Sitting alone in a room isolated from all human contact, only surrounded by the whiteness of those four walls, Emilio remained silent with his hands folded in his lap restlessly moving their intertwined fingers.
The cup of coffee that was served to him at the beginning of the interview had already cooled, the steam from the condensed water dripping from the edges and making a slight puddle on the table.
The only sound in that room was the young man's breathing and the beat of the hands of the clock that moved its second hand with maddening slowness, waiting for the officer in charge to enter the room again.
Since he was taken into custody at the gates of his home, more than seven hours had passed without being able to communicate with his mother. Leaving a suffocating sensation in Emilio's chest when he thought about the condition in which Ágata would find himself, who could only see how they took his son without being able to do anything to stop him.
- "Sorry for the wait boy, but I had to discuss the matter with my superiors. When we brought you here I was thinking of signing you up without any major setbacks, but seeing that you are a victim too, I needed to discuss it with the person in charge of the investigation."
- "So can I go home?"
- "No boy, I'm sorry. We still need to wait for an important person called by the higher ups to come. It is that your matter is something serious and I do not think it will proceed very quickly, but trust us, I assure you that you will be safe" - At the moment that Emilio had entered that interrogation room, the attitude of the investigation agents was terrifying for the young man
Going for the jugular with some screenshots of the victim's chat, the agents intimidated the young man who was stunned when he saw the content of the messages, without giving him time to explain anything with the accumulation of mixed feelings he was going through .
The night of that day when Rubén assaulted him taking compromising intimate photos of him, Emilio was out of his senses due to the impact of that event. Faced with the incessant wave of harassing messages in his cell phone chat, added to the post-traumatic stress of having been a victim of physical abuse, Emilio did not see what chat he was writing about when the last message arrived on his cell phone.
Within the day after experiencing the first symptoms of GCD, Tomas had taken an early detection hormone test at a clinic using anonymity, fearful of what they might think in a conservative family like his. .
During the afternoon he left high school, the young man headed back to the clinic with his heart pounding with anxiety, hoping that his fears were only unfounded and that when he opened the envelope with the results it was all a misunderstanding.
But upon seeing the content of the exam, the biomarkers showed the latent fear in Tomas's mind as a result. Leaving him in a state of confusion and denial, leaving the clinic in a hurry without going home.
Unable to face his parents, that boy felt that the weight of the world had suddenly fallen on his shoulders. His positive and cheerful demeanor faded with the ink of the printout of the results, leaving only a fearful young man with no one to turn to to confide in his deep sorrow of heart.
The hours passed and the night covered the sky of the city, letting the light from the streetlights illuminate the shadows of the objects and buildings, projecting silhouettes that, in Tomas's eyes, were like threatening ghosts that took over his fears.
His uniform shirt was drenched in sweat, his parched mouth barely salivated painfully, and his hands trembled uncontrollably as he sat at the foot of the doorway of an abandoned building, pulling at his hair.
On the clock it had already passed twelve at night and on his cell phone the notifications of missed calls from home crowded together with the pop-up windows of the chat. Stunned by the sound of those alerts, he silenced his phone and was about to throw it to the ground, his mind had a bit of lucidity when he thought of the only person he felt could understand him.
Steeling himself, Tomas began to write a message where he poured out all his insecurities and fears, a message so long that at times he went back to review it and deleted some parts to write more.
With the impulse of a second of courage, the young man sent that message with the hope that that friendly hand would throw himself into the depths of the ocean of problems in which he found himself and bring him afloat.
But like a cruel joke of fate, that message of help that he sent to whom he thought would be his salvation, plunged the cruel sword of indifference and condemnation into his chest.
The message that originally should have been addressed to Rubén unfortunately reached the brother who was lost in search of rescue. They were only a few short words, but before the young man's eyes, that message had turned his life around 180 degrees.
Exploding into a nervous breakdown, Tomas laughed frantically as he cried bitterly, throwing his cell phone on the ground. Lying on his knees in a fetal position, putting his hands to his head, the young man screamed in despair, drawing the attention of the few people who passed by.
Feeling those morbid gazes on his body, Tomas looked around as people began to approach. Making him jump up and hesitantly take a few steps back, hitting his back against the door of the abandoned building.
- "Will he be drugged? Look at his appearance?"
- "Isn't that a uniform from that private high school?"
- "We should call the police to come for him"
As if they were deformed entities, the young man only saw silhouettes before his nervous breakdown without being able to distinguish any face. But those judicious eyes lacking in empathy were clear to her, looks that put themselves in a superior moral position without knowing the reason for their condition. Human nature is usually hypocritical, indolent in some ruthless way; guided by a twisted sense of subjective morality, judging everything from the perspective of a privileged position.
With his being seized by fear and hatred, Tomas ran out of that place without taking into account the vehicles that were circulating on the street, being on more than one occasion at risk of being run over. Only guided by the negative feelings that completely took over his reason, until the moment he was left in front of a bridge over which a moderately mighty river passed.
Standing on the railing, spreading his arms as if they were a pair of wings, Tomas glanced up at the sky, cursing his birth, and then dropped forcefully from a considerable height onto the surface of that torrent.
After hearing the explanation of the witness testimony from the agents, Emilio exploded cursing himself, crying as he stammered throwing himself into a corner of the room covering himself with his arms.
Sensing that something did not fit with their line of investigation, the agents gave the young man his space to calm down. Calling one of the station's medical attendants so he could check on him.
When they finally had the boy in a position to question him, one of the agents with a calmer attitude approached him and offered him some coffee to drink. Different from the threatening sensation that the officer's hands inspired in him in the first moments, for Emilio that touch was comforting, as if they were beginning to empathize with him.
Feeling more sure of himself, the young man approached the interrogation table once more and sitting down before the officers, he began to explain the reason for that unpleasant message and to whom it was originally addressed.
As I explain the events that happened that day at school, the agents completely changed their position and at times left the room to discuss it without the young man being present.
At a certain moment during the interrogation, one of the agents asked Emilio to provide him with his cell phone so that he could put his sim card in another unit owned by the police in order to handle it as evidence in the case.
Everything seemed to be going well for the young man, who, feeling a slight relief when he considered that Ruben could not hurt him anymore, relaxed on the chair and let his head rest on the table, feeling a little tired, falling asleep for a few moments.
- "Boy, please wake up. One of my superiors has come from headquarters and wishes to speak with you. We will leave you alone for a moment, so wake up a bit please" – The agent opened the door of the interrogation room and gave a formal greeting to the person who was outside, before bowing respectfully and giving way to the room closing the door behind him.
- "Emilio, it's been a few years since I 've seen you. I barely saw you out of the corner of my eye at my nephew Tomas's funeral, but even though you've grown so much, I was able to recognize you since you haven't changed in your countenance."
- "Mr. Alfonso, what are you doing here?"
- "How am I doing here? Have you already forgotten that I worked for the police department? Oh, it's true. In those years I was a detective who barely ranked low in the department and let you sit on my lap while you put on my uniform cap. Hehehe, yes those were good times, little one.
Whenever you were with my nephews you looked smiling, there was never a moment when you three looked sad." – A nostalgic feeling and full of sadness was heard in the voice of that man in his fifties, who already had the signs of his age in his hair. With the frank and sincere look that he always had on his face, Alfonso Balbuena was a man devoted to his family and his convictions.
For Emilio, the man he met as a child was like a second father figure, inspiring confidence and giving him a sense of acceptance.
- "Well, enough of remembering the old days. We need to talk about the present and I think we need to put a lot of things clear on the table, Emilio. I was in my office until an hour ago organizing some pending case files to be assigned to my subordinates, when I received a call from one of them coming from this station.
I'm not going to lie to you, when I found out that my nephew received that message from you, I wanted to hit you. But a part of me also wanted to believe that it was all an unfortunate misunderstanding, and fortunately it was. Mmmm, I think saying fortune in a situation like this sounds bad, sorry" – Raising his hand to his temple, Mr. Alfonso lowered his face to hide the sadness that reminding him of Tomas caused him. Taking a few moments to calm his nerves and continue the conversation.
- "He is okay?" – Reaching out his hand unconsciously to put it on that man's shoulder, Emilio stopped as he reacted, lowering it onto the desk without making any noise.
- "Yes do not worry. I know that you are a very sensitive young man and you are worried about me; You were my nephew's friend for a reason, you were someone precious to him. That is why I need you to answer me with all your sincerity. The photos and messages that my agents showed me were taken by Rubén?
- "Yes, that's right" - When he finished pronouncing those words, a silence filled the room for a few moments while Alfonso clenched his fists under the table without changing the expression on his face. Reaching his right hand to his jacket pocket, he pulled out a somewhat crushed pack of cigarettes and lit one to take a puff to calm himself.
- "Mr. Alfonso..."
- "Keep quiet for a few seconds, boy" - Alfonso's tone of voice suddenly changed to a severe one, maintaining a low but firm volume . The calm look that had always characterized him changed drastically for one that emanated a feeling of disapproval and condemnation.
- "You know Emilio, I have known you for years and I always loved you as if you were a son. You do know right? And a good son should always do what a father asks him to do."
- "I do not understand what you're referring to"
- "I'm going to say it bluntly boy. The messages and photographs that you had in the chat have already given the order for them to be eliminated"
- "Why did you do that?"
- "SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND SIT DOWN!" - Hitting his fists against the table, Alfonso got up from his seat with an intimidating attitude against Emilio, who just seeing him remembered for a moment the feeling of terror that Rubén inspired when he got angry.
- "Forgive me if I scare you, but try not to do anything without being asked. I don't want to be hard on you, you understand me, right?" - Walking until he was behind the young man's back, that man placed his hands on Emilio's delicate shoulders, who felt how Alfonso's fingertips were pressing on his clavicles forcing him to remain seated.
- "I want you to see some photos" - Taking a yellow envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket, Alfonso threw it on the table and forced Emilio to see the contents. A series of photographs taken by an agent from the narcotics division showed the young man in the company of a man he was familiar with.
- "Can you see them clearly? A young man very similar to you was meeting a man by the name of Marcos Navarro in an alley in the slums. At first I wondered what you would do in that place and why you would meet with a guy of that ilk. So I asked my boys to go to your house to pick up some things from your room" - Emilio's pulse accelerated as if his heart was going to jump out of his throat when he saw the bottle with the suppressors he had bought to be put on the table.
- "Did mom find out?"
- "Do you think I am capable of hurting your mother? She is a good woman whom I appreciate as much as you. It would be a shame if her delicate heart had to suffer as severe a blow as her son being arrested for possessing an illegally manufactured drug.
You know, the penalty for your purchase is around 10 years in prison. I thought at some point of my frustration in believing that you were directly responsible for the death of my nephew, in sinking yourself in jail adding those years to your sentence.
But I can't send an innocent to prison so I'm offering you a deal. Forget what my nephew Ruben did to you and I'll forget you bought this garbage. Does that sound like a good deal to you?" – The air in the room began to become tainted by cigarette smoke, even breathing felt heavy for the young man in the face of the anxiety that this threat disguised as an offer entailed.
- "Ruben is going to kill me"
- "Don't worry. He will not do anything to you at all, I give you my word that everything that has happened and has been said in this room, will only remain between you and me. Also, I must protect the image of my brother who is about to run for governor; It would be very bad that after losing one of their children, it became known that another of them was involved in such a shady matter. Do not you believe it?"
- "Okay, I'll do what you tell me. But I beg you, give me back the suppressors."
- "That is something that I cannot do Emilio. As much as you want it, I can't give you this thing, I'm not heartless enough to let you commit suicide if you continue to take it. But I will give you an alternative."
- "An alternative?" – Bringing his face up to the young man's ear, Alfonso raised the possibility of a relocation as a TCG patient in a provincial city near the west coast of the country.
Given the high demand for applications from interested persons who found it impossible to acquire the suppressors through legal channels, the lists of candidates for relocation were so long that many gave up on the possibility.
But being a man with very deep contacts in high government spheres, Alfonso had the facility in his hands to offer that deal to the desperate Emilio. Who worried about the possibility of dragging his mother into the hell that had opened up before him.
- "You only have about four months left to finish your second year of high school, right? Look at it this way, those four months will pass in the blink of an eye. It will be easy for you to hide your initial TCG changes in that time without having to worry about destroying your body with that drug.
By the end of the year, your school transfer papers will be ready and signed for you to introduce yourself as a female student in a remote area where no one will know you. I will even try to have a tutor for you who will take care of your expenses and accompany you during the process."
- "But what about my mother?"
- "Don't worry about her. I will personally take care of commenting on your situation in this regard and I will ensure that nothing is missing. You just have to accept my offer. Do you agree?" – Having no alternative to Alfonso's threats, Emilio's will completely broke before the possibilities that could harm his mother.
Powerless and unable to defend himself, the young man had no choice but to accept that deal where his dignity was sullied as Rubén's crime went unpunished.
After signing a confidentiality agreement, Alfonso sent the young man back home in an unmarked car. Managing with absolute secrecy everything dealt with within the police station.
- "Son, you're back!" – Waiting for him sitting at the entrance door, Ágata ran to meet Emilio, hugging him feeling relieved to see him.
- "Emilio, where have you gone? Why did you take so long?"
- "I was at the police station mom. The people who came to pick me up were agents who were investigating Tomas' case. Due to the investigation, they have sent for all their close acquaintances to obtain evidence that would allow them to move forward with the case. Do not worry everything is fine"
- "Everything's fine? But Emilio, you are very pale. Your hands are cold son, what's wrong with you?"
- "I'm just tired mom. It must be because of hunger that I'm cold, I couldn't eat anything at the station and remembering Tomas has affected me a lot"
- "You're right, forgive me. Come in son, I'm going to make you something for dinner. You need to pull yourself together, tomorrow is a school day, but you can miss classes. I'll call tomorrow to call you in sick" – Leaning his head on Ágata's shoulder, Emilio sighed a little, hugging his mother to feel calm. To later enter the house with her, hoping to rest to recover from the impression of that day.