A bell rings in the cemetery

On the afternoon of February 1st, everyone was talking about the death of the monster child. Many testified that his adoptive parents left him to starve, but others dared to claim that he was murdered. One of his neighbors said she heard screams coming from the Caraballo's house that resembled those of a child crying out for mercy. She also said that she did not dare to go out of fear.

Countless versions of Jonah's death were formed, all different and each worse than the last. However, there was something that united them all, the hypocrisy, the false sorrow, and concern that was expressed by all those in that cursed town when they spoke of the child that they rejected from his birth until his death.

On the morning of February 1st, Felicia Caraballo felt a terrible smell coming from Jonah's room, at first she tried to ignore it, but the bad smell spread all over the house. She climbed the steps furiously, ready to hit Jonah. When she opened the door, Jonah was in a fetal position in a corner of the room. She began to yell rudely at him to get him up, but the boy remained motionless.

Felicia Caraballo decided to approach him slowly and with fear. She bent down beside him and carefully touched him. He was as stiff as a stick and cold as death, which had come for him a day ago. Mrs. Caraballo was so frightened that she screamed and fell backward. The poor woman could no longer stand up, her fatness preventing her from doing so. She lay there on the floor crying with rage because she would have to stay next to that corpse bearing its filthy smell.

"Even dead, you are ruining my life".

Mr. Gustavo, who had gone to buy bread, returned almost immediately and ran up the stairs, frightened by his wife's screams. When he saw her lying down, he helped her up, and without letting his wife speak, he began to kick Jonah, thinking that he had tried to hurt her. As expected, Jonah did not react, but Mr. Gustavo did not realize this until his wife told him he was dead.

"Ah," was the only thing Gustavo said. Without saying anything he went to the village in search of a coffin for the boy. He only spoke to the owner of the funeral home, and this was enough to make the whole town aware of Jonah's death, besides which many saw him walking home with the coffin on his shoulder. I would like to say that deep down, the Caraballo couple felt compassion for Jonah or that they were saddened even a little by his death, but I would be lying. Felicia and Gustavo Caraballo only felt relief.

When Gustavo comeback he tried to put Jonah in a straight position, but he couldn't make it. It seems that his muscles were contracted. He took off his clothes and asked his wife to clean him, who refused outright, so Jonah and his twin Alma remained naked lying on the ground with their faces serene, until the evening when his body came out of rigor mortis. It was then that Mr. Gustavo put back the dirty robe he had and put it in the coffin. Together with a group of people waiting outside the house, they went to the cemetery with feigned sadness. Among the crowd was Alfredo, one of the people responsible for Jonah's death. He didn't dare raise his head during the whole journey cause he wanted to hide his mocking smile.

They arrived at the cemetery, and without saying a prayer threw the coffin into the hole. As was the custom in those times, they tied a thread in Jonah's hand, which went up to the outside and was tied to a bell. That way, if Jonah wasn't dead, he would ring the bell and be dug up. They did this to keep up appearances, it was clear that if that bell rang no one would come to the aid of the poor boy who had been buried alive. Soon everyone left the cemetery laughing, leaving behind grief they never felt.

The cemetery was cold, it seemed that the freezing temperature of the corpses influenced the climate of that gloomy place. Nobody likes to go to the cemetery, even though it is the almost obligatory dwelling of every living being and somehow the best option when you die. If your body doesn't lay in a Cemetery, it means you succumbed in a very tragic way, and your body couldn't be found.

No one expected it, no one wanted it, but that night, the same night that Jonah was buried, a bell rang. Once, twice, three times, until the ringing seemed not to stop, and it was impossible to know when a ringing began or ended. It was barely eight o'clock at night when the bell started ringing. Everyone in the village was terrified by that incessant sound because they knew where it came from, and they also knew what they had done. They were afraid that this monster was alive and wanted revenge.

"Help! Get me out of here!" Yelled Jonah in despair when he realized he was locked up. He wanted to keep screaming, but he was short of breath and knew he wouldn't last two seconds if he started screaming. Disoriented and with his cheeks wet from the tears he was shedding, he noticed a thread on his wrist and that as he moved it, he could hear a faint tinkle in the distance. Discovering a possibility of escape from there, Jonah began to move his arm with all his strength to the sides. Nothing happened, no matter how hard that little boy tried to get someone to listen to the sound of the bell, he couldn't get anyone interested in helping him.

Completely crazed, he began kicking and tearing the coffin. He didn't know what was happening to him. He didn't even know that people were locked in a wooden box when they died. That's why he was so disconcerted and had such a hard time understanding what was really going on. He prayed, as he always did, to that good God everyone talked about, but who had never helped him.

He thought maybe this time he would, but he could only feel a warm breath on his neck, it was his sister Alma, who was also feeling the ravages of shortness of breath and was giving one of her first signs of life. However, everything seemed to indicate that she would die before she lived. Jonah, feeling his sister's agony, couldn't take it anymore and let out a heart-rending cry, which little by little became extinct just like his young life.

When Jonah woke up it was daytime, and he was still in the cemetery, lying next to an open grave and an empty coffin. He immediately knew that this had been the prison where he had been imprisoned. Before asking himself any questions, he put two fingers under Alma's nose to see if she was still breathing, and when he saw that she was not, he was disappointed.

Jonah concluded that this had been the product of being locked up and that he had imagined everything. He was still lying on the floor, unable to get up when he felt a presence, something touched him on the head and froze his whole body. He got up quickly and turned around to see a young woman of perfect proportions, porcelain-tanned skin, and hair so red it looked like she was on fire. The girl smiled at him as no one had ever smiled before, with true kindness.

"Hello, Jonah," said the girl and kissed his cheek.

"Hello," replied Jonah, unable to react. I have never been treated well by anyone, much less caressed.

"I have come to help you. If you come with me, you will never suffer again," said the girl, still with a smile on her pink lips.

"Where would we go?" Asked Jonah, in awe, and still without any idea of how to react.

"To the place of your dreams, that place you have always wanted to go to. The only place where you will feel good and be accepted for your faults."

"To a circus," said Jonah cautiously, uncertainly.

"That's right. What do you say, Jonah?" Asked the young woman.

"Who are you?" Asked Jonah, surprised that the stranger knew one of his deepest desires.

"Someone you have been calling."

"The Devil," said Jonah, his voice was choppy.

"No," said the girl with a mocking smile.

" God?" Asked the boy with his eyes wide open

"This is real life, kid. I am Lucifer."