A Love In Dark Times
Chapter 65

For the life of you, put on charity and help us with this calamity. -begged a soldier of small stature who, if it weren't for his acne, would pass for a child. -Yes, of course, it's time to analyse the situation, to define the measures to be taken. -replied Luisa, twisting her mouth.

-Luisa, is that you? -They called him monkey because he had blond hair and blue eyes.

-Jose honey, what a nice coincidence to see you again. -smiled Luisa as she jumped up and hugged him. José Honey was a friend from her school.

-What a joy and I see that you are doing so well with one of my best friends Luis, no shit if you saw how much I thought about you. -Honey also hugged Luis, they had been classmates, both were attracted to Luisa, but neither had the courage to tell him. -Hello José miel, it's good to see you too my brother, the only thing I knew about you was that you kept begging the captain to accept you. -Luis replied with some resentment in his voice.

-Yes, I have remembered that day a million times, all this time, I remember that when we didn't get a job because we didn't have a military passbook, we decided to go to the reinstatement and the captain announced:

-We have an over quota of soldiers, besides, you are high school graduates, it's better to pay the fee and that's it, you save that time. -A general told us that this was worth a little money that we didn't have, we begged him and he offered us free accommodation in the dungeons, you left bravo and I was left begging him, until he said to me:

if I take him away, I send him to the red zone.

.-I told him that I was ready and here I have been since then, making calculations that if I had worked day and night saving that money from the quota, I would have had a better time, here it has been an impressive thing, something to vomit, so many dead that I have seen, the climate of the jungle, It's like a prison without borders where we know we can't escape, the bugs have feasted on me, if it weren't for the antibiotics we carry I would be suffering from a tropical disease, apart from the snakes, tarantulas, even the ants here bite and give you a fever with pain for three days, the other day a colleague thought a flake worm was cute, he grabbed it to caress it and gave it a burn that almost killed it, they had to move it, it seems that the jungle doesn't like humans, it has its good reasons, it also torments us with its scares, that was something I didn't believe, no shit how complicated this is, sometimes it makes me want to leave the equipment behind to run away as several of my ex-colleagues have done, I tell you that this is not like the action movies we used to watch, or maybe it is, it's like the alien that hunts humans from the trees, that becomes invisible and has very advanced weapons.

-But you're fine, thank heavens he's fine, you got lost in the neighbourhood, you left without saying goodbye, I went to his house and there's never anyone there. -I went to her house and there's never anyone there," complained Luisa, who went only twice and because she didn't have anything to do with her friends.

-That way you would have given her a good farewell like the one you gave her when we graduated," Luis complained to Luisa.

-I don't know what you're talking about, when they graduated we only gave each other hugs, as far as I remember. -Luisa answered, defending herself.

-Luisa, I remember that we had a great time making love all night long. -José Miel answered, affirming the words with a fist in the air, in the same way he had told all his companions that he had been intimate with Luisa.

-I heard that rumour, I remember very well, you were very drunk, you and your friends each drank a carafe of wine, I remember that you took me to an empty room, I foolishly thought you were going to ask me to be your girlfriend and you tried to go overboard, I slapped you several times, when I left you cried like a baby, awakening my maternal instinct and compassion, then again, you wanted to force me, before I left you blocked the door and pulled down your trousers, I don't know why if you had her asleep, you tried to revive him, but it was in vain, I kept looking at you with curiosity, it was even funny, I didn't tell anyone, I didn't resent you either, I blamed it on the excessive intake of liquor, you don't take any punishment, remember how Edwin had to be taken to the San Pedro clinic for alcohol poisoning.

-Yes, that's why they called him Don Pedro. -Luis interrupted him, laughing, resting in a silly thing the resentment that this situation produced in him, that his friend had slept with the girl he liked. That was what prevented him from proposing, knowing that if they got to be together someday he would meet this guy who would say that first it was hers, and now it turns out that it was just a rumour, a slander of a drunk boy to look good with his friends, that they would tell him that there goes the macho guy who already had relations and with one of the most beautiful students.

-Well, I don't know, the truth is, I remember things differently. -I remember we did it on the football pitch, the wet grass reminds me of that moment, your brown skin, you howled like a wolf, even a girl was watching us.

-That was that night, although later, your aunt came looking for you with her little daughter, you took her to the pitch and scored a goal, the girl protested, but was silenced by the scolding of your aunt, who by the way is quite old, We were all there watching you, we hid behind the stands, unfortunately the game didn't last a minute, we didn't manage to record it, at the end you cried hugging her, telling her that it was the most beautiful thing that had ever happened to you, you hugged her and told her that you loved her. -Luis narrated without breathing.

-It's incredible how monstrous the liquor is, I remember that scene, but with Luisa, no wonder my uncle hated me and my aunt doesn't speak to me, no shit, that beautiful memory that kept me so motivated, turned out to be a lie, it's like when I was a little boy and I behaved well so that Father Christmas would bring me presents. -sighed José Miel, feeling like crying.