“Is the light good enough for you?”"Do you have the ideal temperature?”“Do you want me to fix the pillow?”“Do you need help?”“Do you feel hungry?”I couldn't take it anymore. Every day, different people “at least they were all women” would show up to ask some of those things. My favorite person was Madeleine, who was always sulking in the corners and cursing when someone insisted on having answers that I didn't make a point of giving.As far as I remembered, Fred's sister was a loving person, calm, chic, and very centered. Maddie's new version was unstable, irritable and very impatient. Several times a day, she threw people out of my room, and always stayed in the corner, without asking questions and without facing me with that look of pity that everyone seemed to have perfected especially for me.She used to stay in the room when Fred had to go to the bathroom or when he was called by one of his security guards who were at the door. He didn't tell me why he kept security guards a
"Hi, Becca," he said, in a happy intonation."Hi," I spoke in a low tone, but I opened a false smile for him too.He was carrying flowers and extended them to Maddie."I don't know if she may be allergic to this type of flower, but I thought it would be impolite in appearing empty-handed.”Maddie jumped up to him "literally" and took the flowers, as if they were for her. I didn't doubt that they would be, because the look the two exchanged was full of intimacy. With the excuse of going to look for a vase, Maddie left the room, but Fred's security guard pulled the armchair near the window "next to the bed", without giving us any privacy.As much as Maddie was an accomplice for Raphael to enter, Fred's security guard should be fulfilling the orders not to leave me alone with anyone else, but it was uncomfortable to be in the same environment with two men. Even more men with whom I wasn't having so much familiarity. I got tense, but they didn't notice.“How are you? "I asked with a sligh
Becca's father lived in a falling apart house, whose street housed few neighbors and several thin and angry dogs. The house was made of aged wood, with a window facing the street and the glass broken, just like a wooden door that seemed to have been leaning against to say that the property was not abandoned. There was no garden, not even a grass, as if the soil refused to bloom in that uninhabitable place.While leaving the car and investigating the neighborhood, I couldn't help but wonder if Becca and her mother didn't go through such homes throughout their lives with that man. It was not difficult to understand that he was sloppy and with a great habit of blaming others for their problems. Not even the mailbox, which was a standard of all the houses around, remained intact and in its usual reddish tone. He shouldn't worry, of course, he didn't receive mail."Mr. Hanson" called Sawyer, covering my side with his escort. “Do you prefer me to call the police instead of going in?”"Are y
"To begin, I don't hate Sophie Smith," Lionel began, making a face by saying the name of his ex-wife. "We were young when we started this relationship. I was finishing high school, it was a handsome boy, and she was handsome too. Anyway, joining two plus two, we were together. On a drunken night, she got pregnant. I had just been approved at one of the best colleges in the country, and she just wanted to play house. Everyone at school knew that Sophie would have no future, and I was too dumb for eating that scrotum and being fucked for it years later, when she punched the laws in my ass and sent me to prison.”"Let me correct" I said in a calm tone, even feeling the hatred leave my vision blurred. "You were too dumb when you assaulted your WIFE AND YOUR DAUGHTER and that's why you had the laws punched in your fat ass, because you deserved it.”Lionel made a gesture with his hand, as if discarding that small correction in his report."So when the child was born, I learned to be a fathe
"Becca, I don't know where exactly you want to go with this suspicion," said Raphael, taking a step away from my bed. "But I'm really just repeating what was said in all the news.”The way he got tense, especially in front of Fred's security guard, told me a lot about his surprise when he realized my mistrust. Well, it wasn't totally mine, because it was Fred who put that suspicion in my head, but in fact there was something very strange about Raphael. Somehow, I thought he would be one of the few who would act with indifference or without much tact. As my best friend, he should be acting worse than my mother.But it could be some need on my part, because he had no obligation to wish my well-being all the time. We were friends, but we distanced ourselves over time, and I needed to remember that."No, Rapha, it's not a suspicion," I said in a gentle tone, indicating to the security guard to sit down again. He obeyed immediately, but kept his dark eyes very attentive to Raphael's moveme
It was too late when Pauline came to get Raphael out of my room. The security guard also left, being replaced by her. It rained very weakly, but it was cold, so Pauline closed the wide windows of the room and sat comfortably in the armchair, reading a book and leaving me silent.I couldn't stop thinking about Fred, assuming he would be upset with me, and that he was even at home, but didn't want to talk. I wasn't really angry when I didn't pay attention to him earlier, but I was in a bad conscience. After the accident, and after the kidnapping, I kept thinking that if I had another opportunity, I would never leave Fred away from me.However, he was already leaving at that moment and didn't even pay much attention to my rebellion, and I was increasingly anxious to know what he had really done in that period of a whole afternoon and half the night. That's when my door was opened and Fred came in, already taking a bath and wearing sweatpants.He was still beautiful, even thin and with in
"Do you remember when I said I had a large number of enemies? "I asked Becca, and she nodded. "Well, we never really got to have this conversation, so I think it's now or never. First of all, I need to remember my past. Back then with my mother, when I was still just a child, she said that my father had been killed by drug debts. I mean, my true father, since every man who crossed her path ended up living with us for a while. And I, like every needy child, thought they could love me too, but everyone was filthy like her. Anyway, it all starts there, when the saying who would be my real father, was a man wanted by traffickers in the neighborhood.”"Was he really an addict? "She asked.“What do you think?”Becca was sorry."It was a terrible childhood, in every way. I'm sorry, Fred.”"Don't feel it yet, I haven't reached the worst part," I warned with a dry smile. "Anyway, after I was rescued from that house, apparently, my father's enemies wanted to throw the debt on my back. Even more
"I still think the police did wrong in picking up Becca's testimony so early," said Madeleine, unwillingly poking an asparagus on her lunch plate. "Isn't everything that happened obvious to them? It's unfair that she has to keep remembering everything just so that they have the confession that the bandits didn't make.”"Without a confession, there is no crime," said Roxanne, sipping from her glass of juice. "They could not remain in prison if Becca did not confirm everything that happened, because they could still claim that they were only in the wrong place and at the wrong time.”Greta, the maid I once noticed was hitting on Fred, came next to me to serve me a little more juice. His behavior was strange, like that of all the others, who used to pretend that I wasn't around when talking about myself, and make expressions loaded with pity when they noticed me somewhere. However, she served me quickly and soon left.Fred, next to me, did not emit any sound, but he was staring at his mo