Chapter 6

If I looked back on the past year, it felt like a short film running endlessly at the back of my mind. All sunlight. All wind. All the scent of earth. And in the brightness of San Felipe, there were names I had slowly grown used to repeating quietly to myself.

Sofia who always pulled me inside the mansion.

And a… low voice, clear, with few words. But I could still feel it even now.

I never said what or who it was. I never gave it a name. I never told anyone. But I knew it was real. Just like the lightness I felt every time I touched a newly sprouted plant.

There were nights that stretched longer than others.

On the veranda, I used to sketch while the light in the study stayed on. He sat there, head bowed over his papers. He never looked up, and I never looked directly. But I could feel it. We were both awake at the same hour, living in the same world.

There were afternoons when my heart beat faster over simple things. Like when my pencil fell on the grass. Before I could reach for it