41 - REFLECTIONS

 41 - REFLECTIONS

Evening was falling. The freshness of the night wind embraced all immensity. Farther away, on the banks of the river, the wind howled through the foliage... that howl that reminds us of the lament of lost souls between the limbo of Purgatory and the Gates of Hell... or Paradise. The mountains, where the sun was hiding, had that red fire, foreshadowing a new hot day, when it dawned again. For the time being, the cool breeze was all the night wanted, to ease the torment of the souls making their way to Charon's barge.

Juvêncio walked along the avenue, deep in thought, thinking about the stories he had heard from Zacarias and Alice. They were different points of view, stories told differently, but they were very similar... if not in their form, in their essence. As far as the Punisher was able to understand, there were once at least five types of supernatural manifestations plaguing that region. But always in a discreet way... so much so that his presence in our world was almost unnoticed. But lately… something wasn't right. Ghostly manifestations were acceptable, up to a point. But one at a time, and without doing the damage they were doing to the lives of people in the region. Of one thing he was sure... someone, somewhere, had summoned the forces of darkness. The big question was...why? Although there was another one, even more important than this one... did the person who opened the portals of Hell have any idea what he really did? Or was she just curious, like the teacher, who even without believing in things beyond her understanding, decided to perform some rite and as a result ended up causing chaos? It was a point to think about... and research. And, at that point, everything pointed that the culprit for things being the way they were could be the teacher... or someone with the same thirst for knowledge as her... curiosity is a good thing... up to a point! After a certain threshold, if you forget to stay safe, it all blows up in your face.

Juvencio had already decided. The next day he would go back to talk to the religious leaders in the region again. Because if anyone had taken a step beyond what was allowed, it would surely have to be one of them... that's right, the teacher was on his list of suspects, too... but more out of curiosity than anything else. He doubted that "touch-me-not" girl would have the courage to perform one of the many rituals required for an undertaking of this nature. No, surely she wouldn't want to get her delicate little hands dirty with the blood of any animal... well, he could be wrong, of course... after all, you can't judge anyone by appearances... well, if she If I had done that nonsense... it wouldn't be easy to undo! Yes, it was better than one of the various pais de santo, pastors, priests and whatever else was responsible for the mess... it would be easier to fix...

Of all the manifestations, the most dangerous were, without a doubt, the "woman in white".... which Juvêncio was sure had nothing to do with the apparition he saw in the river... and the Papafigo... which, from what he had heard the teacher tell, he had been captured, but that an unfortunate accident allowed him to escape. Yes, without a doubt, the body missing from the morgue was responsible for the mysterious deaths that occurred in the vicinity. As for the "woman in white"... well, that one he hadn't been able to understand, yet. It wasn't just any ghost, since it drained the blood from its victims' bodies... he had already heard something about it somewhere, but he couldn't remember where... nor how he could fight this apparition... .as for the Werewolf, at least for the time being he was calm... he still hadn't developed his taste for blood and maybe he never would.... after all, there were several types of these animals and it seemed that this village's really was harmless ... well, that would have to wait for the future.... as for the saci... well, this one only did mischief, so there wasn't much to worry about... the headless mule and the ox-tatá, too no. After all, these two would only be dangerous if someone was unlucky enough to cross their path...

When Juvêncio realized it, he was in front of the village morgue. The doors were open, so he decided to enter. If he was lucky, Dr. Alberto would be there and they could talk a little. He got lucky. Soon the two were installed in the doctor's room and were talking animatedly about various subjects... Juvêncio decided to get to know the doctor a little before going into the subject that really interested him. And he decided that this was not the best place for certain questions he wanted to ask. As it was already late, and neither of them had had dinner yet, Juvencio invited the doctor to accompany him to the Pensão, where they would enjoy a hearty meal. Alberto accepted, after all the conversation with the Delegate was pleasant and he needed to talk to someone who wasn't pressuring him for results or doubting the things he told.... yes, he and Alice were in crisis due to her skepticism in relation to what the doctor told him, and his professional relationship with Duarte was somewhat delicate, because as Duarte needed to deliver something tangible to his superiors, he ended up pressuring him to achieve his goals...

As they walked towards the Pensão they came across Alice, who was walking with Sofia, her professional colleague... both worked at the school in the village. When Juvêncio greeted the girls, Alice held Juvêncio's hand a little longer than expected. And she looked at him intently. Juvencio was a little disconcerted, but soon recovered. Alberto didn't notice, because everything lasted a split second. The two boys invited the girls to join them for the meal, which they readily accepted, and off they went, the four of them, walking down the lane, happily talking about everything and nothing, happy just to be alive and enjoying another day that had passed. it had been amazing in their lives...