The dragon's den

   The dragon flew over us and then straight for the city. From our vantage point, we were able to see how the creature spew fire all over the place, making fires light up the morning landscape. The crimson color of the flames combined itself with the pink and blue hues of the morning haze, which looked beautiful but wasn’t any of the sort for the people in that place. Some had already died and others would die pretty soon, for sure. They didn’t even have the opportunity to wake up and see what was going on, as life had just caught up with them in the most awful of ways. Death was always an unwelcomed guest.

 The group overlooking the city soon split into two groups: some of them were responsible for the release of the creature and ran somewhere to try and contain it. Doing that was ridiculous and they knew it very well, but it would have been worse if they had stayed there, looking at the creature destroy the nearest center of population. They disappeared quickly and left the rest of the people there, only a handful of humans that had no real connection between themselves except the fact that they had learned of the other people’s plans and had attempted to thwart them, failing horribly in a matter of minutes.

 They had carried a bomb with them, hoping to seal the cave the creature had been sleeping in for centuries, but the device had failed and now they needed to know what to do. The destruction of their birthplace had begun and it was very possible that the creature would turn it all into ashes before they could do something to capture it or, of course, killing it. It was an obvious idea to have after seeing the creature for the first time. It was such a huge amount of flesh and bones, heavy, with fangs protruding out of its mouth and the deadly capacity of producing the deadliest fires one could ever imagine.

 The creature, to be fair, didn’t seem to have much of a mind, but it was precisely that what scared people so easily. They couldn’t know what kinds of things that beast was able to do. The only real problem was that one group of people decided to wake it up and find out, while the others only wanted to keep the creature away from the rest of the planet, sealing it away in order to protect them from a potential catastrophe, that ultimately happened. They had neglected to realized that some of nature’s creations cannot be controlled, no matter how much effort and money people could put into it. It wasn’t like that at all.

 So, the creature had awakened, as they had planned, but it had escaped in a matter of minutes and now death and more loomed over them. Several transports carrying personnel from the team that released the creature, cruised through the forest in order to get close enough to attempt some kind of trapping mission, which was obviously not the best idea to have but it certainly was one of the few things they could do, without losing the support of the people.

 But when they reached the outskirts of the city, they realized what the dragon had actually done: it wasn’t burning the city randomly, as it had seemed to them from the top of the mountain. The creature had created a perimeter of fire, burning houses, buildings and so on to create some sort of ring to protect its new home. As they couldn’t see it in the air, they sent robots and drones to check for the creature’s position, only to find out that the dragon was sleeping quietly in the center of the city, where a large square surrounded by ancient buildings enclosed a yard made with very old bricks and stones from many parts of the country.

 Apparently, the creature was exhausted and had decided to avoid looking for food, as sleeping to gain strength back was the wisest idea, or at least it felt like that. The creature did not seem dangerous at all, but the group behind its release was not going to let it go so easily. They had decided it was better to pretend there was a bigger crisis and use that to propel their own image in the face of such a strange occurrence. So, in a matter of hours, they helped evacuate the whole city by piercing a whole in the fire ring with the help of some very powerful fireman hoses that they had available for other emergencies.

 The creature did not notice the humans in the outskirts and slept all day, almost through sunset. Unexpected as they always were, a group of humans, not allies of those idiots that had liberated the creature from the cave, decided to infiltrate the city through another point that the dragon had not completely covered in fire. It was difficult and they risked their lives when doing so, but it was worth it as they believed the creature was not one to be disturbed and they needed it to understand that it was better for its well-being to fly away to some other place, instead of sleeping in the middle of a square, an easy target.

 Although many humans infiltrated the city, only three were brave enough to come closer to the creature. As soon as they got too close, the beast opened its eyes and looked straight at them. Then, two of those people ran away and only one remained. The dragon moved its formidable paws in order to get closer and the poor human shook nervously, but did not move from the position it had been when the dragon opened up its eyes. The creature grew as close as it liked and then sniffed the human for a long time. It was as if it was looking for something special, as if it knew something that no human knew anything about.

 The dragon then put his nose very close the human’s chest and started building up some fire. Of course, everyone in the vicinity thought that poor person was going to die in moments, burned alive by the fiery flames of a creature that people didn’t even thought existed. But the dragon did not kill the person, it just heated up its nose and then expanded its wings and flew away, somewhere where he wouldn’t be bothered, very far from those greedy bastards trying to make money out of it.

 The creature was never really seen again. Some reports came to the ears and eyes of the people in that region, but nothing could never be really confirmed. In time, the fires where finally extinguished and people were able to go back to their homes and enjoy their city again. The ones responsible for the destruction were brought to justice after some private citizens had formed a coalition who brought up proof that they had been planning for a long time the awakening of the creature to use it in many kinds of tests and medical investigations.

 The people of the city, however, never thought of the whole things as something inherently bad. After finishing repairs in many parts of the city, the mayor decided to erect a huge statue honoring the dragon, right in the middle of the square where it had slept. Most people in town were very happy about the idea and many children, as well as adults, submitted thousands of designs for the statue. It was unveiled a full year after the events of that day, when they had been awakened by the rumbling of such a majestic and mysterious creature. It became a legend of the region and a story to pass down through the generations.

 As for the dragon itself, no one knows where it rests these days. Some say it must have looked for another cave. Other claims that it now takes advantage of its freedom and roams the world changing its home from time to time. That idea is very popular with children, as they seem to enjoy a lot the idea of a travelling dragon. But the truth is that most people just want to see it once again, just once before they each return to the ground, as we all must do.

 And maybe it will happen… Maybe it has already happened. But that’s a story for another day.

Café con helado

   Cuando alcé la vista, lo tenía justo enfrente. Estaba sumergido en un libro de historietas… O tal vez era una novela gráfica, no lo recuerdo. El caso es que eran imágenes con muchos colores y personajes. Bajé la vista rápido, antes de que él se diera cuenta de que lo estaba observando. Poco tiempo después vino la chica del lugar con mi café y un pedazo de pastel que me habías apetecido. También traía uno de esos altos vasos de café frío con una gran bola de helado de vainilla flotando encima. Era una de sus deliciosas creaciones italianas que, en ese momento, yo no sabía que eran de su gusto. ¡Y sí que lo eran!

 Tengo que confesar que sonreí al verlo tan feliz en ese momento, con su café frío y su bola de helado. No puedo decir que parecía un niño, porque hace muchos años que no le pongo atención a las expresiones infantiles. Pero sí puedo decir que era el rostro de alguien que ve algo que lo hace sentir cosas que ninguna otro objeto o incluso persona puede hacerle sentir. Se le olvidó que estaba tratando de hacerse el tonto: dejó su libro la mesa y consumió su dulce con gusto, en pocos minutos. Yo apenas había dado sorbos a mi café para el momento en el que él ya tenía acabado el suyo. En ese momento nos miramos por primera vez, ese día.

 Como era él quien estaba fingiendo no verme, no tuve problema alguno en posar mis ojos directamente en los suyos, observando un color muy especial que no puedo describir con precisión: tal vez era un poco verdes o puede que tuvieran el color de la miel más dulce. Pero decir un solo tono de cualquier color sería decir una gran mentira. Ya había visto esos mismos ojos después de haber llorado y también los había visto muy enojados, no conmigo sino con otras personas. Sabía muy bien que podían cambiar de color según el momento, según lo que estuviera sintiendo en el corazón y en su cabeza.

 Puse un codo en la mesa y luego puse mi mentón en la mano y me le quedé mirando. Le sonreí y él hizo lo mismo. No puedo decir que había estado esperándolo, porque no era así. Pero me alegró mucho que estuviera allí, pues de verdad necesitaba alguien en ese momento para conversar, para no sentirme tan solo. No sé en qué momento ocurrió pero recuerdo haber llorado bastante, seguramente de la rabia. Él solo me escucho, sin decirme una sola palabra. Apenas asentía de vez en vez y solo me decía algunas palabras cuando me detenía a beber un poco del café, para hidratar la garganta.

 Fue mucho después cuando me di cuenta que nos habíamos estado sosteniendo las manos por un largo tiempo. Cuando me fijé, la verdad no le di demasiada importancia. Pensé que era lo natural en esa situaciones y darle importancia pudo haber sido un error de mi parte o de la suya. Por eso creo que me dejó seguir hablando, hasta que sentí que todo había salido y que ya no era necesario seguir ventilando todo lo que mi alma estaba escupiendo.

 Después de pagar, salimos del lugar caminando de la mano. En ese momento le pregunté qué era lo que estábamos haciendo. Al fin y al cabo, no nos conocíamos tan bien como parecía. Él decía que me conocía de alguna parte, que me había visto en alguna fiesta o tal vez en alguna reunión. De pronto teníamos amigos en común, amigos que en verdad no eran amigos sino personas meramente conocidas, de esas que pasan por la vida y dejan pocos rastros. A mi me daba pena confesar que la verdad no lo recordaba de ningún lado. Sólo sabía que lo había visto por primera vez en el lobby del edificio de oficinas en el que habíamos trabajado juntos.

 Y lo digo así, “habíamos”, porque ya no trabajamos juntos. Eso era precisamente lo que me tenía que sacar del pecho: el hecho de que me hubieran echado como a un perro, nada más porque no accedí a besarle el culo a uno de los supuestos grandes genios de la empresa. Era uno de sus sitios en los que se reúnen mentes brillantes de este siglo, es decir, jovencitos que creen saberlo todo porque les han dejado hacerlo todo. Pero todos sabemos que hacerlo todo no es hacerlo bien y que hacerlo bien no es lo mismo para todas las personas. Y ese mismo fue mi argumento y la razón para mi despido.

 Tomás sabía que yo iba a ese lugar a tomar café después de salir del trabajo y adivinó, correctamente, que yo iría a ese lugar después de lo que había ocurrido. Por eso vino con su tonto libro y haciéndose el que no me conocía. No habíamos hablado nunca más de algunas pocas palabras. No trabajábamos en el mismo departamento, ni interactuábamos de ninguna otra forma. Tan sólo se había enterado de lo de mi despido y había decidido seguirme hasta mi lugar secreto. No puedo decir porqué hablé con él como si lo conociera de toda la vida y mucho menos porqué le tomé la mano allí y al salir.

 Pero así fue. La verdad es que ya no me interesa estar explicando las cosas. No tengo porque explicarle a nadie nada, ya esa etapa de mi vida pasó mucho atrás. Ese día sólo seguimos conversando, caminando y tomamos algunas copas que parecíamos necesitar. Él también me contó de su trabajo y de lo frustrado que se sentía con él. No tenía tanto odio para con los jovencitos con los que trabajaba como yo, algunos eran mayores que él. Era más el contenido de lo que hacía lo que lo estaba volviendo loco. Quería hacer otra cosa, quería sentirse de verdad realizado con lo que estaba haciendo en su vida. No éramos nada parecidos.

 Tal vez sea estúpido pero creo que fue eso precisamente lo que me hizo interesarme cada vez más en él. Yo soy una persona que no intenta nada, que prefiere estar seguro en un mismo sitio en vez de atreverse a hacer algo diferente. Él no es así y me alegra que así sea, porque esa personalidad diferente causa en mí algo que todavía no entiendo porque apenas ahora estoy descubriendo que es. Y espero tener el tiempo suficiente en la vida para poder entenderlo e incluso para descubrir muchas cosas más, sobre él y sobre mí mismo.

Fortune favors the bold

   Every piece had fallen exactly in the place she had wanted. Every single one of them represented something she had been looking to achieve for a long time and now, she was finally able to reach every single goal she had ever wanted to attain. She was merely hours away from all of it and the only thing she could do was looking at her laptop and then at the city from her balcony and then again to the screen, where everything should appear at the right time.

 She had decided to be alone for that moment. The idea had never been to share this monumental achievement with anyone else, but to celebrate it alone in a very personal way. She had a bottle of her favorite champagne at hand, her most comfortable and loved clothes on and she was in the most private place she could ever be able to get to: her own home. Everything was just as she wanted and she had insisted on disappearing for that night, avoiding people constantly in order to have a few hours all to herself.

 It’s not like she was going to party hard until the next day came. She was not as young as she was when everything had started and, even if she felt younger, she had never been one to do that sort of thing. She had achieved her goals because she had been so focused, taking care of every single thing from the moment she had decided she would stop being the person she was during her youth and start her transformation into the woman she really wanted to be. It would take time but it would all be very much worth it.

 And it was. The sole feeling of being there, in that beautiful apartment, nestled in the mountains, with such an amazing view of her preferred city in the world, could not be topped by anything. She had everything she had always wanted: not only objects such as clothes and jewelry or furniture and the proper décor, but also things that no one could never buy with money. Things that only experience and intelligence could teach a person their worth and the real position that every single thing and person had to have around them.

 She had been patient and very controlling of it all, and it was worth it. Only minutes away from the awaited time, she poured some of the champagne into a tall glass and opened a box of fresh strawberries that she had picked up herself from a local farmers market. The smell was sweet and luscious, the perfect thing to go with the night she was having. She felt as if tears would start coming down her face in any minute, but she had also learned how to prepare for that: just open her eyes wider, smile and let the waves of good energy enter her body. When the clock on her laptop struck the hour, a shower of pyrotechnics covered the city.

 Champagne disappeared in a moment. She poured herself another glass and then another one after that. She saw the bright lights over the city and felt as she had never felt before. It was then tears begun pouring down her face and she didn’t bother to wipe them out or do anything about them. She wanted to cry and scream and to whatever she wanted because, when time had come, she became who she had always wanted to be and it was something that had never been guaranteed, so it was an understandable reaction.

 She remembered how, in her first years in the company she now ran, many people had tried to make her feel as if she didn’t belong there. They made comments very often, about her parents and her siblings, about their house and her clothes and a truth they claimed to be irreplaceable: that no girl from a background like the one she had would ever be able to achieve anything in such a competitive world. Everyone was against her and she had to take it all with patience and care, always thinking about the future.

 Every time they slammed her with horrible words, she would deflect them with indifference and, with time, she learned to outwit them at every turn, making them feel that the girl they had seen coming into their company was not the same they were standing in front of years later. She became much more certain of her choices and even dared to share her past life with no regrets whatsoever. Contrary to her enemies’ beliefs, she gained a strong following because of that choice. People regarded her as a true beacon of light to look up to.

 Power could be gained easily, or so she thought, if she followed her well thought plan from the beginning. That had started years before, when she had decided to save for school doing horrible and menial jobs. But she got to the point where she could study and also work, and she did. By the time her bosses understood she could not be so easily “taken care of”, she was almost untouchable because of the support of the people that worked under her. They knew that if she left, they would leave after her and sink the company in the blink of an eye.

 That power grew exponentially until she made it to the top ranking of the company. She made it to the board of directors before she turned forty years old and, by then, most of her competition had either died out or moved on to other endeavors. She ultimately took over completely and then, it was impossible to pretend she hadn’t achieved something that seemed impossible. The former owner was still there, but she had become the face of the company they had owned for so many years and there was no way they could live without her. And she knew it very well, even if her plan still had some stages to be accomplished.

 The night of New Year’s Eve, the one when she celebrated with champagne on the balcony of her elegant home, she fifty-six years old. She had effectively ended her plans, the ones she had designed from the age of fifteen. She had executed every single stage of the whole thing and she celebrated the fact that she had won. No one in the planet could argue with her that, after so many years, she had been the one to come on top and not him. Not Anthony Klein Volker, the man that was supposed to own all of it once his father died.

 Anthony was her prime target and the one she really wanted to get with all of her scheming and plotting. Of course, Lavinia and Arthur, Anthony’s siblings, could not be left out of it all. And not his mother Clara either, or his father Jonathan. None of them were going to be left alone until she got what she wanted and, what she really wanted more than anything in the world, was to have every single thing that belonged to them: every property, all the money, their precious company, their transports and even their pets. She wanted it all.

 And although most people loved her for being who she was and became, some hated her. Most of them sided with the Klein Volker’s because they had business with them or because they knew the truth and were the kind of people that hated when someone brings out the shit that has stained the carpet and is making everyone ask themselves why there’s such an awful smell in the room. Of course, they knew, she could clearly see that in their eyes when they tried to scare her out of making one of her bold moves.

 But she moved. She moved because Anthony had been the one that had assaulted her one night, after he had seen her in one the company’s open picnics for children in need. The oldest of the Klein Volker’s raped her and his father Jonathan, instead of vomiting when he saw what his son had done, he rewarded him with objects and ordered the girl to vanish, forcing her into a life of prostitution, a life she would never be able to leave. They thought she was weak and that she could be punished into compliance, shutting her mouth forever.

 And she did, for a while. She did work as a prostitute and saved money that way. Then she got another job and then another and she started school and education became her best weapon against everything that had ever happened to him. When they saw him, they didn’t recognize her at first.

 But, after a while, they did. But it was too late to say or do anything. She had them right where she wanted them and she claimed revenge in a myriad of ways, in every single one of them because they all knew what had happened and had all collaborated in her destruction. Yet, fortune favors the bold.