A long line of people
"Earthquake , earthquake" - and all the people started to run. The boy, who was with his mother and his aunt Alcira, grabbed their hands and let himself be carried away by the tidal wave of people running desperately through the aisles of the airport. In the flight, the boy lost one of his new shoes, one that his dad had bought him for the trip:
"Take good care of them! Don't play soccer with them!" - His father had told him, and he had promised him that he would listen to him. So when he saw that his left foot was bare, without shoes, he got out of his mother's hand and went back to look for them, but the wave of people closed his way and he felt short of breath and just stood there paralyzed, with his eyes closed.
"Mom, Aunt Alcira! Mom, Aunt Alcira!" -he shouted at the top of his lungs, fearful that they had left him and the women had traveled without him. At that moment he saw that Aunt Alcira was in one of the rows and ran to her:
"Where had you got to?" -The aunt asked the boy and ran her hand through her messy hair.
"I went back to look for my lost shoe,” he said, pointing to his bare foot.
"It doesn't matter about the shoe. The important thing is that you stay with me now,” said the aunt and tried to pull the boy into the queue.
"Madam, you can't do that!" -said the person behind her.
"Yes. In any case, let him get to the back of the line,” they all started shouting. The aunt said:
"He is my nephew and he should be with me,” she hugged him to protect him.
"I would have done that before. Not now. What is his number?" -asked the person in front. The aunt looked at his arm and saw that it was number 34:
"Here is an order, madam. I am number 33, you are number 34, and the person behind you is number 35, and so on,” said the person in front of the aunt.
"Did you look for your mom, do you know where she is?" - and the boy shook his head.
"And does the boy have a number?" -asked another person. The boy showed his arm and his skin was clean, unmarked.
"What if I look for whoever is putting the number and then come back?" -the boy asked as if he had come up with the best idea in the world.
"Ok. Go and look for your mother too,” said the aunt, and the boy ran down the row, in the opposite direction to the people who were walking and lost in a forest of yellow and blue leaves. The people advanced slowly and quietly, through the stopped and unreal landscape of bright colors. The boy looked from one side to the other, looking for a familiar face or someone who could dial his arm with a random number.
"He's alive, he's alive!" -They shouted, smiling, and the boy looked at his arm and had no number, no memory of the long line of people walking orderly toward death.
All images are free of charge and the text is my own, translated in Deepl
Thank you for reading and commenting. Until a future reading, friends
Click here to read in spanish
Una larga fila de gente
Lo último que supo fue que alguien gritó:
_Terremoto, terremoto - y toda la gente comenzó a correr. El niño, que estaba con su mamá y con su tía Alcira, lo que hizo fue agarrarles las manos y dejarse llevar por la marejada de gente que corría desesperadamente por entre los pasillos del aeropuerto. En la huida, el niño perdió uno de sus zapaticos nuevos, uno que le había comprado su papá para que hiciera el viaje:
_¡Cuídalos mucho! ¡No juegues al fútbol con ellos! - le había dicho el papá y él le había prometido que le haría caso. Por eso cuando vio que su pie izquierdo quedaba desnudo, sin zapato, se zafó de la mano de la madre y se devolvió a buscarlo, pero la ola de gente le cerró el paso y él se sintió que le faltaba el aire y solo se quedó paralizado, con los ojos cerrados.
Al rato, o en ese mismo momento, vio que todos caminaban hacia un sendero, cuesta arriba, así que sin pensar en el zapato perdido, comenzó a correr por donde estaba la gente y a preguntar por su madre y su tía:
_¡Mamá, tía Alcira! !Mamá, tía Alcira! -gritaba a todo pulmón. En eso vio que la tía Alcira estaba en una de las filas y corrió hasta ella:
_¿Dónde te habías metido? -le preguntó la tía y le pasó la mano por el cabello desordenado.
_Me devolví a buscar mi zapato -le dijo él señalando su pie descalzo.
_Ya no importa el zapato. Lo importante es que no te separes de mí ahora -expresó la tía e intentó meter al niño en la cola.
_¡Señora, no puede hacer eso! -afirmó la persona que venía detrás.
_Sí. En todo caso que se ponga de último -empezaron a gritar todos. La tía dijo:
_Es mi sobrino y debe estar conmigo -lo abrazó para protegerlo.
_Eso lo hubiese hecho antes. No ahora. ¿Cuál es su número? -preguntó la persona que estaba adelante. La tia vio su brazo y vio que era el número 34. Las personas que estaban cerca también vieron el número:
_Aquí hay un orden, señora. Yo soy el número 33, usted es la 34 y la persona que está detrás de usted tiene el número 35, y así sucesivamente -expresó la persona que estaba delante de la tía.
_¿Y ahora cómo hago? -preguntó la tía sin saber qué hacer. Luego miró a su sobrino que tenía la cara de angustia y le preguntó a él:
_¿Buscaste a tu mamá? ¿Sabes dónde está? - y el niño negó con la cabeza.
_¿Y el niño tiene un número? -preguntó otra persona. El niño mostró el brazo y su piel estaba limpia, sin marca.
_¿Y si busco al que esté poniendo el número y luego vengo? -el niño preguntó como si se le hubiese ocurrido la mejor idea del mundo.
_Ok. Ve y busca también a tu madre -dijo la tía y el niño corrió fila abajo, en sentido contrario al caminar de la gente que se perdía en un bosque de hojas amarillas y azules. La gente avanzaba despacio y tranquilamente, a través del paisaje detenido e irreal de colores brillantes. El niño, miraba de un lado a otro, buscando un rostro conocido o alguien que pudiera marcar su brazo con un número cualquiera.
Al final de la fila había una bifurcación sin señales. En un sendero estaba un hombre con un marcador en la mano, cuando el niño iba a tomar esa vía para que le dieran un nui, vio que en la otra senda estaba su zapato tirado en la arena: el zapato nuevo que le había dado su padre. Así que corrió nuevamente para buscarlo y cuando lo tomó sintió un escalofrío tan fuerte en el cuerpo que abrió los ojos. Al abrirlos, su madre y su padre, alrededor de la cama del hospital donde él estaba, dijeron:
_¡Está vivo, está vivo! -gritaron sonriendo y el niño se miró el brazo y no tenía ningún número, ni memoria de la gran fila de gente que había dejado atrás.
A harrowing and mind-blowing story. You showed that dark side of people who become callous when the sense of survival prevails. Good ending. I liked it.
Regards @nancybriti1✨️
Thanks to you, friend, for your comment. Regards
Esta publicación ha recibido el voto de Literatos, la comunidad de literatura en español en Hive y ha sido compartido en el blog de nuestra cuenta.
¿Quieres contribuir a engrandecer este proyecto? ¡Haz clic aquí y entérate cómo!
Muchas gracias por vuestro apoyo, amigos. Saludos
Superb writing!. It was beautiful to read this. Kudos.
Thank you for your comment. It motivates me. Regards
Thank you very much for your appreciation. Happy and honored. Thank you
Congratulations @nancybriti1! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 200000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPThank you for the information
Go for it @nancybriti1! You've got what it takes to reach your new target on Hive.
Wow, I really held my breath with this story at some points. Very good.
That's great. Thanks for commenting
It was an amazing read, I didn't expect this ending, a magnificent twist in the story that gives a special tone to the development of the events. Excellent work.
Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Excellent Saturday.
I love and am honored by your comment, my friend. I hope you have a successful and productive Saturday. Regards
Wow, I love the twist in the story, if he has taken that number, he probably would have been dead. Thank God he went to pick up his shoes
What a very interesting story as I was really able to learn a lot from this
Well crafted storyline.
Good concept and perspective.
Keep to the top-notch performance.
Wow.
This is one of those stories that it takes a moment for it to really hit.
Crazily good b!!
!PIMP
Wow... This is breathtaking. He was requesting for the mark of permanent transitioning to the land of the dead. I never saw the ending coming. Nice story.
Interesting story. The lost shoe was his ticket out of death. Thank God he found it
What a lucky boy survived the search for his shoe. Have a happy afternoon