Estelle & Salvador

chapter 6

Salvador didn't know what he had expected, but the next morning, nothing had changed. Estelle still avoided looking at him, still never acknowledged his existence, as she went about preparing breakfast with her aunt and then setting it down to eat.

If anything, he felt like she was even more detached than usual. It affected him in no way, only that he was finding her more and more interesting with every passing day. He was slowly getting lost, trying to figure out how she works, how her mind functions, because there was no one else like her.

"Today is your first day, so I don't think they're going to ask you to do any heavy tasks today. They'll mostly focus on teaching you what you have to do on the farms," Aunt Felicity said as she rummaged around the Kitchen, cleaning it up before leaving, "You should observe carefully, even though they will assist you along the way too. I'm sure they'll take care of you."

Salvador nodded, "I'll do my best, Aunt Felicity. Don't worry."

She smiled, and then went back to working. Estelle was lost in thoughts as she sat on the chair right in front of him, twirling the fork in her small hands. Her eyes were distant as she stared at the wall, sighing as she then looked down.

"We should get going now," Aunt Felicity said, wearing her hat and then coming to kiss Estelle on the forehead, as she smiled up at her aunt, "Take care of yourself, okay?"

She nodded, and then as Aunt Felicity walked out of the house, he slowly followed behind, looking back only once to find her eyes on him. He smiled, waving, "Goodbye, Estelle."

She was quiet as he closed the door behind him, but as he moved a few steps away, he could swear he heard her faint, faded voice saying, "Goodbye, Salvador."

The door shut close, and Estelle counted exactly to twenty-five. She stayed still, hearing for their fading footsteps, and when she was sure that they were gone, she stood up and ran towards her room, her bare feet banging against the wooden floor.

The room was the tidiest thing in the world, as usual, with his bag tucked in one corner, and the rest of the room almost bare. She looked over at the wall, where the map of the world was pasted, and slowly walked towards it.

She lost track of time as she started reading the names of the places she had never known existed. She read the names out loud, smiled to herself, and then continued reading more. She had no idea if she was even pronouncing them right, but she didn't care.

The thing which seemed to surprise her the most was the amount of water, the area that all the oceans covered. It was almost as if all the land was just a cluster of islands in the middle of the water. Somehow, she found it not intriguing but dreadful.

She stepped back and sat onto the bed then, sighing. She could imagine herself flying over all of these countries, all of these places, watching them. Observing the diversity, the beauty.

What would the people think of her if she ever stepped out of Greyton? Would they love her, or would they think she was weird? Who would she go with? How would she?

All of the questions overcrowding her mind seemed to exhaust her in a way she had never experienced. But then she realised it wasn't exhaustion. It was anger and frustration, building inside her brain at how impossible the idea of her ever being able to step out of this village was.

How stupid it was for her to hope for something she would never be getting. How naive of her to think she'd be just free all of a sudden to go anywhere she wanted to. How inconsiderate of her to not think about her aunt.

With every passing second, she envied Salvador even more and more, which was good. She felt good envying him, because she didn't want to like him. It was hard not to because of how he kept smiling all the time. It was hard because he kept looking at him with fascination filled in his eyes.

When she thought about any other human besides her aunt, all she could imagine were monsters. Scary, waiting for the time when they can take advantage of her. Humans, inconsiderate of others, only thinking about themselves. But Salvador seemed to be none of those.

She didn't like it at all.

Huffing out a breath, she walked towards her bookshelf and took out a few books to take them to her aunt's room, so that she'd have something to do while Salvador was at home.

But looking back at the map, she remembered what he'd said. That she didn't need to step out of her room to wander.

Maybe she could just look at the map, imagine herself being there. Maybe she could... try.

Shaking her head, she walked into her aunt's room and closed the door behind her.

Her aunt had taught her a word one day. Devastation.

Maybe this is what it felt like.