouth with his
fingers. I kicked, darling, I kicked until I ran out of strength. Another one
hit me in the stomach. They put me in the van: tainted weed smell, pestilent
alcohol, blows, pain, anguish -help, help me, help! Terror, rage, impotence,
metal in my mouth... I swallow my own blood, stabbing, beating, burning... Stop
the hands now, finish the bodies now, God, help me! Let them finish their
mouths, let them finish... Rammings, one after the other, in turns, a hell of
resignation, repugnance until the end, sticks and kicks. I believed I could go
home, Luis, I believed I could come back to you, love... But my blood flowed
under his wrath, I was like a broken bundle under them, an old torn punching
bag, red, ripped apart."
"Carla, for God's sake, is that you? This
is going to drive me crazy..."
"Oh, yes, yes, my love, it's me. You're
not crazy. Don't hang up! I'll scream louder! Can you come and get me? They
left me here, at the bottom of the stream! It's been so long since the beech
trees were guillotined... If you pay attention, half sunk in the riverbed, you
can see the rest of my hand. I am a silhouette, I am the silver flash... A kind
of ghostly ring over the frog stone... Just like the stream, I have also
changed. But here I wait for you. I want to see you so much..."
One click. An end of call.
A pause. A new tone.
"Yes, tell me, for God's sake!"
"Luis, darling. I'm waiting for you. I'm
so eager to see you... I'm by the stream, down the slope. In the shadow of the
oak tree that turns off when the clouds charge against it..."
End
A story by Maríe Yuset © 1909101886164
Spanish version: http://www.marieyuset.com/2017/08/junto-al-arroyo.html
