Page 25 - The Muse 2021

My mind was trying to ask her if we could get some of this food, but my mouth did not seem to have the ability to do so.
“Just don’t take any of this food, I trust you!”
“Thank you. Believe me, I will not.”
I looked back and she was gone. I did not get the opportunity to ask a simple question. I smacked my head and
whispered to myself, “Why am I so stupid? Why am I so stupid? Why am I so stupid!”
But her shadow was gone. Once again all you could hear was the wind and I saw nothing but two people playing
with whatever they could find on the ground. I took a close look at them, and their skin was like a snowflake, delicate and pale. Their small bodies seemed vulnerable and dangerously malnourished. The wind blew on their hair, and I could hear the laughter of my brothers as it seemed like their minds had nothing but happiness. I could still smell the delicious food coming from the tray in front of me. I smelled sweets, honey, cheese, bread, and some salt. But with that scent, my throat closed, and my body got tense. My eyes got blurry and my head started spinning. I felt pressure on me to do something. And I thought, “Jail wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” I looked down at what was presented in front of me. And I did it. My two hands rapidly grabbed two empanadas. I was not in my body and the world was yelling at me to put an end to my actions, but I couldn’t. I simply put them against my freezing chest. There was a fire in my torso with the two burning empanadas against my body. My eyes closed and my teeth began grinding with pain. I let out a small scream, but loud enough to get my brothers and the seller’s attention. Without having control of my feet, I simply started running as fast as I could. I could feel the cold winter holding me back as my energy was drained. My two brothers knew what to do. Their little feet quickly started sprinting towards me. To me, the world seemed to be one giant earthquake as I lost balance and could just hear my whimpering and there were dozens of loud whistles close to my ear. I was choking, and I finally demanded authority over my body.
All of a sudden, I stopped when I had finally gotten to the park. An inky and rusty fence surrounded it, and it was sharp and pointy at the top which intimidated any soul that passed. We were fortunate, the door was still open. In the background, I could hear some steps coming towards me. But at that moment I was in a small square where I felt trapped, I could feel that there was no escape from here, no oxygen, no outside world. The grass was nearly dead and the only thing in this park were some antique wood benches and a tall, aged willow tree that was the centerpiece of it all. It was just darkness and I could barely see the stones I was running past. I fell to my knees as I leaned against the willow. The sky was starting to lose its shine and there was no light in this part of town to illuminate my path.
Trying to catch my breath, the first thing I did was remove the pain from my torso. I looked down at my chest as I removed the burning hot food from my body. I started breathing heavily as I saw the shapes of the two empanadas marked in my body as red, painful burns that penetrated my skin. I quietly whined and shed tears to myself as the agonizing pain took over my body. My cheeks were turned scarlet and my arms were shaking, while my brain tried to process what had just happened, only if I had known. Not in a million years would I have dreamt of being in this position. I immediately took a deep breath and my hands were back in movement to wipe my tears. My brothers sprinted towards me as fast as the seconds on the clock passed by. At that moment, their voices were the light at the end of the path. They brought peace and purpose to my deed. I smelled the dead winter grass and leaves, and a chill went down my spine while my hands and body became numb. I felt like my skin was turning into rough cold stone, while my chest was the only flame. The only thing I could hear was the dead orange and yellow leaves dropping from the trees right to the ground.
“Here you go,” I expressed with a broken and breathy voice as I passed the two empanadas to my brothers. I didn’t need any coat or scarf. The big glow in their smiles wrapped me like a blanket, giving me all the warmth that I needed. I gave them a small smirk while my eyes were nearly closed. They enjoyed every bite. Their faces lit up and their look was the one of someone who had just won the lottery because this was like that to them. I could see them tasting the warm baked dough with a grin from ear to ear.
Eduardo looked at the bruise on my skin and I attempted to rapidly cover them up with my coat. But it was too late, they had seen the horrifying image. I was just ashamed of what I had just done, and even more ashamed of simply telling them the truth.
“El-Elena are you okay? What is that?” Eduardo asked in an anxious voice pointing with his small finger at my burns, while Vincent looked at me with his confused eyes squinting, trying to get a clear image.
“Don’t you worry about it. I am okay and I just want you to enjoy your food,” I said.
“Yes, yes. But what is it?”
I just decided to open my jacket to put an end to this. With my hand shaking, I opened the doors of my clothing to
explain what had just happened to their sinless minds. I just rapidly tried to come up with some kind of explanation. “Okay, fine. Look, you see these two marks here?” Both of them nodded. “Well, it’s a mark of something very
important. What do you think it looks like?” 25