The Infierno

Heart?

The poor hopeful man is abandoned. His mind sails through the few memories he has, none among them like when he was in Apanohuaya with his faithful Shih Tzu, named Alfred by Batman's butler. Heart thought the Dark Knight was capable of anything with money. He dreamed of getting lost one day and being rescued by him, so he could regain mobility in his legs and create a cure for all his illnesses, or at least provide the necessary care for a child like him. If he could adopt five children, why not him?

     Upon arriving at Mictlan, he didn't get excited when he realized he could stand on his legs, he became filled with emotion upon seeing that old dog full of vitality. Barking energetically as he did in life, he was able to recognize the adult man, both him and Alfred, they didn't care how much they had been separated, they finished the game they left in life. Alfred finally returned the little branch he threw in the park.
     —What are you thinking? —the doctor asks. —You seem pretty invested on it.
     —Alfred, my dog, gave me this tree branch but I lost it in the desert WAIT! —he shouts to interrupt himself and his lamentations. He searches in his back pocket, there it is, it returned to him just like his clothes did, his eyes fill up with tears a bit and burn like they did in life. —Alfred waited for me for like ten years. I miss him so much. How can you not miss the only one who understood you?

     —Now you say you were to the Mictlan, I feel hopeless, I've been waiting so much too.

     —For whom?

     —The man who died in my arms —he sighs and his eyes replicate those of the man sitting in front of him, listening carefully —. I was in the trench when I saw him on the ground. I thought he was firing, but he was motionless. I froze as I turned him over and felt his last breaths as my hands filled with his blood. Someone called for my help and I did nothing! The man I love was dead, what else was I supposed to do?

     —You did nothing wrong, seeing a person die must be the worst thing in the world, especially if it's the person you loved —He probably died in the arms of his beloved, did he feel the same as the doctor? His eyes burn from all the tears he holds in his eyes, why does he only feel this way now? In Mictlan, he was able to remember his life, why does he worry now about his beloved? —I think I died like that.

     —By a bullet?

     —In the arms of the man I love. Do you think he is here already?

     —I don't know. My man isn't here and I've been waiting around sixty years. I'm feeling so tired, really falling apart.

     He falls silent as the man full of love cries, what assures him that Tony is still alive if he wakes up from his three-year rest? How will his return be if he manages to escape from hell? He imagines waking up in a hospital just as bright, Tony is sleeping by his side, and he hears his loud snores again. His eyes burn from the whiteness of the room and not from the tears of pain, what assures him that Tony waited for him for three years?

     —Do you think he's waiting for you?

     —Oh, absolutely —he asserts through tears. —I won't be able to remember anything, but I know that this feeling of loss is on both sides.

     —What if he's in paradise, or Mictlan? He was a soldier, innit? It could be in Valhalla and if Mictlan exists, Tonatiuhichan too —he tries to explain his thoughts with his voice and equally trembling hands.

     —You're not helping, boy —the man interrupts.

     —What I want to say is that it doesn't matter where he is, he's still with you. It's normal to feel tired and falling apart when you're hopeless, I'm just starting to feel this way after three years of being away from him, I can't imagine what it feels like after sixty. You're really, really strong and that keeps you going. He still lives through you and your love, he always will.