Javier & Cristal - Prelude to madness

Hello! First of all, I would like to ask you a question:

Did you know that... there is a story that we all keep inside us? Humans, animals, plants... All kinds of beings! But... that in the most tragic moment, it suffered from oblivion and at the same time remained asleep in each of us for eternity?

And I know what you’re wondering: If it was forgotten... how come someone is telling it now? And I’m glad you’re asking this question! Because... THAT is the most important step to be able to understand everything I am going to tell you from now on...

I think this whole story began the day their lives became intertwined... The lives of these 4 beings... But, you know what? In order to better understand this story, I think it would be good to start with one of my favorite moments...

At this moment, we will be located at the beginning of the year 2002, in the country of Bolivia, in the city of La Paz. A wonderful city, with very beautiful places to visit, and all the climates you can imagine. I’m telling you, that weather issue is crazy, in a single day it can dawn with freezing air, later it can be incredibly hot, and at night, a very heavy rain can fall, which can last 5 minutes... or 5 hours. What if we talk about food? Wow, there were so many delicious things to eat! Marraquetas, Salteñas, Tucumanas... But let’s not deviate too much from the main topic... We will start with Javier, better known as Javi by his friends. He was a 17-year-old boy who lived in this city and a few days ago he had finished his school studies. Can you imagine? He was what you would call “a brand new high school graduate.”

If you ask me to describe him, I would say that physically he was a short boy, with glasses, short black hair... who at first glance would seem like someone very square, don’t you think?

But his way of being? He was so strange in his way of thinking... Sometimes he would get so infatuated with something, that it would reach a point where he would become as desperate as a mule; but other times he was open to so many things, that he seemed like the most understanding person in the world... I think one of the best ways to describe him is precisely through this moment that I chose:

Javi had to choose what he was going to study at university. Which, let me tell you, was a pretty big deal for him and his family.

Starting that year, at the beginning of January, something happened that other people would see as very strange: Javi opened his eyes and found himself in an immense, empty and silent place... This place looked surreal!... We could say that a “dream” landscape surrounded him...

When he looked down, he could only see a cave in the distance. And as he looked toward its entrance, he began to notice a pair of eyes staring at him from inside.

- Again? —He said to himself, with fatigue in his voice—. Let’s see... Javi, calmly, think...

Walking forward a little, he stopped after taking a few steps, as if he knew there was something else in front of him. He then placed his hands in the air and ended up resting them on an invisible wall.

He looked towards the eyes inside the cave and they saw him back. At that moment, he started to feel nervous and scared! Then, from the depths of the cave, a gigantic creature emerged, rushing towards the exit! Was it a beast? A monster? Something like a chimera? It moved so erratically and was being looked from so far away, that it couldn’t be distinguished. The owner of that pair of eyes began to show itself out of the darkness! Javi felt that he was in danger... and suddenly... he began to hear a voice calling him from all sides...

— Javier... Javier... Javier!

The voice echoed non-stop... and then... he... woke up.

Javi began to open his eyes, with his body lying on an electric piano, where there were various notes, scores, books... and he heard his name again. He got up a little sleepily and slowly made his way to the lower floor of the house. There he met his mother, Margaret, who was the one who had been calling him for a while. While he was walking, Javier said to himself in his mind:

— (How strange... the same nightmare... the place, the beast...)

When he reached Margaret, she spoke to him in a happy and excited tone of voice:

— Pedazo! —That was an affectionate nickname in spanish she used to call Javi—There’s someone who wants to see you! It’s at the entrance!

After heading to the front door, Javi placed his hand on the door and thought:

— (Wait... now that I think about it, I haven’t had visitors these days... Who could it be?)

Javier started to get excited and opened the door. Who could it be? As his expectation grew, he finished opening the door, to discover... his brother Damián, whom he saw every day. Damián was Javi’s older brother, by 5 years difference.

Javi made a bored face, a notorious one I’m telling you... and he wondered if his mother just wanted to play a joke on him. At that moment his brother greeted him from the street and pointed to the right side of him. Javi looked and saw that someone was coming to his brother’s side... It was...! Damián’s girlfriend: Irma. Which by the way, Javi still saw very often. But...! She was carrying something in her arms.

Javi watched Irma lower something from her arms at the front door of the house... and it was...

— (A puppy... It’s a puppy!) —Javi said several times in his mind, while a smile grew on his face.

Damián looked at him and said:

—Look, Gato! —A nickname that Damián used to refer to Javi—Irma gave it to me! She is going to be called Diana and now she is going to be part of the family. She’s going to stay and live with us!

Diana seemed to be just a few days old and Javi approached the puppy very carefully. After Irma placed her on the floor, she could see that she had been put in a pink tutu trim. It was one of the cutest images you can imagine.

Diana began to try moving with her 4 little legs... and although she wobbled with the clumsiness of a baby, she began to approach Javi little by little. When they finally faced each other, Javi knelt down to be at her level, lowered his head and extended his hands to her. Diana raised her little paws and... put one on Javier’s face, making him drop his glasses. He started laughing and grabbed her two front paws with a smile, while Diana started licking her face.

At that moment, Margaret arrived and said:

— Hellooouu, little lady! —Margaret liked to use funny accents that she was fond of.

They both looked at each other and Diana slowly approached Margaret and the latter gave her a caress on the head. As she did so, Margaret looked at her gently and said:

— Welcome... Pichika.

The word “Pichika” is a word that comes from the Aymara language, one of the native languages ​​of Bolivia. A pichika is a hair braid, generally worn by Aymara women in a traditional way. Margaret, along with the accents she used, also really liked to use nicknames and idioms with people she felt affection for.

What do you think if we leave Javi for a moment, while he gets to know Diana?

Meanwhile, on another side of the city, a girl arrived at her grandmother’s house. Her name? Cristal... Cris for her friends. Let’s see, let’s try to describe her... Cris was 17 years old, physically Cristal was athletic and her height was similar to Javi’s. About her appearance, she had long blonde hair in a ponytail, a cheerful face, and big, light blue eyes...

And her way of being? You could say that she had a lot of energy and it was something that was contagious to others. She was very active, she always liked to be doing something... Cris was one of those people who couldn’t sit still and she made you think that her batteries were unlimited.

After opening the door to what was going to be her new room, Cris left her suitcases on the floor and took with her finger the little parrot she was carrying on her shoulder, which had small bandages on its right wing; She placed it on top of a coat rack and lunged forward against the bed, resting for a bit before turning her gaze to her pet.

— Is it worth it? —Cris said, while she saw her parrot looking at her with curiosity— Oh... mommy...

Cris took out a bag of fruits from her jacket, which contained a small portion of Kiwis inside. She took out 1 of them and gave it to her parrot to take in his beak.

— Kiwis, for my Kiwi! haha... but not until you’re paunchy, right? You won’t even be able to fly anymore...

Cristal had a parrot named Kiwi, and she began to imitate his voice, with a very exaggerated tone:

— Of course it’s worth it! Braaak! Mom wants you to follow your dream! So... let’s get into it!

After that, Cris looked down and stared into space...

— Mommy, I promise you it will be worth it... no matter the distance...

Cristal settled on her back on her bed and closed her eyes... As quickly as she settled down, she fell asleep. Inside her dream, Cris appeared surrounded by darkness, where the only thing she could see was herself. At that moment she began to hear a voice, which said between screams:

— Ahhh!!! NOOOO!!! YOU WON’T HAAAAVE IIIIIIT!!!! HEEEEELP!!!!!

Cristal tried to find the origin of the voice... but it was difficult for her. As she walked looking for it, her screams began to get louder and the voice was heard again:

—Wait... W-what are you? Nooo... NOOOoo... STAY AWAAAAAY!!! STAY AWAY!!!

At that moment, Cris stopped... She started to feel afraid, she was alert... she sensed danger! and...she woke up; standing up abruptly and with a cold perspiration on her head. Quickly, as if on reflex, she turned her gaze to Kiwi, thinking that it was him who was talking to her while she was sleeping... But Kiwi just looked at her curiously, while Cris began to calm down...

— Why... why!?... WHY!?... WHY, WHY, WHY!?!? I’m already FED UP!!! —Cris covered her face with her hands, while she tried to remain calm—But, this... is finally going to end!

What a situation, right? If there was something that Cristal and Javier had in common at that time, it was that they both suffered from some very “peculiar” nightmares...

Leaving Cris for a moment, let’s move forward a few hours in time. When night came in the city of La Paz, you could see a person, who seemed to be an adult man... And I say “seemed”, because the reason why he was difficult to distinguish, was that he was wearing a long trench coat. that covered much of his body. He also wore a hat to cover his head and black gloves. Come on, you could tell he was really trying to remain anonymous, haha. He had a firm posture and appeared to be of a strong build. And although he did a great job of hiding his appearance with the way he dressed, you could notice a necklace hanging from his neck... and on this necklace, there was a stone.

This mysterious person was standing in front of a 3-story house, staring over the roof... He stared at a fixed point in the sky for a while... And if you concentrated on seeing that place, you would have started to notice some orbs of light that flickered slowly, softly and almost imperceptibly... as if they were the remains of a light that had been concentrated there and had been disappearing.

After seeing these lights, this person took out a notebook from his trench coat. His notebook had a ton of addresses written down! The strangest thing? It had very detailed data, such as cities, countries, street names and house numbers. In the notebook, some addresses were crossed out and others were not. This person took out a pen and started writing...

Country: Bolivia

City: La Paz

Address: Panqara Zone, Muxsa Street, number 795

Possible carriers: Zelani Family

And just as he finished writing, he put away his pen and grabbed the stone from his necklace. He began to squeeze it tightly with his fist. The hand that was squeezing the stone began to shake little by little, with more and more intensity, while the person walked slowly, limping a little, getting further and further away from the house that he was observing...

Summing up so far... 3 people who had their own issues to resolve, don’t you think? Javi was having a nice moment with the new member of his family; Cris was in a new place, and it seemed like she had separated from her mother; and the mysterious person was investigating things, which were not yet known if they were for good or bad...

And so a few days went by... and the days turned into weeks... And in the first days of February, on a Monday morning, the alarm began to ring in Javi’s room, which, by the way, he always ignored the first... erm, 5 times? Javi had a fairly common ritual in the mornings, the alarm went off at 6:30, he would set it to “snooze” so that it would ring again in 5 minutes... The same thing happened at 6:35, 6:40, 6:45, etc., you know what I mean. At 6:55, Javi got out of his bed, still sleepy, and slowly walked to the shower. Upon receiving the hot water, he began to feel that his energy was beginning to appear and he became more awake. It was an important day for him! That Monday, he started his classes at the University. After showering, dressing and so on, he took his backpack and left his room. Javi stared at the door of the next room, and shouted from outside:

— Bye Dam!

Damián, from the other side of the door, answered back:

— Yeah, bye Cat! Good luck!

Javier went down to the second floor of the house, where his mother was waiting for him with a glass of freshly prepared orange juice. Javi received it and before taking it, he said:

- Hello, ma! Thank you...

Margaret smiled at him and said:

— Pedaaazo! Look at you, your first Systems Engineering class!

Javi finished the juice and kissed her on the cheek.

- Thanks Mom! Bye!

He approached the steps that led to the first floor, but first he looked towards his parents’ room...

— Bye, dad! I’m going!

His father looked at him from the room and said:

— Bye, son! Good luck, Gato... and lift that spirit, you’ll see that it’s a good career.

While Javi went down to the first floor, his mother returned to her room. The dad said to Margaret:

— Although he doesn’t like the career very much, it is the best for him...

Margaret, with a sigh, nodded her head. They both stayed to watch television for a moment, before beginning their daily tasks.

You already realized that Javi was not the happiest boy in the world having to study Engineering, right? But his parents forced him to do it, because his brothers also studied it... Ah! Speaking of his brothers, you only know Damián for now... On another occasion I will tell you about his other brother.

You see, returning to the topic of Engineering: For Javier’s parents, it was a career that was going to ensure him a job and good pay in the future... 2 things that were very important to his father. And if he had problems in that area, he could count on his brothers to help him, because they were already qualified engineers.

After Javi had gone down to the first floor, he stayed in the patio playing with Diana for a few minutes. By the way, during all the time that passed since the day Diana arrived, she grew a little more, she was already a little more agile and stronger, and she had her little house near the patio. There was this game that they both had, in which Javi, a few meters away, would get into a pose with his arms open, where it seemed like he wanted to catch her and he would stay still like a statue while he saw her... and she, seeing him , she also stayed still... and after a few seconds, Javi was running at full speed towards Diana! and she, in response, would lie on her back so he could hug her and caress her.

- What about you? Mmh? What about you? —Javi said to her in a more playful tone, as they hugged—Who is the most beautiful in the world? Surely you... sure it’s you...

After playing, Javi said goodbye to Diana, giving her a kiss on the forehead. He left his house and went towards the avenue to wait for a Minibus to the University. In Bolivia, some of the most used public transport are Minibuses and Micros, both with different predetermined routes. He began to say to himself inside his head:

— (Ahhh, could it be that there are familiar people? Or all new ones?... I hope I make friends like at school... Haha, speaking of that, what happened to those clowns?)

Once inside the Minibus, Javier thought about the nightmare he had had for many years. Do you remember the creature that came out of a cave? How about we call it “The Beast” for now? After all, that’s what Javi called it most of the time. In this dream, sometimes The Beast would stare at Javier for a longer time before moving. There were times where it seemed like The Beast moved its mouth, as if wanting to communicate with him, but he could never hear it... Remember the invisible wall? Javi wondered if this covered the sound...

—If I knew what it was saying... that would be something else... —Javi grumbled—But, that hell of a beast!

These last words were already loud enough to attract the attention of the woman sitting next to him, who looked at him with concern at the image of Javier talking to himself. After a moment, Javi returned to reality and noticed the lady’s gaze and apologized in the best way he could:

— No... no, ma’am! I wasn’t saying that to you!... The thing is that I was remembering... about... my dog! Haha, she gets up to a lot of mischief and sometimes goes overboard! S-sorry if I scared you...

Along with the lady, the other people inside the Minibus began to laugh at all this, since in such a closed place, you could hear all the gossip.

— Oh, young man... your ideas... —Said the lady, now calmer.

And what was happening with Cristal? Cristal was sleeping on her back in her bed, with one leg out of it and a stream of saliva falling from her mouth. And some snoring... My goodness, her snoring! It reminds me of people who work in construction sites with those giant drills. Suddenly, Cris opened her eyes and looked at her watch on the side table:

- No no no no no no!! I’m super-late!! —Cris said, while she jumped to get out of bed.

She greeted Kiwi and gently placed her finger on the parrot’s chest, petting it as she fed it. By the way, at this point, Kiwi already had a whole little house set up in Cris’ room. After changing as quickly as she could, Cristal put a tie in her hair and left her room. Her grandmother was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Cris greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and said:

—Hello, mamá Luisa! —Saying “mamá” followed by the name, is a common way of calling grandmothers in various parts of Latin America—and bye! The alarm didn’t wake me up nor did Kiwi! I ran to the U!

—Run, honey, but be careful! —Her grandmother told her, while she laughed a little—tell me later how it goes!

Cris took a marraqueta from the table and left her house. Marraquetas are a type of bread that is prepared in the city of La Paz, standing out for its crunchy texture. She began to walk at an accelerated pace towards the University, while thinking:

— (First day of Psychology! I hope there are good people!)

As Cris hurried towards the University, she started singing all kinds of songs along the way. Her voice was special! She could sing a ballad and after a few seconds she was singing a hard rock song. One moment you heard her as an opera singer, and suddenly she seemed like a pop star with a very happy song. But, there was something else... also when she spoke, you could hear a voice with a sing-song accent, which gave away a little where she came from: Tarija. In Bolivia, the city of Tarija was known as “The capital of smiles” and it was a name earned thanks to the kind and friendly people that could be found there. It also had very nice weather! It was generally calm and temperate. Someone important once told me that “it was like being in a paradise.”

Javier and Cristal were heading to the University, but... meanwhile, in another place far away, there was a house that seemed abandoned. The house was very small and had one room. After the door opened, the mysterious person in a trench coat limped in. He began to drag a table that was on one side and took it to the center of the room. On the table he placed a parchment, which when opened showed a world map with some pen marks. He pulled up a chair, sat down, and then took out his address book...and started putting other marks on the map.

— This is enough for now! —He said with a thick and slightly hoarse voice— If I send someone to these 2 places, I can take care of the third one myself...

After finishing his notes, he took off his hat and trench coat, revealing his appearance. He looked like a grown man, with short, slightly gray hair. His face looked serious and with some wrinkles. He grabbed a glass from the shelf, poured himself a drink, and sat there while he drank, trying to enjoy the taste.

Going back to Javi, we can see that he was already in his first class... Wow, he looked very focused! He was taking notes of everything that was written on the blackboard. At that moment, the professor said out loud:

— Well, guys, let’s do an exercise to get to know each other better, okay? I want each one to introduce youselves to the class and tell why you chose to study this career. —The teacher looked at Javi, who was still distracted by his notes —How about we start with you?

Javi locked eyes with the profesor and realized that he had to make his presentation. He quickly got up from his chair, turned to the entire class and said:

- Hello! I’m Javier, but my friends call me Javi... they also call me “bicho” for Jabicho, and they also call me... Ehm, well, that’s beside the point, because this is a class with educated people who aren’t going to walk around saying that kind of bad words... —The others started to laugh a little and the atmosphere became more relaxed— Well, speaking seriously, I decided to study this career... because my family always thought that I should study Systems Engineering, because that was going to ensure me a stable job and money in the future...

At this moment, the door of the room was pushed open! as if a ghost had pushed it. Guess who did it? Hehe, everyone turned around scared when they heard the door and saw... Cristal. She was exhausted and breathing hard from the entire journey she took to get there. Cris was trying to catch her breath and after a few seconds, when she was able to speak a little, she looked at the professor and said:

— Sorry! Prof! —“Prof” is a diminutive of “Professor”— This... is the... Psychology class... right?

Most of the students stared at her as if they were hypnotized. Several of the boys were speechless.

— “Wow...“, “look how cute...“, “My God, thank you for so much, sorry for so little...” — Were some of the phrases that were heard from the boys.

And the girls in the room? Well, most of them looked at Cris from head to toe. Some astonished, others with a frown. And some turned to look at the boys to see their reactions.

The professor looked at Cristal in the eyes and replied:

— Yes, it is... Welcome to Psychology. We’re just making introductions... so please have a seat.

Cris looked for an empty seat and found one next to Javi and went to sit there.

— Javier was introducing himself — The professor said — Please continue...

— As I was telling you... —Javi said— My family always wanted me to study Engineering, because it is a career with guaranteed work and good pay, but... I decided to enter Psychology because I want to help people! I want that people can trust me to help them! and... —Javi lowered his gaze and also the volume of his voice— Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to understand some things...

Well, well... surprise, surprise... Javi had a big secret in his hands, don’t you think? He did something that could bring him a lot of problems: he had enrolled in a Psychology degree and made his family believe that he was in Systems Engineering. I think you understand me better from when I told you that he was someone quite strange, right?

This story, dear friends... Will continue!