~CALI~

I spent the afternoon with Lana, she was very funny and not at all shy. She showed me only a part of the town since it was getting late and she had other commitments, but she was in charge of telling me the story of the least thing that was in the town and she even pointed out the oldest houses in the place, everything here was beautiful and I did not find anything that displeased me, although I have just arrived in town, perhaps there are things that I will find in the future that are unpleasant and I hope that does not happen.

  We both shared a love for art, she told me that sometimes she used to mold figures with clay, but that she almost never had time for what she liked because her mother always gave her orders and she couldn't refuse, the opposite happen to me, I always have time but no inspiration, not since my parents left this world and left me alone. He told me about his entire family, less about his father and I preferred not to ask, perhaps he had left them and Lana was sad to remember him or she had a grudge against him, or perhaps he just forgot to mention it. His mother had always been a housewife but now she was married to the pastor of the village church, so she was in charge of accompanying him at Masses and spent a lot of time outside the house, so Lana had to take care of her younger brother, she told me about her mother's fanaticism towards religion and that blinded her to many things that happen around her, she says that she is a closed minded woman who still keeps the old traditions and thoughts, there was no way to implement ideas about a new society, she was very much against that and refused to accept that everything has changed.

  I returned to Wendy's house at five thirty in the afternoon, she was not at home and she had not left me any messages, so I suppose she will be back soon. I did not care about it and went up to my new room, it still bothered me to see it empty and I felt the need to make some changes, but it was not yet available to me to do so. I put things on the floor and took off my clothes to put on something comfortable, I lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, I didn't have the energy to think about something, but it is inevitable to do so. I honestly felt an emptiness inside that I could not fill with anything, I touched my pocket and felt the box of cigars, I did not hesitate to take them and light one. I was trying to quit smoking, but I couldn't, I needed it so I could stop thinking and keep my mind distracted, it used to work because unlike now, my problems were almost non-existent and now everything is a disaster, I couldn't be well for a single moment but I had to hide it and pretend I was fine.

  That was the rest of my day, I smoked and cried until I fell asleep.

(...)

  I woke up at nine twelve at night because I heard unknown noises and voices downstairs, I peeked down the stairs without making noise and I could see Wendy with a laughing man, you could tell they were flirting and I didn't want to see that. I rolled my eyes and went back to the room, I went back to bed and took my phone, I was looking at my social networks, I saw a photo that Annie, one of my friends from my previous city, uploaded and I really missed her. It seems that now she has a boyfriend and she did not tell me, lately I do not respond to messages from my friends because I do not know what to say to them, I do not want them to feel sorry for me or worry about how I am, I do not want to bother them with my situation and it is not their responsibility console me, I prefer to overcome this duel alone, because if someone talks about my parents in front of me, it will be too difficult.

  An incoming call interrupted my activity, I looked at the number confused and was hesitant to accept it but finally I did.

  "Cali! How are you?" Asked a male voice.

  "Who's talking?" I raised an eyebrow.

  "I'm Evan, do you remember me?" He replied, then I remembered who it was.

  "Oh Evan, I forgot I gave you my number," I laughed, "isn't it too late to call?"

  "Yes, I know, I hope I haven't woken you up," he laughed, "but I want to leave my house. How about I invite you to have a pizza?

  "Now?" I asked and looked out the window. It was already dark and I don't know if Wendy would like the idea, besides that it would interrupt her in her affairs.

  "If you don't want to, there isn't..."

  "Okay," I replied, interrupting him, I had nothing to do now and I didn't want to listen to Wendy with her things.

  "Perfect then, can I pick you up in a bit?" His voice was cheerful.

  "Yes, I warn you."

  "Until in a while," he greeted.

  "See you in a while," I replied, smiled and hung up.

  I got out of bed and looked at myself in the mirror, I was disheveled and in home clothes. I just put on some jeans, a jacket and the sneakers, I also tidied up my hair a bit and I was ready, I never went to fix much and I still keep that, I don't see the need to impress someone with my appearance and I like to be simple . I heard Wendy's bedroom door close, so I texted Evan and left the house quietly, I didn't want Wendy to know I was out and I don't think she would check if I'm in the house. I was nervous, I didn't usually go out with guys and I didn't see it in any other way, I hope Evan doesn't think it's a date.

  I told him to wait for me two houses from Wendy's house, because I didn't want him to see him and scold me, although he didn't tell me anything about the nights out, he preferred to keep everything a secret. I met Evan and we started walking, the night was cold and there were hardly any people on the streets, they all seemed to sleep early. We went to a pizzeria, we ordered a pizza and some soft drinks, we decided to go to a park to sit down, eat the pizza and chat. It seemed like a perfect plan, the park looked very nice at night and there were no children running everywhere, we could carry on a conversation without having so much noise to interrupt us or the annoyance of the sun pointing at our faces.

  "How was your first day here?" Evan asked me.

  "Pretty good, Lana showed me a bit of the town and it really looks pretty," I replied, he opened the pizza box and handed me a slice. "Do you have a favorite place in this town?"

  He shrugged: "I've never thought about it, I think being used to the place doesn't allow me to see how beautiful it is."

  "I thought it was going to be a boring or dangerous place."

  "It's boring, but it never was dangerous or that's what I remember" he bit into his slice of pizza. "What was it like where you lived?"

  "It was just beautiful, my favorite place was a lake that was close to where I lived and I used to go with my friends there on weekends," I answered wistfully, "I had a great time."

  "You must miss a lot there right?"  He asked and I nodded, "you will see that here you will not have a bad time, not while this me."

  I smiled at him in response and ate my slice of pizza, it was delicious but none compares to the ones my mother made, that lady did know how to cook. I looked at the sky, it was totally starry and it looked very beautiful, it seemed to be a perfect night but for me it was just one more night without my parents, I would have loved for them to be here with me. But they had to go to that party that night, I insisted that they stay with me because it was movie night but it was important that they go and none of the three knew that that night would cost them their lives, I would have liked to have been more insistent and perhaps they would have given in, sometimes I feel very guilty. I sighed and tried to get those thoughts out of my head, I'm pretty sure they don't want me to be going through this moment.

  The scream of a girl and the noise of a car speeding up took me out of my thoughts, I looked at Evan confused and he seemed to be too, I could see a girl alone in the corner of the park and she seemed to be crying, it was the same girl who had screamed. I didn't think about it and I got up from my seat, I walked over to that girl to verify that she was okay, I touched her shoulder and when she turned around, she didn't seem to hesitate to hug me.

  "Lana?" I asked confused, "what are you doing alone here? are you OK?"

  She broke away from the hug and wiped her tears with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, she looked bad and my heart broke when I saw her that way, although I met her today I knew she was a happy girl and I was surprised to see her like that, nobody deserves be going through an ugly time.
"I had an argument with Federick and he left me here," she replied, already calmer.

  "Do you want to go sit down?" I asked and she nodded, so I guided her to where Evan was.

  He got up when he saw her and gave her his place, she smiled in response, I sat next to her and offered her a slice of pizza and she accepted it.

  "Thank you," she thanked.

  "Are you OK?" Evan asked her and she nodded.

  "Now I'm better, thank you."

  "You shouldn't be thankful for anything, Lana," I said, "why did your boyfriend leave you here?"

  "We argued, I raised my voice to him and he got upset," she replied.

  "Only for that? He's an idiot, ”Evan said and I thought the same.

  "No, he's never like that, I don't know what happened to him, he's a good boy," she justified.

  "But he just left you on the street, alone and at night!"

  "Lower your voice, Evan," I ordered, as the people passing by looked at us strangely.

  "It's just that it makes me mad," I understand him, like me, "did something else happen?"

  She nodded: "It's my fault, I found a lipstick in her car and I claimed it," she sighed and with Evan we looked at each other confused.

  "Do you blame yourself for that?"

  "I shouldn't have mistrusted him, I get it," she replied.

  "It's obvious he's cheating on you," Evan said, quite naturally.

  I made a sign for him to shut up, it was going to make things worse.

  "He's an idiot, don't blame yourself for something you had the right to do," I said and hugged her, "he doesn't deserve you."

  "If you want we can turn on Fire his car,” Evan suggested as he showed his lighter.

  "We can?" Lana asked excitedly and looked at me.

  "No, we can't," I answered and the three of us laughed.

  I checked the time on my cell phone, it was late and it was starting to get cold.

  "Thanks for all guys," Lana said again.

  "You don't have to thank us, even if we don't know each other much, we'll always be there to help you with whatever you need," Evan replied and I smiled.

  "I think the same," I said, "Do you want us to accompany you to your home?" asked.

  Her face changed completely, something was wrong.

  "My mother will kill me if she knows I wasn't with Federick, she won't care what I have to say to him," she said worriedly and looked at me, "Can I stay at your house?"

  I made a face: "My aunt will kill me if she finds out I left the house," We looked at Evan and he denied.

  "My mother's boyfriend is at my house, I don't want to go there," he replied, I knew that he didn't get along very well with his mother's boyfriend and that's why he didn't want to be at his house when he was, it scares me to think about what to his mother's boyfriend do to him so that Evan does not like being in his own house.

  Lana sighed and after a few seconds she seemed to remember something, I hope it is something good that does not imply putting ourselves in danger, I do not want to go to jail my first day in this town.

  "I know where we can go," she notified smiling and we both looked at her waiting for an answer.