01

That was one of my favorite days, considering the heavy rain and the cold, it was always my favorite weather. I loved feeling the wind blow hard against my face making my hair sway. I liked the idea of shivering from the cold. Since I completed my fifteen years, I noticed in myself the desire and interest in things that many considered bad. Like rainy and cold days, horror movies and drawing destroyed landscapes instead of beautiful things.

But when my life completely changed, I was eighteen. I lived with my grandmother forever, I never felt rejected or inferior to anyone. Some people even considered me antisocial, for having only two friends, Olivia and João. But I didn't care, those two were worth more than the entire school and neighborhood.

That day I woke up with a headache from having had a strange dream; my mother and father would come up to me and place two kisses on my forehead and disappear. What I found most strange was that I could see their faces, they were so beautiful and they looked happy. I really wanted to know about them and what had happened, but my grandmother Florence never wanted to tell me anything. I just agreed and didn't talk about it anymore, her love filled me up and I never missed a mother and father.

During the entire afternoon of the previous day, and already in the morning, the only thing on TV was about a maniac who escaped from the asylum. They said he was a danger to society and that he had killed his wife and their two baby children, soon after he murdered the whole family, mother, father and three brothers, it took some time to be caught and when he did, they found out that he had already raped and killed twelve girls between the ages of seventeen and eighteen.

The only thing they didn't disclose was his name or photo. They were convinced that before fleeing, the man had destroyed everything about him, photos and documents. They were waiting for the doctors who attended him to make a sketch and start spreading it around the city. Surely he had gotten help, it was not possible for a person declared to be mentally ill to plan all this alone.

"Good morning daughter." My grandmother received me smiling in the kitchen. She was drinking coffee and offered me a full cup afterwards. Without coffee I simply did not exist.

"Good morning grandma." I never stopped calling her grandma, she spoiled me so much that sometimes -mostly- I still felt like a little girl. "Thank you for the coffee." I said taking a sip. It was very sweet, just the way I loved it.

"Don't forget to bring money to put credit on your cell phone." She said as she bit into a piece of bread.

"I already told Grandma, I don't have anyone to call. When I need to I call Liv or João collect." I grumbled taking another sip of coffee.

"What about me? I'm nobody then." I smile at her drama. My grandmother was not an old woman, she was a very pretty crown, in her fifties.

"Of course not. You mean everything to me. But you always call me, so there's no need. Seriously." I explained and she shrugged.

"You who knows Eloise." She answered seriously and opened a newspaper that was on top of the chair next to her.

The truth was, I liked being called. I didn't want them to have a reason why I had to call, I was too afraid to bother people. Even my best friends and my grandma.

"Anything new about the maniac?" I asked curiously. The city he had fled to was right next to ours, I was a little scared.

"Still the same things. They say he ran away with the white clothes from there and he's all in tatters. Daughter, be careful when you're coming back from school, take the fast bus and come home as soon as you finish class, okay?" My grandmother said with a worried look.

"It's okay grandma. I hope Lucas fixes my bike soon, I can't take the bus anymore." I exclaimed. Lucas was a mechanic here in the neighborhood, my bike had been with him for two days. It had punctured the tire and dented the inner tube. "It's time for me. I'm going."

"Go with God and be careful!" I kissed her and left.

With my backpack on my back and school clothes, I headed to the bus stop near my house. The rain had calmed down a bit, but it was still very cold, luckily this time I didn't forget my coat. I looked at my cell phone and there was no signal. Excellent. I also looked at the time and I had been at the stop for ten minutes and the bus I always took was late.

"Damn it, I can't be late. I have a test in the first period!" I exclaimed quietly irritated.

With so much delay I decided to walk, the school was twenty minutes away from home and if I had walked from the beginning, I would have almost arrived.

Taking long steps and being afraid of the street, which was quite deserted, I managed to arrive five minutes late. I asked for permission and the teacher let me in, with an ugly face but he was not an executioner teacher, and he knew the importance of that test for me. I looked around and I didn't see Olivia or João. I didn't believe they were missing and didn't warn me.

I took my test calmly, I thought I had done well. Classes passed like slugs. From inside the school we could hear the heavy rain falling outside. When the bell finally rang for us to leave.

I opened my small umbrella, hugged my backpack with one arm so as not to get wet, as the rain was very heavy. And I ran to the bus stop. I just hoped that this time it wouldn't be long, I couldn't wait to get home and crawl under the covers. The wind was almost taking me along with my umbrella, I was banging my chin nonstop and my lips were frozen with the cold it was.

I looked around and all the students had already gone to their homes, there was only me there at that bus stop alone, once again, waiting for the fucking bus. The heavy rain made many puddles of water and mud on the ground.

Distracted by my thoughts, I must have been there for more than ten minutes, freezing and fighting the wind that wanted to carry me away. A speeding car passed in front of me and emptied a large puddle of dirty water on me.

I was so furious at the time. Coupled with the fright I took and the cold I was feeling, having to fight for the wind not to break my umbrella, I let out a scream of rage. Without thinking, I did something my grandmother had always told me was wrong and I should never do.

"Motherfucker! Are you blind?" I was so angry. Now I was all dirty and all wet. Furious, I threw the umbrella away and started walking towards my house.

And the idiot hadn't even stopped, at least to apologize and say that he didn't mean to. But there was no way, because it wasn't, the street was too big for that person to go right over the puddle in front of me.

"I hope your car breaks down!" I raged.

My face was burning with anger. If before I was cold and my lips were freezing, now they were burning. I've always been a sensitive person who cried for nothing, and at that moment I started to cry with rage. Treading hard and taking long steps, I started to walk home.

Walking non-stop, in the distance I saw the same car that got me dirty, parked on the side of the road. It was time, I would go there and take satisfaction with that or that rude and insensitive person. I walked towards the car. When I got close I knocked hard on the thick and completely dark glass, it hurt my wrist.

When the window slowly lowered, all my strength and desire to curse and fight fell to the ground. There was a man inside, perfect blue eyes, night-black hair and stubble. He looked twice my age and had a scar near his eyebrow. Immediately when I laid eyes on him, I felt something inexplicable, I couldn't put it into words, I had never felt it before.

My face got hotter than it already was, my heart raced, my body shivered, and I felt dizzy. It was like a wave of heat and a strange shock coursed through my bloodstream. The man was so beautiful, I couldn't say a single word. My mouth opened several times and nothing came out. Several strange thoughts automatically started running through my head. That man touching and kissing my body.

But what the fuck was happening to me? I had never seen that man in my life.