Bright light streamed in through holes in the rags hanging from the window. The air smelled of musty dust and the ocean. Jack was awakened by sounds coming from outside. Children shouted, playing happily on the beach, adults chatted, and seagulls fought over scraps of freshly caught fish. Jack didn't know if he was dreaming or if this was real. He felt exhausted; he didn't even have the strength to blink. Before he could even groan, he fell back asleep. A moment later, a slender, black-haired woman with brown eyes entered the room where he lay. She had full lips and a Latina appearance. Her movements reflected the fatigue of her daily duties. She approached Jack and absentmindedly checked if he still had a fever. His forehead was cooler than her hand. She breathed a sigh of relief. "He's fever-free for the first time in a week," she thought. With a concerned look on her face, she straightened the sheets. Then she fell into a thoughtful mood. She looked at the man her brother had found more than a week ago on the rocky shore two miles from their home. The wounds all over his body suggested he had been through hell. It was a miracle he was still breathing. He screamed in his sleep. She had spent many nights at his bedside. She and her grandmother had tended to his wounds. Then she saw the strangest one. The one where... She mentally scolded herself for it. "No, it couldn't be true," she said to herself quietly. "I must have imagined it..." But she didn't leave him. She sat down beside him and massaged her tired hands. She glanced at his face repeatedly. The thought of what she had seen on his chest the night her brother had brought him to her still haunted her. Now that no one was around, she could check. "No one will know." A shiver ran down her arms, and she felt a knot in her stomach. She glanced around as if expecting someone standing there, watching her, to stop her from doing what she was about to do. But the room was empty. In this utter silence, the roar of the ocean seemed as loud as thunder. The girl licked her lips. Her breathing quickened, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. She leaned over him so that the ends of her long black hair touched his face. She tensed, ready to jump two meters into the air if Jack blinked or even took a deep breath. Her hands were clammy. The knot in her stomach turned into a tingling sensation that permeated her entire body. Slowly, she began to pull the blanket off him. Her pupils dilated. His chest rose rhythmically, tracing the pattern of ribs on the bandages. The girl with black hair looked at only one spot: the one with the largest trace of blood: where the ribs meet at the sternum, right in the center of his solar plexus. She lightly touched his chest. Her heart beat faster and faster. She moved her hand closer to the spot. She continued to glance nervously between the door and Jack's face. Her mouth was completely dry. "When they brought him in, when they took off his jacket and shirt."Under clothes wet with blood and ocean water. On his chest... She suddenly recoiled, terrified. For a split second, she thought something was moving there. Something under the bandages and dressing, something under the skin. She slowly began to slide her fingers under the bandages. Her mouth hung open. And just as she had almost removed one, something yanked her arm back. She felt a blow to the face that sent her tumbling to the ground. "Idiot!" the figure said, slapping her face hard. The girl brushed her tangled hair away from her face. Her cheek felt as if burned, and her lip split and began to bleed. Tears welled in her eyes. "Idiot!" The old woman continued screaming, and after a while, when the daze subsided, she recognized her old grandmother. "Do you know what you're doing?" "Have you completely lost your mind?" Then she chased her out of the room where the stranger lay. The worn-out woman pulled a rosary from her pocket and hung it on a nail above the bed. She sighed and rubbed her stinging hand. If that stupid girl knew, if they all knew... She muttered under her breath. You certainly wouldn't lie here so peacefully, "courage." They'd skin you and burn your corpse at the stake. I know you can hear me; open your eyes. The old woman looked at him suspiciously and whispered a few words in a strange, unknown language. A moment later, Jack lay there, his eyes wide open. Let's start from the beginning, "courage," and we'll see what you have for me...
The waves lapped against the shore even after the children, tired from playing, had gone to bed. Clouds obscured the twinkling stars. The moon was new. The light in the beach hut burned all night.
Brak komentarzy:
Prześlij komentarz