CHAPTER 5

Lilia left Lola waiting for an answer and went almost mechanically to her room. She reluctantly pushed the door open and flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. that color that she had so excited before her now only caused her discomfort.

That Lilia Wanderers was missing changed everything. She had gone to that remote city with an idea in mind and now everything had been destabilized. For a moment she got mad at her fate, apparently, she takes her everywhere. First with Ian and now with the email girl.

She faced the ceiling for what seemed reckless. Outside the door, she felt every so often footsteps approaching and moving away from her, and for a moment she thought it was Lola, but then she realized that they were just other guests in her usual routines. And outside the room, the townspeople followed her paths. You can hear the sound of some cars passing by on the street, and every so often the occasional voice is too loud. She did not know what to do. Going back to her house seemed like an option, but what would she say? And somehow she didn't want to leave.

She sat on the bed and walked over to the cell phone that still rested on the sofa, with the charger plugged in. For a moment of impulse, he thought about turning it on and checking his messages. Let her family know that she was okay and alive. But then reality hit her. Ian's background photo. She remembered that she still had that photo that was combined in the shopping, one of the many afternoons that she went to eat something quick after work. She hated that photo now, she hated that memory that she insisted on reminding her that she was no longer alive when all she wanted to do was ask him what she should do, what decision she should make.

He threw the cell phone on the bed when the brand's letters began to be drawn on the screen. She wasn't ready to see that. She couldn't see that photo and not feel like her world was falling apart.

She wandered around the room for another five minutes, suddenly feeling suffocated in that place. The windows were open but the air did not appreciate entering. She opened the door to the room, desperate for some air, to meet Lola, one hand in the air as if she meant to strike.

— Lilia! — The woman exclaimed, apparently alarmed, but then she dropped her shoulders and blew air through her mouth. — Sorry, I wanted to apologize if my question bothered you. — She snapped, and her gaze was sincere.

Lilia watched her for a few seconds in apparent shock. She couldn't tell for sure what she had felt when Lola had asked her if she knew the girl, and to tell the truth, she still didn't know how to answer that question.

— You haven't bothered me,— she answered suddenly, remembering that the woman was still looking at her and expecting something from her.

— I'm really sorry, but they have been ... difficult days .... — she explained, her face wrinkled from hers, and her sad look. — We are a small town, you will have noticed. We all know each other and that happens is ... — she stopped herself for a few seconds, apparently looking for a word that suited the situation —disconcerting. — concluded.

Lilia nodded, not knowing what to say, or how to dig into the matter without sounding stuck. She wanted to know more about the girl, she wanted to know everything, and at the same time, she was afraid to get into it. She didn't seem like a safe place to go in, and besides, the emails that she kept dark on her computer seemed to get heavier now.

— Don't you know who she was? — she questioned, unable to contain herself.

The woman shook her head, her eyes set on anywhere.

— No. The police are investigating but there are no leads yet. And the whole family is very hurt and upset with everything. Zigor, the brother, is having a terrible time. He's like crazy wallpapering the city from head to toe. He was very close with Lilia. — Lola explained with a sad smile on her lips and her look.

— I understand. I also have a sister, we are very close — she ventured to add, she knew that giving details of her life to Lola would make her look like someone more human, and thus dispel a few of the woman's doubts about her.

— Of course, my dear — she returned, but she was thinking for a few seconds until she looked up from the carpet and fixed her brown eyes on the girl — how do you know it was someone? — She questioned, with lively accusation. — is not said anywhere. I know because the people speak, but you have not spoken to anyone ...

Lilia felt the ground sink under her feet, and suddenly a damp chill rose to her neck. She squeezed her hands together, to hide the nervous tremor that had washed over her.

— I supposed ... — He returned not without hesitation. — Generally ... that's it. — She finished, trying to sound more confident than she really did.

Lola analyzed her between her eyes, with no confidence, but she ended up nodding. — Sure. — She said through her teeth. — When did you say they are coming for you, dear? — The woman asked, sounding more interested in her leaving than she was letting on.

Lilia mumbled a couple of confusing words and turned to pick up her cell phone. She was grateful that she was with her dark screen, so she put it in her backpack and carried it on her shoulder.

—I'm not sure,— she answered, downplaying the fact. — I have to go out now, but she came back later … — she stepped aside to avoid Lola who was still planted in the middle of the room.

The woman nodded but she said nothing more, and Lilia took the opportunity to leave. She did not bother to close the door, she knew that the woman probably had an additional key for all the rooms, and in that one in particular she would not find anything that would link her to Lilia. Her computer rested in her backpack that she would now carry around with her. She did not feel prepared to share the emails with anyone. She was somehow his, and she didn't want to betray Lilia's trust by showing her intimate journal of hers to others. Besides, how would she explain that she had them? She was sure that before an investigation, and with a disappearance, no one would be very safe with a person who came forward to say that she had e-mails from the missing person.

She hurried out of Lola's pension and once again the street welcomed her. He walked aimlessly, and in less time than expected he was in the square again, in front of the same tree from which he had removed the paper with Lola's photo, but now it had a new ballot stuck to its trunk. Someone had replaced what she had taken away.

She looked at him for long seconds, analyzing Lilia's face, her intense gaze, her fixed smile, the freckles under her eyes, she wasn't sure what she was looking for, she wasn't sure why she was there, but curiously she had ended up in that place when she had disappeared.

— Hello — someone called from behind her.

Lilia turned almost instantly to find a pair of green eyes fixed on her. A boy was watching her carefully, his blond hair wavy in the wind, and in her hand were several sheets with the same photo that she was so determined to analyze.

—Hello, — he returned, brushing his hair out of his eyes. She looked back at him, waiting for him to say something, when it became clear that she would not, Lilia opened her mouth to say something, but the young man was ahead of her.

— I'm Zigor, and that's my sister, Lilia. He — he explained as if she no longer knew.