Despair Avenue
Page 4
I laid my daughter's head on the floor as gently as I could and ran to the cell phone I had thrown on the floor. I raised my hand to it but I walked through it.
It was one thing to touch my daughter, standing on the same threshold as myself and one who was inexorably approaching the world of the dead, and quite another to interact with an inanimate object belonging to the world of the living.
Impotence invaded me.
I had the cell phone right in front of me, I just had to call 112 and get an ambulance ..... «So close and, at the same time, so far».
-I can do it –I told myself. I remembered the day after my death when, walking down the street, I found the fragment of a plastic bag. I kicked it and the plastic moved. I never knew whether it was from direct interference of mine or from an untimely burst of air.- . But it moved ... It moved!
I looked at the touch screen of the mobile. It was on and the call icon glowed in the lower left margin. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I took the tip of my index finger to the green square with the drawing of a headset and pressed it.
My hand seemed to explode. A much sharper pain than the one produced by the Companion invaded me. I cried without being able to contain myself and ..
-It worked ... It's working. !
The screen of the cell phone had changed. The main menu had given way to a touchpad. Ten wonderful numbers, arranged in rows of three with the zero at the base, located next to the call button, appeared before me.
I marked the one, another one and then the two. By now I no longer felt my own body. A red haze invaded my vision, tingling everything from a macabre scarlet. Finally, I pressed the call icon.
The last thing I remember is a little voice coming from the other side of the line
-Emergencies, how can I help you? ... Hello? ... Yes? ... Is there anyone? ... Are you well? ....
- Doctor Gutiérrez Avenue. "-I never knew if those words came out of my lips or if I simply heard them in my mind. Building Dulcinea ... Number ... thirteen. " - I tasted the taste of my blood bathing my palate. Fif ... th ... floo ... r ... Let ...
I could not finish.
I went into a warm, golden light. I felt myself slip between my fingers, how it kiss the wounds of my body ... It was comforting ... I abandoned myself to her ... And I faded.
EPILOGUE
The doctor exchanged greetings with the police officers waiting at the door of room 243. They had arrived a few hours ago and waited to speak with the patient.
"One moment, gentlemen," he asked.
The doctor closed the door behind him with unusual softness. He wore an immaculate white coat with the name "MD Eduardo Albadalejo "embroidered at the height of the chest.
"Good morning, Lorena," he said. How are you doing?
The girl was hospitalized, but he was planning to release her that morning. She was practically recovered.
Standing next to the bed on which she rested was her mother. She was a woman in her fifties, and her eyes lit up at the doctor.
Eduardo examined the girl, filled out a report and, without hesitation, released her.
"You're free," he teased her.- I will not hold you any longer. You can go home. Rest and take care But first, promise me you'll stop the drugs.
Lorena forced an uncomfortable smile.
"I promise."- Her voice resembled that of a child.
Eduardo sat down at the foot of the bed and spoke to her as seriously as he could.
"This time you were lucky ... Good luck, to be honest. - He looked at her mother, who listened breathlessly. - You hardly tell, Lorena. If the ambulance had arrived a few minutes later ...
Silence.
- I'll get out of this, doctor, "-she assured him. - I'll go to the detox program ... every day ... I will not use drugs again.
Eduardo got to his feet. He could do no more for her. The rest was part of her own battle.
-I wish you luck!- He turned around, but before he left, he remembered the cops. - By the way, I almost forgot, there are some agents who want to talk to you. I tell them to come in, okay?
MD Eduardo Albadalejo went out the door and, a few seconds later, two men entered. Their uniforms indicated that they belonged to the national police corps.
- Good morning, miss, " - the younger one said. - We came to ask you some questions. It will only be a few minutes.
The agent took a seat in front of Lorena as he took out a booklet and a pen. He was dark and he wore a well-shaved knob. His partner, on the other hand, remained standing. He had white hair and a stern face, though not without some affability.
"-Are you Lorena García Giménez?"
-Yes.
"-Please tell me how you ended up in this hospital."
"-I wanted to commit suicide but ... it went wrong.
"-How did you try to commit suicide?"- The agent kept writing in his booklet. The strumming of the pen as it slid through the paper was the only thing that broke the silence between question and answer.
- With heroin ... I've been using heroin for just a few months and I thought if I increased the dose, I could end my life.
"-Do you remember the dose that was injected?"
"-No ..." -Lorena looked away from the agent. It was easier for her to speak by looking at the tips of her feet. -There were five syringes ... Maybe six ...
The agent continued strumming with his pen. Though he tried to appear undaunted, he swallowed.
"-Why did you try to kill yourself?" Did someone force it?
-No .
"-Was there anyone with you when you tried to commit suicide?"
-No .
"-Are you sure?"
-Yes.
-"Did you leave the door open?"
-No .
-Did anyone else have the keys?"
-No .
-"Did you call for emergencies?"
-No .
"-Do you know who could do it?"
Lorena looked back at the agent. She laid her eyes on his with glacial calm.
"-Yes ... it was my father."
The agent exchanged a glance with his companion. The gray-haired policeman, who had hitherto kept a strict silence, spoke for the first time.
"-Miss ... do you know that your father passed away more than two weeks ago?"
-Yes I know.
"-Why do you say, then, that he called?" The call was made two days ago.
"-I say it was him because it's the truth. There was no doubt in his voice. I saw it with my own eyes ... He was by my side ... It was he who called for emergencies.
The agent on the knob kept scribbling everything. He turned the page.
-One last question, Miss ..." The policeman extracted a long tape recorder from his shirt pocket. - Do you recognize this voice?
After pressing a button, they heard the audio: "MD Gutierrez Avenue. Building Dulcinea ... Number ... thirteen. Fif ... th ... plan ... t ... Let ... ".
"-It's the voice of my ex-husband," said her mother, intervening in the interrogation.
"-Are you sure?"
The woman smiled.
"-I would recognize the voice of my Michelangelo among a million men.
The older officer shook his head at his partner, before putting the pen and the pad in the pocket of his trousers.
"-All right,"- he said, rising to his feet. -I think that's it. Have a nice day.
The agents went to the door and left the room.
Natalia and Lorena looked at each other.
No words were needed.
THE END
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