Luis was terrified and surprised at the same time, hadn't he dropped this book before going to bed? What was it doing on his bed now?
Maybe he had taken it without knowing, he tried to convince himself that there wasn't anything strange going on, but something was going on, he had just had a dream where a book was taken away from a baby.
A baby who was him and a brown book which was the one that he was holding now, but who was that man and woman that walked past him?
He felt a really strong connection when he looked into the eyes of the woman, it was just like his and the man resembled him in every way from the short black hair to the jaws and the nicely constructed lips that were just perfect to make a really breathtaking man.
Luis couldn't make out anything of what the dream meant and was soon fast asleep snuggling up with the brown book.
Luis was woken up by splashes of water all over his body, he knew what he had done wrong and was ready to take the punishment now.
"Idiot" he felt a slap across his face."You have guts" she pulled him up, he was surprised by the strength with which she was holding him now.
"I was weak and you decided to make yourself feel at home eh" weak was an understatement of what happened to her."Well good for you, you just ate all your food for the next one month"
She couldn't do that, how did she expect him to survive?
Luis opened his mouth in protest, but he shut it back, there was no need to complain if that would make her just slap him more before leaving.
"Now get ready, I have many other tasks for you" she dropped him on the bed and left.
Luis was upset with himself now, he had enjoyed it for a little moment yesterday but now he was going to get starved for a month.
He turned to his bed and found the brown book lying there, he wanted to let out his anger on the little book, he wanted to take the book and throw it at the wall as hard as he could but when he reached his hand for the book he quickly withdrew it.
The book's pages were flipping by themselves until it got to the page that had the drawing of that red crystal.
When he was sure that the book had stopped flipping he leaned closer to look at the book, he was amazed and at the same time terrified, wasn't that part of the book torn yesterday?
Yet right now it looked like it had never been separated from the book and the words had changed now the part that once read" Grow, develop and conquer" was now saying"You can grow, develop and conquer!" that sounded like something to clear all his doubting thoughts.
He pulled his face closed the ones that were written near the crystal and was surprised that they had changed from"war is coming I'll help you" to "Follow your heart, you can do it" was this giving him advice, or was it something else, maybe he was still sleeping.
He knocked himself and yes he was in the real world, this book was telling him something but everything was too complicated to be understood if only the book could explain further, but it wouldn't because it immediately closed by itself, Luis grabbed the book and tried to open it but it wouldn't open again.
How could a book that opened freely yesterday suddenly become frozen shut? It even opened by itself just now, after trying to open it severally without any luck, he dropped the book and went off to go do his numerous tasks.
*******
Day after day and Luis didn't have anything to eat, he would stand at the door to the dining sometimes, watching his aunt as she feasted on food that would be able to feed a whole family when she would notice him her eyes would become filled with rage.
"What are you standing there for?" she said sliding a piece of meat into her, she did that just to hurt him."Get away from here, back to your work now"
Luis would immediately leave at her command, maybe he was too stupid to think that she would pity him and give him some food, she really loved to see him starve.
Luis had only one option or else he would starve to death, he quickly went to his room and slid his little bag on his shoulder, he was going to the tent maker.
"Luis" he heard Tania call him from behind, he didn't want her to see him, she would always give him some food whenever she saw him looking hungry, and even though he would accept and quickly take down the food he didn't like the idea that she was giving him free food all the time.
"Where are you going?" she asked as she got closer to him.
"Somewhere" was his short reply.
"Are you hungry?" she asked studying his face closely.
That had become her usual question after he had told her how his aunt treated him, she couldn't believe that someone as rich as Elsa could leave her cousin, that was the day she found out that he was the nephew of the wealthy Elsa.
"Not really," Luis said scratching his head, he wanted to say yes.
"Come let's go inside," she said pointing at the building where her parents kept their goods, he knew that her parents weren't around, that was she was asking him to come inside."You look tired" she added.
"I'm okay, I'm actually going somewhere" he would regret this later.
"Really?"
"Yes," Luis said hitting his bag like it was an indicator that he was really going somewhere.
"Ok then you would need this," she said handing him a small box that was just the size of a palm, Luis knew what was inside, he didn't want to take it but he heard the hunger in his stomach thunder.
"If you wouldn't eat then take it!"
He took the box but he was a little hesitant before he took it.
"I'll be going now," he said and started to walk away with the box in his hands, when he was a little distance away from her he opened his bag and put the box in.
This girl had really been kind to him, she knew that he didn't have anything to offer to her but still she would insist on helping him even when he tried to act like a fool sometimes by rejecting his offers she would still insist and made sure he took them.
She didn't like to see him hungry unlike his aunt and he was grateful to her for that.
Luis turned back to find Tania still standing in the same spot, she waved at him, when she saw that he had turned.
"Come back soon!" she yelled.
A smile slowly made its way to his face.
"Thank you" he mumbled, she wasn't going to hear that because he didn't want her to.