Y líbranos del mal
_Justo te estoy llamando para resolverte la vida. ¿Qué me vas a dar si te consigo un contrato jugoso? - soltó una carcajada.
_Chamo, creo que te doy hasta la vida - aseguró sin pensar. Axe volvió a reír a carcajada.
_Bueno, me conformo con eso. Te tengo un contrato para unas presentaciones en un club exclusivo. Vente y hablamos. - después de colgar, Tom brincó de la emoción, sintiéndose invencible:
_Que rezo ni que rezo!!! Lo mío es el billete.
La primera presentación estuvo fenomenal: Tom sintió una energía increíble, que no sólo hacía que tocara la guitarra como nunca, sino que hiciera movimientos en el escenario como si estuviera en un ritual que solo él conociera.
Se lo dijo a Axe, luego de esa primera presentación:
_Siento que esa máscara tuviera vida y fuera ella la que me poseyera. Como si no fuera yo detrás de la máscara - aseguró Tom de manera frenética. Axe largó una carcajada, como siempre y gritó:
_Tal vez así lo sea!!! Tú y yo haremos un gran equipo. Es más, deberíamos montarnos al escenario, tú y yo, como en los viejos tiempos - Tom volteó a contestarle a Axe, pero en eso vio que la sonrisa de su amigo parecía sacada de una película de terror. Entonces recordó a su madre y su letanía nocturna: "Perdona nuestras ofensas, así como perdonamos a quien nos ofende".
_No quiero que nadie me controle - le dijo una vez a Axe mientras derramaba licor sobre los pechos de una chica.
Aquella noche, cuando terminó la presentación, Axe le tenía una sorpresa:
_¡¡¡Quiero que veas cómo puedo cumplirte tus sueños!! Salieron en la oscuridad y afuera un enorme carro estacionado los esperaba: era un GT1 negro. Tom brincó de alegría alrededor del carro como si fuera un niño.
_Móntate y siente la fuerza de la bestia - gritó Axe y la voz tuvo eco.
Se montaron y encendieron el auto. Tom pisó el acelerador como si estuviera poseído, comenzó a reír de manera desquiciada, mientras los ojos desorbitados miraban la oscuridad del asfalto.
Tom tuvo la impresión de que el auto se manejaba solo y que no podía detenerlo. Las curvas sinuosas parecían ser una emboscada, una detrás de otra. Quiso frenar, pero fue imposible. En ese instante, miró el espejo retrovisor y como en una pesadilla, Tom tenía la máscara puesta. Horrorizado, volteó a ver a Axe, quien echó una carcajada y preguntó fríamente:
_Creías que no vendría a cobrarte? - y desapareció por la ventana, como si fuera un pájaro invisible. La curva siguiente trajo un barranco que fue difícil esquivar, aunque Tom pisó el freno hasta al final. Cuando el carro cayó en el abismo, Tom escuchó la voz de su madre que decía a lo lejos:
_Y libranos del mal. Amén....
La imagen principal fue creada por mí en Canva, y el texto fue traducido con Deepl Translate
HASTA UNA PRÓXIMA OPORTUNIDAD, AMIGOS
And deliver us from evil
He walked without knowing what to do. His gaze was vacant and his head bowed, his shoulders slumped, dragging his feet as if he were carrying a great weight on them. The cellphone rang, and Tom saw who it was: it was Axe, someone he owed money to. He didn't answer the call and ran his hands through his hair. "Surely it's to collect from me," he thought angrily. Then he changed his attitude and sounded desperate: "If only I could land a contract," he said aloud, walking with his shoulders slumped. He thought of his mother, who prayed every night by the side of his bed: "Our Father who art in heaven..." she would say, then make the sign of the cross over her chest. "We have to pray so that God protects us, Tom," she would repeat as Tom fell asleep. "I would easily sell my soul to the devil for money," he expressed with bitterness.
That's what I was thinking about when the cell phone rang again. It was Axe again. Tom decided to answer him because he knew how insistent that man could be:
_Chamo, I'm looking for a way to pay you, but give me time - he went ahead to say.
_Justo I'm calling you to solve your life. What are you going to give me if I get you a juicy contract? - he laughed.
_Chamo, I think I'll give you even my life," he said without thinking. Axe laughed out loud again.
_Bueno, I'm content with that. I have a contract for some presentations at an exclusive club. Come and let's talk. - after hanging up, Tom jumped up and down with excitement, feeling invincible:
_Que I pray or pray!! My thing is the banknote.
When he arrived at the venue, the only thing they asked him was to wear a mask. Tom didn't hesitate to put it on and actually felt it fit him perfectly, as if it had been made especially for him.
The first performance was phenomenal: Tom felt an incredible energy, which not only made him play the guitar like never before, but also move on stage as if he were in a ritual that only he knew.
He told Axe, after that first presentation:I feel like this mask had a life of its own and that it was possessing me. As if I weren't the one behind the mask, Tom said frantically. Axe let out a laugh, as always, and shouted:_Maybe it is!!! You and I will make a great team. In fact, we should get on stage, you and I, like in the old days.
_ Tom turned to respond to Axe, but then he saw that his friend's smile looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. Then he remembered his mother and her nightly litany: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
From that moment on, as if a gate had been opened, money kept flowing into Tom's pockets. He and Axe made a perfect duo. Hidden behind the mask, Tom invoked the darkness of metals, the noise of birds, the wandering of souls through time. He was someone else, or maybe he was the same person he had always hidden. In fact, Tom had even rented an apartment so he wouldn't have to listen to his mother, who lived advising him.
I don't want anyone to control me - he once told Axe while pouring liquor over a girl's chest.
That night, when the presentation ended, Axe had a surprise for him:
_¡¡¡I want you to see how I can make your dreams come true!! They went out into the darkness, and outside a huge car was waiting for them: it was a black GT1. Tom jumped for joy around the car as if he were a child.
Ride and feel the beast's strength - shouted Axe, and his voice echoed.
They got in and started the car. Tom stepped on the accelerator as if possessed, began laughing maniacally, while his wide-eyed gaze stared at the darkness of the asphalt.
Tom had the impression that the car was driving itself and that he couldn't stop it. The winding curves seemed like an ambush, one after another. He wanted to brake, but it was impossible. At that moment, he looked in the rearview mirror and, like in a nightmare, Tom was wearing the mask. Horrified, he turned to look at Axe, who laughed and asked coldly:
Did you think I wouldn’t come to collect from you? - and he disappeared through the window, as if he were an invisible bird. The next turn brought a ravine that was difficult to avoid, although Tom pressed the brake all the way down. When the car fell into the abyss, Tom heard his mother’s voice saying in the distance:
_And deliver us from evil. Amen....