Eden did not have keys to enter her parent's house and without a mobile phone with which to call her father, she could only go to the bar where her mother worked. She wasn't very far away, and she could at least wait for her shift to finish with a drink.
-What can I give you, beautiful?
- A tea, Johnny- she smiled softly at the waiter, her mother's companions had always been too affectionate
- Hey, honey, do you want me to tell Mary?
-No, don't worry, I'll wait for her to come out- she picked up a newspaper and began to look at it, maybe she could find something there
Very calmly she was drinking the tea, searching every page of the newspaper as if she were going to find the answer to the greatest mystery of humanity, but as she expected there was absolutely nothing relevant in any of the news.
Soccer, lotteries, rent increases, the inauguration of a new school, and the few news that were "from outside" spoke of Barcelona and little else, and did not even contribute anything to the search.
She barely had a sip of her drink left when she saw her mother come out of the kitchen.
- Oh, honey! I thought you would be at home resting- they both hugged leaving the bar
- Mom, I need to talk to you seriously- she felt her throat get dry with each word
- I knew this was going to happen- her cheerful face turned gloomy- But I didn't want it to be so soon
They both headed back to the house, each fearing what they knew was not going to be a conversation.
Deep inside, Eden had dreamed that her return would be different, she would have arrived and when crossing the airport doors she would meet her partner, waiting for her there, with some chocolate bars for her, they would hug and kiss and most likely she would cry feeling silly, both would have returned home, would have put a movie on Netflix and would have gone to bed to end up hugging catching up on everything that happened during the year.
Yet there she was, sitting in her parents' kitchen with her mother standing in front, waving her hands erratically
-Mom, today I went to the train station, I wanted to go home, but half of the stops no longer exist, what happened this year? What do you know about Alek? - her heart sank when she named her partner
-Eden, believe me, it's not easy for me to tell you either, I don't even know where to start
-Maybe starting from the beginning helps you- She knew her tone was blunt, but her parents used to be elusive when the subject bothered them
-It all started about a year ago- her mother sighed- in March, I think I remember, a lot of people started to get sick, they thought it had been another strain of flu or something like that- she got up and had a cup of coffee- the doctors worked days and night but they didn't know exactly where it had come from, what the symptoms were, what the incubation period was, everything was a mystery. There were people who presented the same symptoms as influenza A, others an acute gastroenteritis, and all like that- she sat down in front of her daughter again- the first cases were in Portugal, but it spread at a scary speed- her mother was thoughtful
-And ... what happened? - She began to scratch her thigh trying to calm her nerves, she did not understand where her mother wanted to tell her
-A quarantine was established, no one could travel outside their province, by May it was impossible to leave the city. The virus was mutating, the infected people were becoming very violent ... God, it looked like a horror movie. Eden, they went crazy, attacked others ...- she sighed again looking at infinity as if she were reliving what happened
- Mom, what else ... Alek ...- a tear came from his eyes, she couldn't ask
-People were getting infected too fast, in June the armed forces entered, the "healthy" people were evacuated to the unaffected cities and everything else was completely closed- Eden understood then the large number of people she had seen on the streets - For July, the government decided to take drastic measures with the few infected that remained in healthy cities and thus "everything was forgotten" - her mother frowned - the president hid all news of what happened beyond the barriers, and no more has been known, people are happier like this
- Happier?! But mom that's impossible. What happened to Alek? What drastic measures? There was no damn vaccine ?! - Eden screamed desperately
-They were zombies, Eden! - her mother hit the table spilling some of her coffee- God knows I don't believe in monsters or ghosts! but ... those people ...- she covered her face with her hands- The last call we had from Alek was in May, we never heard from him again, we went to look at the evacuees lists, we looked for him in all of them. ..
-Don't
-Dear...
-Don't! no, no, no, no- the young woman began to deny over and over again hugging herself while digging her nails into her arms trying to stay in reality- It can't be, he can't ...
-Sorry honey- her mother hugged her- I'm sorry
- I have to go look for him, he may have locked himself somewhere ...- she looked everywhere with wild eyes
- Eden, he's gone, you can't go, a year ago...- he grabbed her by both arms trying to get her back
-I don't give a shit if it's been a year or a thousand, Alek can't be dead, I know, I can feel it, and I'm going