The first morning of October had arrived.
It was a normal morning for some people, but at Maldo's house, it was different, filled with painful hope—hope whose truth was unknown and whose existence was unconfirmed.
Maldo stood on the balcony, his hands resting on the cold railing, the breeze gently caressing his face, as if whispering things only his heart could understand. Next to him, Luca sat on the balcony's edge in his usual acrobatic manner, watching the sun rise slowly, as if waiting for one of them to share their silence.
Maldo said in a low voice, trying to sound calm:
"Luca... What if Sally's mother doesn't come back? Sally will be sorrowful then."
Luca did not answer immediately.
He simply leaned his body further into the void,
until he could see the sky upside down.
He said in a light tone that wavered between seriousness and jest:
"October brings back your loved ones, doesn't it?"
He paused for a moment, his eyes still following the sky,
Then continued in a softer voice:
"And when it doesn't... you'll be there for her, anyway."
Maldo smiled resolutely, feeling the weight of responsibility clinging to his heart:
"Of course, I won't leave her alone... I won't let her tears fall again."
Luca laughed lightly, not in mockery, but in simple admiration, as if his heart understood something that needed no words to explain.
The trees were in their miserable phase, shedding their leaves little by little,
stripping themselves of their lushness and entering a quiet seasonal isolation.
On that road, wet with morning light,
Sally walked quietly, carrying her teddy bear in her small, tired hand.
Her eyes did not see the road clearly...
She was distracted, as if her mind was walking somewhere else, far away from this autumn.
The wind blew lightly through her hair,
carrying with it the scent of wet earth and dry leaves,
and perhaps... a touch of nostalgia.
"Hey, Luca, Sally's down there."
Maldo said, leaning slightly over the balcony.
"Oh... really, but what is she doing?"
Luca commented, looking at her with half-mocking, half-curious eyes.
Then he laughed and said, "Why is she walking upside down?"
"Idiot... You straighten up first."
Maldo said with a sigh,
Then added in a serious voice as he walked away from the balcony:
"I'll go to her."
Maldo left the balcony with quick steps,
But before he left the hallway, he caught a glimpse of Daniel at his bedroom door,
standing there, his hair tousled and his eyes half-closed,
as if he still didn't understand the reason for the rush throughout the house.
Maldo paused for a second, and they exchanged a glance,
Then he walked away without saying anything,
because all that was on his mind at that moment...
was down there, among the autumn leaves, and a little girl carrying her teddy bear.
He rushed outside,
the cold air hitting his face and the road ahead wet with morning dew, dead leaves flying with his footsteps.
When he approached her, he paused for a moment, catching his breath, which had preceded his heart, then called her in a faint voice, his words carrying both fear and tenderness:
"Sally..."
She turned slowly.
Her eyes, clear as a sheet of water, reflected the surprise of a child and the tranquility of an autumn morning.
The wind moved her hair lightly, and the leaves danced around her feet.
She said in a voice that carried the warmth of innocence:
"Maldo! What are you doing here?"
His heart was beating erratically.
He looked at her for a long moment, then said, stammering a little as he caught his breath:
"But... but you, where are you going so early in the morning? Really, Sally."
"Me?"
Sally said, her voice trembling slightly as if trying to remember something distant.
She looked into the void in front of her, then added in a faint voice:
"I had a dream... My mother was walking here."
Time froze in Maldo's eyes.
His pupils dilated, as if the air itself had disappeared around him.
The words slowly sank in,
His whole being trembled, and for a moment, he no longer knew if it was the cold that had crept into his body, or that nameless, faceless fear.
He didn't think much—
All that happened was that he found himself approaching her, with quiet steps that resembled a plea.
He reached out his hand and gently took her small hand, his eyes following the ground with a broken look, trying to hide what could not be hidden.
"Come on... let's go back."
He said it in a weak voice, as if it were not a command, but a weary plea.
But Sally suddenly pulled her hand away,
her eyes filled with a strange childish determination, both fearful and hopeful.
"No..." she said in a faint but steady voice,
then raised her head toward the sky as if searching among the clouds for a familiar face.
"No, then my mother won't find me..."
Maldo wanted to respond,
But what stopped him was not the silence... but Sally's gaze.
She was staring at the wall of the house, her eyes wide as if she had seen something invisible.
For a moment, time froze between them.
When she called out, her voice faint as a broken string:
"It's my mother!"
Everything inside him shook.
He saw her running, the teddy bear swinging in her small hand,
her red hair glowing in the sunlight, fluttering in the wind.
"Sally!"
His voice came out late, as if the words were lost between fear and surprise.
He ran after her,
the wind slapping his face and carrying away some of his breath,
as if the air itself was running ahead of him to prevent her from getting away.
All he could see was her small shadow diminishing at the park gate, the echo of her footsteps mingling with calls that no one answered.
"Stop."
"Please, Sally."
He continued to chase her,
his voice fading amid the noise of the street,
His footsteps panting behind her small shadow escaping from his breath.
He couldn't catch her until they reached a public street,
where cars crossed like thoughts,
And people hurried by as if no one saw anyone else.
Sally crossed the road.
She stopped in the middle,
her small eyes staring at the other side, as if she saw something no one else could see.
A speeding car was coming from afar.
The air shook, and the sound of tires approached like the echo of disaster.
Maldo shouted her name and rushed towards her without thinking.
All he knew was that he grabbed her, pushed her,
and then saw the light.
His eyes saw not only the car, but something else,
a night scene shrouded in darkness, a powerful light approaching him, engulfing him, taking his breath away.
He gasped.
His breath froze, and his chest heaved,
as if his memory had suddenly opened up to a scene forbidden to him.
He closed his eyes and braced for impact—
But the sound that came was not the sound of death,
But the sharp screech of brakes pierced the air.
When he opened his eyes,
The car was right in front of him,
barely a few centimeters away, and the whole world was silent... except for the crazy pounding in his chest,
He didn't know if it was fear... or something else.
Maldo stood there, truly unconscious,
his chest rising and falling as if the air were heavy on him.
People gathered around him, their voices overlapping, their faces confused like a dream after the shock of waking up.
A woman grabbed his shoulder,
her confused voice flowing to him like a distant breeze:
"Are you okay, little one?"
He slowly looked up at her.
A brief moment of silence made the woman take a step back—
something in his face confused her; perhaps the fear in his eyes,
or that burn mark that cut across his cheek, like a memory that had not yet faded.
Maldo suddenly understood the situation, as if waking up from a strange dream whose meaning he did not understand. Then he turned quickly, his heart beating wildly, his voice breaking as he shouted:
"Sally!"
She was on the sidewalk, safe, but her eyes were scanning the faces of passersby with anxious madness, searching for the features she longed for.
Maldo hurried toward her, dodging bodies and stares,
and when he reached her, he reached out and gently took her arm.
His breathing was still uneven,
and his voice came out in a whisper, carrying a faint hope:
"Please... let's go back."
Sally muttered, her eyes still searching the faces:
"She's not here..."
She turned to him, her lips about to form the words, but she stopped when she saw the despair on his face, the sadness that needed no words.
She calmed down, then placed her hands on his and said in an even quieter voice:
"I'm sorry... Let's go back."
"It's okay..." he replied in a tired, faint voice.
Then they turned together, walking slowly back toward the house.
They crossed the street, and the city was slowly waking up to its usual noise—cars passing by, overlapping voices, the smell of fresh bread mixed with car exhaust.
Everything seemed normal... until his eyes stopped.
A man was standing at the corner of the road.
His shoulders were hunched, his face tired, and on his chest hung a small picture of a boy with black hair and violet eyes.
It was an old, faded picture, as if it had lived longer than it should have.
Maldo's feet stopped moving.
He didn't know why... he just felt that something was telling him to.
The man was clutching the photo with both hands,
His voice trembling, choked between hope and despair:
"Please... help me find my son."
People passed by him as if they did not see him.
Some lowered their gaze, and some muttered with painful indifference:
"Hasn't he lost hope yet? Five years... he can't return."
But Maldo kept looking. His eyes never left that image.
Something in those violet eyes stirred something dormant inside him, as if his own memory whispered to him from afar:
——I've seen this face before.
Sally looked at him, then at the man, and wondered:
"Why did you stop...? What is it, Maldo?"
He replied without turning around, as if speaking from among the clouds of his thoughts: "I feel like I've seen this boy before... but... I can't remember."
Where did I see him...?
He asked himself silently, as if his voice was lost among his thoughts.
Then he pulled Sally's hand and continued on his way with hesitant steps,
his eyes still clinging to the image in his mind.
But as they passed by the man,
he heard his voice again, more painful this time:
"Please... my son! Help me find my son... Logi!"
Maldo stopped in his tracks.
The word pierced him like a burning flash.
Lugi...?
Not a second passed before a sharp pain struck his head,
as if something inside him was being forcibly torn from the depths of his memory.
A sharp ringing pierced his ears, and the sounds around him gradually faded away.
The light distorted, the ground tilted beneath his feet, and he fell to one knee, breathing heavily, sweat pouring from his temples.
He reached for his head, trying to stop the pain that seemed to be coming from deep within his brain.
"Maldo?!"
Sally said in confusion, quickly grabbing his arm.
She tried to lift him, to understand what was happening.
"Maldo, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Lu... Ghi..."
The name came out of his mouth in a gurgle, his eyes unfocused, as if they saw nothing but what was in his torn memory.
Sally looked at him, her heart pounding.
She didn't know who "Lougee" was, but the way he said the name... it was like poison, or an old wound that hadn't healed yet.
"What should I do..." she whispered to herself, her voice consumed by anxiety, her eyes darting between Maldo's contorted face and the man standing in the distance.
Suddenly, a hand reached out and gently pulled her away. She didn't realize where it had come from, but its presence alone was enough to break the chaos in her chest.
It was Luca.
"Bad..." he muttered as he bent down to grab Maldo by the shoulders.
He looked at him with sharp, worried eyes, then said without turning to her:
"We have to take him home... now."
He picked him up and turned to her, his voice firmer, but soft, as if he were afraid of scaring her away:
"Come on, little one."
She walked behind him without thinking, her shoes touching the ground with a sad lightness.
She could see nothing but Luca's back walking ahead of her and Maldo's hair slanting over his shoulder, swaying with each step.
She raised her eyes to the sky.
The morning sun was shy behind the clouds,
and the cold air brushed her hair as if carrying some of the anxiety in her chest.
She gently clasped her hands together, as if making a gentle wish,
and whispered in a faint, trembling voice:
"I hope nothing happens to him."