Alleviate

10| dez

There was a look of astonishment on his face as he studied my sad expression. But as his eyes softened, and the silence only became louder, I felt a strange feeling build up inside of me. Maybe it was because I was in a cemetery with a sad man who had lost his mother, that I didn't know, or that while everyone back in Villa Mimosa was expecting to be with this man in a bed I was actually sitting next to him on the ground of a cemetery, having him share his sadness.

"There is so much of suffering around us, everywhere. In the favelas, the red light districts, even in the house of the rich. I talked to you last week, showing me how exposed you were to such impurity. And at your age, it made me wonder how you dealt with life, especially since it was fear that commanded all your actions. Now that I have learnt that there was also the loss of your mother involved, I can't fathom how difficult everything is for you."

I stared at the grass that my fingers played with. "My mother is alive, but she had left that day."

He shifted from the angle from which he had been staring at me by moving his head a little to the right, and cleared his throat. "Camilla, when I bought you food and I saw how deprived you were, it made me happy to see you eat. Because to feel a wave of comfort pass through you even if it was for a short time, was as if that wave of comfort passed through me too."

I stayed silent and continued to pluck the the grass; many of the things that he had said kept me from saying anything. The sudden warmth in his tone and his seemingly understanding of my fear and sorrows was all too vague for me to comprehend; best to act indifferent, was what I told myself. I looked up to see that the sky was greying, and dark clouds were rolling by, painting the warning of a heavy rain.

"It looks like it's going to rain, let's go home."

He stood up and dusted himself before reaching out his hand towards me. I looked at it, but decided to avoid his hand as holding anyone's hand but Anika's was strange to me. I merely stood up and acted like his gesture never happened. He didn't say anything but let out a sigh before walking towards the car.

He didn't live too far from the cemetery. It was where the roads were shadowed by trees and silence administered the area. It was a peaceful place, where normalcy seemed to be theme of this part of town. Unlike Villa Mimosa, this place was upmarket and had a completeness to it. It wasn't rugged, or worn down by the trial of time neither did it carry the bitterness of the people who resided there.

There was a big, white gate and a huge lawn that was sprawled all around the house, except for the driveway. The grass brushed the porch, which was three stairs leading to the main door. It was a large house, however, it projected simplicity. There was ivy growing on the sides of it, where the green of the plant went against the white colored house. It looked elegant in appearance, which was the polar opposite of my current home and my previous one.

On reaching the gate, Athelio stopped the car and looked at me.

"This is where I live, and where you will be living for the next five days. It was my father's old home, before I inherited it," he paused for a moment,"Camilla, could you open the gate?"

I nodded, and slowly got outside the car. As soon as the gate opened I could hear the barking of a dog that surprised me, making me jump. Admittedly, I was becoming even more scared as the barking increased and my eyes darted around the place to search for the source of the sound.

Athelio got out from his car with a big smile, before whistling towards the house. I saw a dog bolt out of the smaller door which was cut from the main door, and that was when my fear dissipated. The bark was not ferocious in the least, neither was the dog. It was an excited and happy animal bounding about the place, extremely glad to see Athelio.