Decision

I was at   the newspaper building, where I used to work as a journalist.

That specific day, I was working on a village slaughtering caused by  ruthless narcos : they have burnt the bodies alive, women and children included.

But they did not like it, as I  divulged  the  names of some narco  leaders in the last issue of the newspaper, something not new at all,  as the majority of the inhabitants of that little town depended direct or indirectly on them, the narcos.

-         You are a dead man ¡ -  it was written in my  wall, in social  media.

-         Sure I am – nodding a bit, in order to relief my runaway instinct , the one that triggered the necessity of facing the unavoidable danger, as I knew I should not revealed anything , despite the ethical code.

So, that same day – don’t ask me the exact moment of the day , cause I don’t remember, I took the gun that I have in the safe of my office.

-         Are you running away ¿ - asked the secretary

-         I have to. They will certainly be here st any moment. You better leave right now

That was true, because half an hour later

 Four  gangsters got into the legendary press building, shouting and controlling the single policeman we had on duty.

My heartbeat  could be felt in my stomach, making it move faster and faster accelerated.

My eyes, bulged as it should do.

-         It is now or never – I said, punching the table I was sitting at, while showing my teeth like dogs do she they are ready   to fight.

But when I saw their  height and weighed their strength, I imagined myself buried, with flowers candles and my wife - the one that I had never had, crying rivers  near  my coffin.

No way ¡ - pictured the future I was supposed to have and really not enjoying it – I decided to trun away.

Setting I left my office, going to the elevator.

But its floor indicated were telling me that they were going up.

Floor by floor.

-         Should I stay or should I run away ¿

The second choice is the logic one.

But the floor indicator, stopped.

In my floor.

I caught a glimpse of  it, waiting for the guard, to save me.

But when the door opened, they were there,  with their masked faces and  machine guns in their hands.

-         This is it – I said, hiding myself behind the plant vase near the pillar of the building.

Fortunately, they went straight to the corridor in front if them,where they started to open the doors of all offices – that is what I thought

Therefore, one if them remained, behind the wall of the elevator.

And he saw me.

-         Oh, dear ¡ - I  exclaimed , taking my gun never used before out of  my pocket.

Time to work , babe.

So, I triggered the gun.

And shoot him once.

I do not know exactly what  came next, but I could only see me running away in the elevator, still opened.

My eyes bumped into the  guard.

-         - Four  narcos are inside this building – I told him - Run after them! – I demanded, taking the first cab I saw in the street, while  the police went  after them, to the jungle.

I was absolutely convinced that   

they wanted to hunt me.

A  lightning falling from heaven   called my attention to the sky.

The torrential rain puddled to erase its deep, steaming cracks of heat and hate immersed in the  yellowish flowers set at the entrance of the jungle.

-         devil’s fault! For sure – I exclaimed , certain  about its origin and sure  that  the raindrops falling on my hat  were  not going to kill me nor my last  decision about guilt . This is not the point. It is only a different point of view, a

Afterall, what is so  wrong about showing something all of us knew?

Revenge ¿ of what ¿

Is it the pursue we are not allowed to have, in the name of a  justice, always linked to corruption   

Whatever.

I raised my head :

-           the clouds are still gray and heavy. When is it going to calm down ¿ - I asked,  imagining  that maybe it would be better not to stop raining, as they would be gazing for me so I could get some time  advantage  due to  the rain.

 They will have to stop the hunting somewhere.

Afterall,  everybody in this town knows about it.

I just wrote names everybody knows about.

They are frightening me without reason.

Nonsense!

Of course it would be  better for me to  shoot  them  again if I had the chance.

Lost – repeating the word in  order to convince myself by

 loosing my eyes in the narrow cliff I was about to.pass through .

But if I take that narrow path, between those huge rocks, i will find I shelter, or a hide.

Suddenly, a sunray blocked the view

 Finally ¡ The rain is calming down, it is already passing .Now, I can get out this branch where I have been standing for more than half an hour in such a waste of time ¡

 However, the tree branches began to move, according to the wind I had never seen before.

How is it possible that these branches started to move out of nowhere ¿ - I wondered just because.

 I  stretched my neck to look   up  , figuring out what I could find .

But I have seen nothing, as the branches of the trees were covering my vision,  and  making my hat  fall in the mud.

Damn! – I  muttered  at the mud, taking the hat  I cannot use this hat  anymore. This is the only one I have –  getting really mad about that little thing.

So, I decided to leave the hat hanging on the same branch during the run away under  I think the same trees.

-         It will dry and I will get you back.

I walked two or three trees ahead and climbed up a tree again, so maybe, I would be able to get some information about the real situation in there.

.

 Was it a mountain cat or maybe them – raising  his head to examine the surroundings.

-         A bird. A lost raindrop. A fallen leaf. That is what I see: nothing

I better  I go up to see exactly what it is ..

 There is only this little  green parrot  flying, there is also wind - he thought.

 Yet I heard voices coming from far awa

 ?are they?

 So, I  divised a group.of people, dressed in military uniforms, walking in the jungle.

 It's them, and my heart started to shoot.

 They would be close, moving the branches, because there was no footprints  in the mud

-         My hat! , - I thought remembering that I had left it hanging in that branch

-          They probably grasped  it and now they have it.

Now, they ate  jumping over that fallen logs, covering their heads with their hands.

 It was them –  opening my eyes already frozen in fear , as I thought that they could kill me in no time.

 - What are you doing here, guns in hands ? Will they want to hunt me? - I  thought, breath ragged and and my stomach twisted inside me, making me  cold  sweat on the single thought   that they could catch me.

Torture me, leaving the kids I  had never had, orphans.

That  tree was like hunting elephants, with one shot it is killed. And I am the pink elephant : a rare edition- so I immediately came down from the tree.

And now? – I asked myself, without getting an answer

I took in  all around me, and perceived  nothing but trees.

-         Well, maybe I can hide myself here for a moment.

So,  I entered the jungle.

 Between two trees I spotted a covered entrance

 The  cave  was not very big. But it had fenda, stones, a few small bats, wild mice, and many spiders.

 I found some large stones and atlases behind a stone that covered a gap, I heard his voices approaching:

 "How much will they pay us?" Asked the peasant with a wet hat,  turning paway from a drop of rain that dripped in front of him to the corner of his eye, blocking his vision.

 -When we catch him, replied the chief, better accommodating the blue plastic backpack that he had on his back, stepping with his face to continue among the molles that was ahead.

 Each of them cut the strained lianas from the trees with machetes, making a way and stirring each fallen tree leaf with their eyes, sniffing like dogs and silently to find a breath a

 The men goggled at each other.

 Falling rain hid his footsteps.

 I  grasped  him fix his hat, step-by-step.

 He dries  the sweat with the brown sleeve of his shirt that I imagine gun diary was white that fell off, the chief's eyes passed over a stone that concealed an entrance tilted by two trees.

 The chief perceived at the entrance: there were traces of fallen tree leaves

 He threw a stone at the rest of the group, who immediately turned back.

 They spoted at the chief who was pointing to the entrance.

 They were surrounded the trees and the stone.

 The entrance to the grotto was dark and with water covering their sandals.

 The leader took a flashlight out of his backpack, covering it so as not to make a noise

 He turned her on.

 At first, his flashlight only illuminated the cracked walls, covered by cobwebs and some bats hidden in the ceiling woke up, taking flight.

 My hands did not want to detach from the walls.

 I  was getting closer and closer.

 I was visibly  petrified, without being able to contract my muscles, hoping to become invisible.

 Until the flashlight hit a shadow.

 My soles   stung me, and if I scratched I would make noise - and they would surely find me.

 Or rather, I was shaking as a whole.

 The leader, who carried the lantern in his right embrace and leaned against the wall of the grotto, shook his head in the direction of the shadow.

 . The others, nodding affirmatively, dispersed inside the grotto, one going to the left and the other two to the right, while the leader silently removed a pistol from his backpack, placing the flashlight in his mouth.

 We are armed and there are four of us. Do you give up or do you prefer to be hunted? asked the leader.

 I started to break out in a cold sweat.

 I am forty  a bit  overweight and a shiny bald head, my eyes coming out of orbit as I do not want to be killed – and I guess nobody wants – so,  my  jaws were tightly closed.

 The stiff legs did not allow me to move my step to get out from behind the fence where my body was compressed and sweating until my tongue seemed stuck in my teeth.

-          My glasses are slipping from my nose, "I'm going to lose them," he thought.

-         They kept talking, this time closer:

-         How much did you say it was?

-         One hundred thousand  dollars .

-          ?For each one ?

 Yes.

 "Surely it must be the value of what they are going to gain if they catch me," he thought, trying to balance me in that gap.

 Until I dropped them, among the dried feces of the bats.

 It is my end, I sentenced, trembling.

 The leader, upon hearing the noise of the lens falling, realized that he was right at his feet. She picked it up, reaching out with his hairy arm to lift it up.

 -? Is this lens yours? The leader asked me, opening up that glasses were my main tool for writing articles in the newspaper where he worked.

 The leader approached them to me, as if to give them back.

 And instinctively, I reached out to receive the lens.

 Well. So come pick it up, he told me with a sarcastic smile on his face.

 And he brought it down, stomping on and destroying my glasses.

 The other members came out of the shadows and without any effort, they grabbed me, so fast, that I could not understand the scaring  reality.

 At that very moment, I felt a club hit in my head.

 I lost consciousness.

 I woke up in a kind of dungeon, without shaking my hands,  but   making  out a hot liquid  sliding in   my legs and arms.

 I could  not talk, nor communicate myself by anu means, creating the sensation that the world had never existed., fading its experiences.

 But with my tongue, I began to realize that I had a loose tooth, ready to fall out.

 My breath hitched, as it should be.

There was something over my nose, that could not make me  breath properly.

-         It sucks ¡ - I said, realizing  that I  was wearing  an oxygen mask

 The steam that came out of the mask dull  my senses, without losing them.

 I looked over, and managed to see a hanging leg. "Could it be mine?" - asking  still dumbfounded.

 The bed in that room overlooked the window from where you could see the cars crossing in the distributor, the people walking from one side to the other.

 I would like to be with those people- I thought,  when  a girl in white entered the room, carrying a tray in her hand.

 Time for the medicine, she told me.

 I was in a hospital room.

Alive.

A decision that I will never regret taking.